Authorities hope 70% of 650 hotels in region will commit to reducing water
Two weeks from the official launch of the Algarve’s “Save Water” campaign, coordinated by the RTA tourism board, in articulation with Turismo de Portugal and energy agency ADENE, and only 14 of the region’s 650 hotels have shown any interest.
Expresso writes “this was the balance on Thursday (yesterday) of the site Compromisso Água”.
Since then another hotel has signed up.
“The three first were Quinta do Lago, Palmeiras Village and Wyndham Grand Algarve, and the three last were Vila Valverde Design & Country Hotel, Vila Galé Atlântico and Pine Cliffs”, says the paper.
This doesn’t completely tie-in with the information online, but the reality is there are only 15 hotels supporting the initiative, when there are well over 600 more in the Algarve that aren’t.
Does this mean they have no interest in saving water? Or even communicating to their guests through the long, hot summer that the region is in its worst state of hydrological drought in living memory?
Hélder Martins, president of hoteliers’ association AHETA, doesn’t think so. He is hoping the situation is more one of “let’s sort this all out at the last possible minute”. He is hoping “many more establishments will sign up before the end of the month”.
Martin told Expresso that he suspects the lacklustre response has more to do with the fact that the Easter holidays arrived, as well as MotoGP, which ‘filled the region’, and took businesses minds off anything else.
Turismo de Portugal “had hoped that 70% of the 650 hotels would go ahead with the commitment”, writes Expresso, explaining the not inconsiderable terms:
First, it is dependent on a 15% reduction in consumption. But “beyond assuming the voluntary commitment to reduce water consumption, candidates to the Save Water campaign have to adopt a plan of action which includes 30 water-saving measures that have to be applied in a phased way through to the end of this year.
“Ten of the measures have to be ready by April 30, says the paper. And there’s more: candidates “have to register on ADENE’s platform the evolution of the execution (of the measures) and the consumption of water.
“The criteria are part of a list of 60. Among them include the reduction in pressure of the network, the suspension of the use of potable water (meaning suitable for human consumption) for garden irrigation and/ or irrigating golf courses, the substitution of taps and shower heads by others with a reduced flow, the reuse of rainwater for irrigation and/ or the reuse of ‘grey waters’ (from showers/ basins) for flushing lavatories.
“If (the candidate hotels) do not comply with the measures they have promised, they will lose their ‘stamp’ (showing they Save Water) by the end of the year”, says the paper.
It wasn’t long ago that the region’s authorities were warning us the Algarve only HAS water available until the end of the year if consumption is not reined in …
“In the meantime, Turismo de Portugal has launched the campaign: “It isn’t tourism. It’s Futurism” to (try to) make sure that tourists are aware of the need to save this scarce resource”, concludes Expresso.
Does this sound like a campaign that will get the necessary results? Hélder Martins inisists he is optimistic. “All AHETA associates are conscious that in spite of dams being fuller (thanks to recent rains), they are still a long way from 100%. The water scarcity is cyclical in the region, and the adoption of measures to be more efficient are necessary”, he told the paper.
natasha.donn@portugalresident.com
