The Algarve will receive “an extraordinary reinforcement of over 3 million euros for the promotion of tourism and events”. The news was announced yesterday afternoon, by the Secretary of State for Tourism, at the inauguration of André Gomes as president of the Algarve Tourism Region (RTA).
Nuno Fazenda explained that that amount, to be used this year and next, already has recipients, as it will be used to promote major events that will take place in the Algarve in 2024.
One of them, revealed the Secretary of State, will be the «biggest meeting of travel and tourism agents in Germany». This is a great event that tourist and hotel businessmen in the Algarve have long wanted to attract to the region, which has now been achieved, thanks to the efforts of the «Portuguese Government and the Entidade Regional de Turismo do Algarve».
The other event mentioned by Nuno Fazenda is the “Michelin Star Revelation Gala”, which, «for the first time we will also have it in Portugal», more specifically in the Algarve.
Despite this announcement of millions, much applauded by all those invited to the inauguration, which took place at the Autódromo Internacional do Algarve, in Portimão, the new president of the RTA, as he had already done when he announced his candidacy, criticized the reduced budget of tourism regions.
In his opinion, applying the updates of the financial allocation that would be due, "the annual funding of the RTA for 2023" should be "in the order of 5,5 million euros", he defended.
That would be, André Gomes added in his speech, «a much more realistic value than the meager 4,1 million euros allocated by the central State to the most important tourism region in the country», moreover, an amount strangled by «captivations» .
Hélder Martins, former president of the RTA and who took office again yesterday as president of the Board of the General Assembly, had already recalled that «today, the budget of the Tourism Region is very similar to the one that existed at the time when I was president, twenty years".
He, who is also a hotel entrepreneur and president of the Association of Hotels and Tourist Enterprises of the Algarve (AHETA), and who, therefore, feels the problems of the region firsthand, spoke of the «slight decrease in the occupancy of hotel units», which is being to register.
Now, he pointed out, «what we can see, as of today, is that, with the airport of Faro with more passengers, with more tourists, what is clearly lacking is the national market». And that, as with the Spanish market, has a lot to do with the rise in interest rates on loans, which “results in preventing many of our compatriots from traveling”.
Taking into account this decline, which is also being felt, even more strongly, by the restoration, Hélder Martins considered that it would be necessary for the RTA to do its duty, a strong campaign to attract tourists from the «domestic market and internal market extended' (which includes Spain).
But the RTA doesn't have the money for that, he said: «the Algarve does not have the conditions to carry out a campaign in the internal market», now that «it is necessary to do this attack».
Turning to the Secretary of State for Tourism, the chairman of the Board of the GA of the RTA, appealed: «it is very important that, in this cycle that now begins, with the leadership of André Gomes, this issue be reviewed» of funding.
The new president of the Algarve Tourism Region, in his six-page speech, also defended another «additional source of funding for the promotion of tourism and for the development of infrastructure capable of responding to the needs and experiences of those who live and visit us »: the tourist tax, which some municipalities in the Algarve already charge.
The tourist tax, defended André Gomes, will allow «investing in strategies that attract the attention of companies and investors and promote the Algarve as an attractive and excellent tourist destination to host infrastructure and international events».
Ultimately, he underlined, the tourist tax will end up being «a stimulus to the local economy», since «major international events bring with them a large flow of tourists, participants and sponsors, benefiting hotels, restaurants, commerce and other sectors, creating jobs temporary and permanent services in the region, strengthening the image of our destination and generating positive impacts in the long term".
The issue of major anchor events, which had already been the basis for the announcement of reinforcement of financing for the promotion of tourism in the Algarve by 3 million euros, made by the Secretary of State for Tourism, ended up crossing all the speeches.
Hélder Martins, for example, expressed his concern about the «loss of key events for the Algarve: we already lost Formula1, we lost the Rally of Portugal, eventually we may have lost the Portugal Masters [in golf] and that is very worrying. Today we have the Volta ao Algarve, some events that take place in this space [of the Autódromo]», but it is necessary «to fight for more».
«The events are not only important for the return of the image, they are also important for the business they generate in low seasons», underlined the president of the Board of the GA of the RTA.
Returning to André Gomes' speech, the new president of the RTA underlined that it is necessary to «develop an articulated management strategy for tourist offices in the region, which can be compatible with the creation of a national network of tourist offices, in close articulation with municipalities and based on principles of economic and financial viability.
«I count on all the mayors for this articulated management», he said.
«Soon», the new person responsible for Turismo do Algarve will propose, through the Intermunicipal Community (AMAL), «a specific and uniform management model» for these tourist offices.
Finally, André Gomes assumed, «as a mission in this mandate» of five years, «to ensure that the Algarve has an audible voice and is a main actor in its own destiny».
Photos: Elisabete Rodrigues | Sul Informação
And why ownership at the Autodromo?
Right at the beginning of his speech, the new president of the RTA answered the question that many people asked when it became known that his inauguration would take place not at the headquarters of that body, as usual, but outside it and in a private structure: the Autódromo Internacional do Algarve. André Gomes considered that the future of the Algarve «has a lot to do with this place where we find ourselves today and that it was not chosen at random».
The new person responsible for Algarve Tourism spoke to an audience of more than 200 guests, in a room at the Autodromo located next to the finish line, which had Paulo Pinheiro, CEO of Parkalgar, sitting in the first row, the same where the Minister of the Environment, the secretaries of State for Tourism, Fisheries and the Environment, the president of Turismo de Portugal, the president of CCDR Algarve, the mayors of Portimão and of the Centro Hospitalar Universitário do Algarve, respectively mother and wife of André Gomes, among others personalities.
The Autódromo is «a stage for the internationalization, not only of the image of the Algarve, but of Portugal as a whole. The competitions that take place on that track and attract thousands of people from various geographies to those grandstands, is the metaphor for the Algarve of excellence», he underlined, pointing to the track and the grandstand, outside.
And he added: «international events and competitions are held here that bring undeniable benefits to the region – I’m talking about notoriety, projection of the destination’s image at an international level that only this type of event reaches, revenue, visitors, dynamization of the economy, industry , of local trade”.
«In an estimate based on the events held until June 30 and scheduled until the end of this year, 2023, here at the Autódromo Internacional do Algarve alone, the direct economic impact on the region will be between 133 and 154 million euros. We are talking about 720 thousand visitors and 230 thousand overnight stays», he reinforced.
Having devoted six paragraphs to the Autódromo, the new president of RTA never once spoke of other segments of the tourist market that have been rising in the Algarve, and in a sustainable way, such as nature, creative or enogastronomic tourism. Despite not attracting crowds, or millions, they have been fundamental to blur the image of this as a seasonal tourist region, just sun and beach, as well as to create dynamism in the interior of the region.
Incidentally, André Gomes only made a brief reference to sustainability, but to talk about the lack of water and the need to «attract more investment from the water sector to mitigate the serious problem of scarcity and allow greater savings in this resource that is fundamental to life and, of course , to tourism”.
New governing bodies of the RTA
André Gomes, 43 years old, will lead the Executive Committee of the RTA, with Fátima Catarina (vice-president), Alberto Mota Borges (member of the Executive Committee), Vítor Guerreiro (co-opted member representing the municipalities) and José Matias (Co-opted member representing private entities with an interest in the development of tourism).
On the occasion, the members of the Board of the General Assembly of the RTA also took office. Hélder Martins, president of the Association of Hotels and Tourist Enterprises of the Algarve, will occupy the position of president of the Board, while Isolete Correia, president of the Portuguese Association of Recreational Ports, will assume the role of secretary of the Board.
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