“Yellowing lawns” prompt wedding party cancellations
Algarve hotels are losing business due to irrigation bans that have been in place since February.
SIC Notícias runs with this story today, highlighting the fact that the much-touted ‘easing of restrictions’ on water usage haven’t filtered through to hotels, which are still unable to water their gardens.
As a result lawns have gone yellow, “impacting” on venues popular for wedding parties, which have suffered around €1 million-worth in cancellations already, for this year and next.
Even worse, according to SIC, is the fact that while some hotels are complying with restrictions – and suffering the consequences – others are not, and seemingly getting away with it.
None of this makes sense, argue hoteliers sticking by the rules (generally, hoteliers who have invested in water saving measures, including their own desalination equipment) – something environment minister Maria da Graça Carvalho concedes.
Says SIC, “within one or two weeks, the Council of Ministers’ resolution on new measures to deal with the drought in the Algarve will come into effect”. These take into account the rainfall over Easter which has secured water supplies for at least another year.
Reading between the lines, however, much more ‘thorough’ checking of water usage is to be promoted, with minister Carvalho telling SIC that responsibility for this lies with APA, the Portuguese environment agency.
