Hoteliers in the Algarve believe tourism deserves its own ministry
The main association representing the Algarve’s hotel industry, AHETA, put out a statement today lamenting that Portugal’s new government has not created a separate ministry for the tourism sector.
“It hasn’t been this time yet that the region’s and the country’s main economic activity has been honoured with a ministry,” AHETA says in the statement.
On the bright side, the hoteliers believe that the new minister for the economy, Pedro Reis, and the new secretary of state for tourism, Pedro Machado, “are true connoisseurs of the sector and will have much to contribute to the continued development of this activity”.
AHETA goes on to commend the resumé of the new secretary of state for tourism, recalling that he was president of the tourism board of central Portugal for several terms, having done “remarkable work, both nationally and internationally, and thus being able to apply his approach to tourism in the national context”.
“We are fully willing to collaborate with those in charge of the sector in the search for solutions to the main problems facing the sector, with the prospect of a promising future for companies and their staff, in the search for more sustainable tourism in all areas,” says AHETA.
The Algarve’s main hotel association warned, however, that the Algarve, as the country’s main tourist destination, had “a number of challenges that must be urgently resolved” in order to avoid “future problems that could jeopardise” the sector’s activity.
On Thursday, the president of Portugal accepted the list of 41 secretaries of state proposed by the prime minister for the 24th Government. The swearing-in of the secretaries of state is scheduled for 6pm this Friday at the Ajuda National Palace in Lisbon.
The prime minister and the 17 ministers of the 24th government were sworn in on Tuesday.
Source: LUSA
