Secretary of State for Tourism has «very good expectations» for the Algarve summer

Rita Marques was this Tuesday, August 2nd, visiting the region

The Secretary of State for Tourism has “very good expectations” for the summer in the Algarve, with tourist revenues being able to exceed “those we had in 2019”, even before the pandemic. 

Rita Marques visited the region this Tuesday, August 2nd, having visited the municipal companies Infraquinta and Infralobo, in the municipality of Loulé, and Faro, where he visited the local shops in the downtown area.

Speaking to journalists, on the sidelines of the session at Infraquinta, the minister revealed that she had these «very positive» expectations for the summer in the region, «after two very difficult years for the tourism sector».

«We have very good expectations for August and we think we have all the conditions to close 2022 with tourist revenue values ​​that will exceed those we had in 2019», he revealed.

According to Rita Marques, recently, the «Bank of Portugal itself has revised these values ​​upwards».

 

 

«Very predictably, we will close 2022 with 4,2% above the values ​​of tourist revenue in 2019», he illustrated.

What is certain is that, despite these predictions, there is a problem that the sector has faced: the lack of workers in the tourism and catering sectors.

The Secretary of State herself admits this lack, but guaranteed that the Government is “very committed to finding solutions for the lack of manpower in the Algarve”.

«We know that the tourism sector needs to continue to grow, it must continue to grow, we have extraordinary potential and, for that, we have to maintain excellence in service. This implies that we can continue to work with quality human resources, paying them adequately”, he said.

The official also spoke of the recent mobility framework for Portuguese-speaking African Countries (PALOP) that six of the nine countries have already ratified and which was discussed in July in the Assembly of the Republic.

This regime «entry and stay of foreigners in Portugal brings substantial changes in the issuance of visas» and can be a help for this workforce.

Moreover, Rita Marques assumed that it was «true» that «the tourism sector, for a few years now, compared to other sectors, pays less well».

 

 

«Statistically, this is easily verifiable, but it is also true that the entrepreneurs themselves have been taking on this challenge, this commitment to pay better, even because we know that this is a demanding sector in the reconciliation of personal and professional life», he said.

«I am confident that the Confederation of Tourism of Portugal and the representative associations, together with the unions, can evolve in a favorable way in the collective bargaining agreements», he added.

In relation to the recent government measure to ration water in hotels, due to drought, Rita Marques stressed that the commitment was «assumed by the entrepreneurs, in conjunction with the Ministry of the Environment».

“Naturally, we cannot question human consumption. What we can do is ration this water through intelligent systems, to reduce flow rates, to give the guest the possibility to choose whether or not to ask to wash towels and bed linen. These are the types of measures that are being implemented throughout the tourism sector and I hope that it can happen”, he concluded.

 

 



Comments

Ads