Urban myths described as ‘over-tourism; lack of qualifications/ low wages’; immigrants taking jobs
Portugal’s secretary of state for tourism has said in Faro that the sector must combat “urban myths” related to over-tourism, lack of qualifications and low wages, and the threat of immigrants to Portuguese jobs.
“As an industry that represents 20% of the (gross) domestic product, as an industry that is transversal and the one that is growing the most, in my view it is a disservice to the country if we don’t combat these urban myths,” he told the 7th and final session of the conference series “Tourism Strategy 2035: building the tourism of the future“.
Machado then addressed the three urban myths:
No 1: “that there is too much tourism”: “Not at all (…) It is part of a certain caviar elite to say that there is too much tourism in Portugal because it bothers them in some places. No, there is no such thing as too much tourism and we need to keep growing,” he told his audience.
Tourism is a ‘powerful industry’, which exports ‘in any of our corners, not just in the most mature destinations, not just in the most established brands’, and this across-the-board nature of the sector needs to be emphasised.
Urban myth No 2, “is to associate tourism with low qualifications and low wages”, or “with people who don’t know how to do anything else”.
More than 54% (of people) working in the tourism sector have secondary or higher education qualifications and while the country’s economy has grown over the last six years by between 2% and 2.3%, “average salaries have grown by more than 5%”, he said.
Urban myth No 3, in Pedro Machado’s opinion, “is that of the threat of migrants arriving in Portugal (…) Portugal doesn’t have enough Portuguese to serve the tourism industry today if we don’t have the added value of being able to bring in people of other nationalities. That’s it. We don’t. It’s a fact, there’s no point in arguing about it”.
Considering that it is possible to debate “whether it’s more Cabo Verde, whether it’s more Angola, whether it’s more Mozambique, whether it’s more Brazil, whether it’s more Nepal, whether it’s more India, whether it’s more Uruguay”, the secretary of state maintained that it is necessary to “put an end to this myth that foreigners arriving in Portugal come to jeopardise the jobs of the Portuguese who are here” and that it is necessary to “strengthen a qualified and capable absorption capacity”.
Pedro Machado also expressed his “satisfaction and pride” at the 19 awards given to Portugal at the 31st edition of the World Travel Awards at the weekend – the so-called “Oscars” of tourism.
“Portugal is at a very positive moment. This positive moment is the result of the excellence of its companies, its entrepreneurs and, I’m sure, the international recognition of the service we provide. We all hope that this can mean growth and growth in value,” he said, stressing the 2035 Tourism Strategy is to see Portugal grow the sector “in quality and in a sustainable way”.
Once the various regional conferences have concluded, thematic meetings will be held, going deeper into more dimensions in the construction of Portugal’s 2035 Tourism Strategy, which should be ready by January 2025, says Lusa, “to then be validated by the government, subject to public discussion and officially approved in February next year (ie a month later), according to the planned timetable”.
Source: LUSA
