The “Albufeira Safe” campaign was highlighted in the final session of the Albufeira Summit, an event that brought together specialists and people in charge of different areas, national and local, in this Algarve municipality, in the last three days, to reflect on the future of the municipality.
This Saturday, the last day of this summit, which started on thursday, the main moment was the presentation of this campaign designed by José Carlos Rolo, «for a safer summer this year, through the use of new technologies, national and international communication and continuously promoting safety, together with mass testing residents and tourists», according to the City Council of Albufeira.
Délio Pescada, head of the President's Office, made known the “Albufeira Safe”, which involves the creation of an application “with information regarding the use of the mask, distances, group limits, location of stores, access and rules of permanence on the beaches».
With this campaign, «Albufeira is taking steps to guarantee tourism in a safe environment and where risks are minimized», believes Délio Pescada.
The slogan of this initiative, “Albufeira – make yourself at home”, will be “spread” on billboards, billboards and ATMs throughout the country, but also communicated “to tour operators in the language of the issuing countries”.
This security guarantee will include a “mass testing free of charge for residents and tourists, as a proof of receipt” and the placement of gel alcohol dispensers in all establishments in the municipality. Délio Pescada took the opportunity to ask “that everyone starts to put this information in hotels and commercial establishments, namely travel agencies”.
Before that, three other major themes had already been reflected upon: “Climate Transition”, “Digital Transition” and “Algarve 2030”.
To frame the theme of climate transition, Pedro Coelho, regional director of the Regional Hydrographic Administration of the Algarve, was invited, whose intervention had the motto “Water is Life, Territory and Tourism”.
In addition to framing the situation, in terms of water resources and talking about the Algarve's Regional Water Efficiency Plan and its goals, this person spoke about the reduction or elimination of pollutant loads that affect ecosystems.
The objective “is to continuously improve the quality of groundwater and surface water until the end of the decade, up to 100%”, according to the municipality.
Pedro Coelho took the opportunity to highlight that Albufeira has an important aquifer in the Paderne area that needs to be preserved. With regard to River Rehabilitation, he underlined the urgency of accelerating the eradication of invasive alien species existing in the streams, with significant advantages in improving ecosystems and water quality.
With regard to floods, Pedro Coelho stressed that «the General Drainage Plan for Albufeira is an excellent example» of the prevention that is necessary.
Francisco Ferreira, president of Zero, who was invited to moderate the round table that followed, took the opportunity to speak about the need for a “fair transition, which guarantees solid sustainability”.
"We have been treating the planet like sewage and one of the immediate consequences, in the area of health, is the death of 6 people a year, in Portugal alone," he said.
This debate also counted with the contributions of Susana Escária, technician of the General Directorate of Environment, and Luís Domingos Costa, administrator of Get2c.
To talk about the digital transition, Tiago Cortez, manager of Cofina Special Projects, Rui Pedro Pinto, Innovation Manager – Hub Lisbon Azambuja and Miguel de Castro Neto, from Universidade Nova de Lisboa, were invited.
Tiago Cortez presented the National Sustainability Award, open to all entrepreneurs, challenging business owners to start thinking about having «professionals in sustainability, better salaries and not forgetting that talent migrates».
Rui Pedro Pinto, on the other hand, «challenged Albufeira to create a Competence Center for Tourism, investing in Tourism 4.0 and that quantum cryptography is one of the safe ways to invest in digital».
«The city as a platform» was the dominant theme of Miguel de Castro Neto's intervention on the digital transition. “Data is the oil of the century. XXI and have to be refined for decision making and consequent action. They are a renewable resource and it is necessary to take advantage of them to change reality», he stressed.
Miguel de Castro Neto highlighted that «the digital transition is seen as the acquisition of technology to modernize processes, making them more efficient. But the digital transition creates conditions for us to think differently to take advantage of different possibilities».
Before the final session, José Apolinário, president of CCDR do Algarve, presented the Algarve 2030 Programme, framing Albufeira within the scope of regional challenges.
«Albufeira has one of the best beaches in the world, the best facilities related to tourism, but it faces enormous challenges: 33 unemployed, 400% of which are on the axis between Albufeira and Portimão, the need to promote the diversification of the region's economic base and responses in the area of Tourism».
The issue of unemployment had already, moreover, been discussed on the second day of the summit, as Sul Informação did it work.
In the next Community Support Framework, the Algarve Operational Program should manage 600 million euros, «of which 300 million are intended to boost competitiveness, growth and job creation in the region».
Within the scope of the PRR, “the so-called bazooka”, a nationwide program, José Apolinário said that the CCDR is establishing agreements with the municipalities in order to boost applications, as well as with the private sector and universities.
“This is a concerted strategy to make better use of available funds for the region's development. Among the responses that we consider to be priorities, we highlight the construction of the Hospital Central do Algarve, the Digital Connectivity and Transition and the Water Efficiency Plan», he said.
As major challenges and opportunities for “Albufeira as Ambassador of Tourism”, the president of the CCDR identified four major areas: Territory; Competitiveness, People and Sustainability.
In the closing session, Paulo Freitas, president of the Municipal Assembly, underlined that it is with people «that the future is built and one cannot think only of those who visit us, but also of those who live here», to avoid «a gap between what we want and what we are».
José Carlos Rolo, Mayor, closed the event assuring that it «surpassed expectations» and that he is now «more motivated and secure with regard to future investments for Albufeira».
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