Nuno Fazenda, Secretary of State for Tourism, called for an increase in salaries in the sector, which are still 30% below the economy average.
«We have to create better conditions to attract talent to tourism. The size of salaries is very important», appealed Nuno Fazenda, at the 48th Congress of the Portuguese Association of Travel and Tourism Agencies (APAVT), which takes place in Porto.
When it is expected that the results of the tourism sector could reach the best year ever, the Secretary of State for Tourism speaks of the need to extend this enthusiasm to workers in the sector.
«Tourism in the last ten years has always grown at double digits, with the exception of the two years of the pandemic, it has always grown in revenue and guests. We also have to grow in salaries», he reinforced before an audience of more than 770 congressmen from various tourist activities.
The National Statistics Institute (INE) announced today that the tourist accommodation sector recorded 7,4 million overnight stays in October, 8,5% more than in the same month of 2022, mainly due to external markets. Guests also increased in October, in this case 8,7% to 2,9 million.
«Growth has to be for everyone. Growth has to be for companies, for managers, for the chef, for the waiter, for the cleaning assistant. Everyone has to benefit from growth. Today, salaries are still 30% below the economy average. And that is why they have been gradually increasing in the economy in general, and in the tourism sector too», added the still government official.
Nuno Fazenda mentioned, however, that it has been observed that «several tour operators and several groups have increased well above what is foreseen in the income agreement, with increases of 10% or even more».
A strategy that he considers to be «the right bet, because anyone who wants to succeed and be viable with regard to their activity in tourism is also to invest in valuing people and their conditions and remuneration», he concluded.
The main meeting of travel agents runs until Saturday and has as its theme “Artificial Intelligence, the Revolution of the XNUMXst Century”.
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