«Evaluate to correct» the problems of Ecovia do Algarve was the objective of Secretary of State for Tourism Ana Mendes Godinho, who, this Monday, cycled six kilometers along a section of this cycle route, between Torre d'Aires, in Luz from Tavira, and Fuzeta (Olhão).
He arrived by car – and without proper clothes for riding a bicycle – but quickly changed his clothes. Wearing a green sweater saying “Algarve”, with tracksuit pants and sneakers, the Secretary of State was always at the front of the pack.
Integrated in the project Cycling & Walking Algarve, and on the eve of celebrating World Tourism Day, this initiative, in addition to evaluating the flaws of Ecovia in order to correct them, had the objective of showing «another Algarve, where there is more to do than sun and beach». in the words of Ana Mendes Godinho.
As for the fact that the Ecovia do Algarve does not connect the entire region, there are municipalities where it does not yet pass, the government official said that it will «take advantage of what is already available and make the connection with what is missing, to have continuous routes throughout. the Algarve». "I came to put the City Councils to work together," he added.
Always smiling, the secretary of state assured that money will not be a problem. «We have to understand what needs to be done. Both ANA, Turismo de Portugal, Turismo do Algarve and businessmen are involved in this project. What we want is to build a product that works as a whole, from the hotel part, which must have the capacity to have bicycles, also passing through the airport», he concluded.
Despite not having participated in the bike tour, having had a mishap at the beginning, the president of the Algarve Tourism Region (RTA) is also linked to this effort to try to create an Ecovia that connects the region of Barlavento to Sotavento. “I can assure you that we will apply pressure – and raise awareness – with some local authorities so that the connection is made”, guaranteed Desidério Silva.
«The Algarve, in autumn and winter, has great potential for the practice of walking and cycling. This action also wants to promote this reality, both nationally and internationally,” he added.
In this sense, the presence of the Secretary of State in this initiative does not come about by chance, as there have been «talks for them, as a government, to help us have an Algarve throughout the year», referred Desidério Silva, at the end of the journey, next to the Ria Formosa, in the Fuzeta riverside area, where Ana Mendes Godinho confessed to being “amazed with the landscape”.
While he was the mayor of Albufeira, Desidério Silva recalls that he «tried to make a bicycle and pedestrian connection between Salgados and Vilamoura». “We have had some difficulties, not only with the mayors, but also due to constraints related to the Ordinance Plans, or with the POOC, but these are factors that we are trying to overcome”, he said.
Also participating in this initiative were deputies such as António Eusébio, Fernando Anastácio and Luís Graça, from the PS, or José Carlos Barros from the PSD, and also Delmino Pereira, president of the Portuguese Cycling Federation, the commissioner of the Support Program for the Arts in the Algarve Dália Paulo, Élio Vicente, from Zoomarine, or the businessman responsible for the Algarve company MegaSport, which supplied the bicycles, as well as mayors and other officials, entrepreneurs and technicians.
A blogger Brazilian Naiara Back, what is the Algarve's Ecovia doing, also accompanied the six-kilometer ride. In conversation with the Sul Informação, blogger cyclist, already with more than a hundred and a half kilometers of Ecovia in his legs, revealed that «there are flaws that need to be improved» in that cycling path.
Photos: Pedro Lemos|Sul Informação and Assis Rabbit
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