Tag Archive for: tourism

Protest

‘Life is not all about making money’

Tourism accounts for 10% of the global GDP. The World Tourist Organisation (UNWTO) estimates the number of tourists at 1.5 billion this year. Sooner or later every popular tourist attraction will be confronted with protests from local residents.

After anti-tourism protests in Venice, on the Spanish island of Majorca and in Athens, the trendy capital of Greece, locals in Sintra – a World Heritage area on the Portuguese west coast – are calling for solutions to the annual rush of summer visitors, who make everyday life in the picturesque region a misery.

The association of residents QSintra, has launched an initiative this year to show how locals feel. Windows, balconies, cafes and restaurants are adorned with catchy posters, challenging the council to finally do something.

Just as Porto and Lisbon are starting to limit ‘tuk-tuks’ and hop on – hop off buses in their historic centre, Sintra too is calling for action.

Although the association points out that tourism is important, it should not downgrade the landscape, depopulate the area and jeopardize the daily lives of the inhabitants. ‘There are just too many visitors, and too many cars and buses winding their way along the narrow roads.

More than being against, we want to point out solutions’, declares Magdalena Martins, the president of QSintra. Sintra needs a lot of tourism but if we‘re not careful the chicken with the golden egg is being killed.’

The number of inhabitants in the historic centre of Sintra has been steadily decreasing from 3706 in 1991 to 2615 in 2021, whereas the amount of tourists – according to the number of visits at the Tourist Office – has increased to over half a million, while Parks de Sintra last year sold more than 3 million tickets to the various monuments in the area.

Martinho Pimentel, a resident who has lived in town for 24 years, has been noticing the increase in an uncontrolled way. ‘Tourism has had a brutal growth and is not minimally organized to live with residents’, he denounces looking at the many cars passing through his street. ‘Last week my front door was blocked because a car was parked there, I only managed to get into the house four hours later.’

He also notes that the vibration and air pollution caused by the vehicles are such that he is afraid they will cause damage, not only to people but also to historic buildings. ‘Tourism itself is not the problem but quality has fallen because of the uncontrollable increase in the number of tourists’, he sighs.

Enjoy the week            Aproveite a semana               (pic Público/Sapo)








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Economy

‘Look for the persons who benefit and you will know’ – Lenin

The four biggest economies in the Eurozone – Germany, France, Italy, and Spain – together represent two-thirds of the European Gross Domestic Product (GDP), an important indicator of economic health.

The Portuguese economy is relatively small – representing 1.5% of the European GDP – and surpassed by countries with less population like the Czech Republic, Sweden, Denmark, Austria, and Ireland. 

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) forecasts a growth in the Portuguese economy of 2.6% this year and stabilization at around 2% in the medium term, with a fall in inflation to 5.6%. Earlier this year, the IMF had predicted a growth of just 1%. The above-expected growth is mainly attributed to an increase in tourism – after the coronavirus pandemic – and the export of goods.

According to the Portuguese Government, export is increasing and represents 40% of its GDP. Cork is the most exported product – sold to 133 countries – reaching a record of 1.2 billion euros in 2021.

The quality newspaper Expresso disclosed that wine exportations last year  – especially to the US, the UK, Canada, and Brazil – amounted to almost 1 billion euros. Portuguese wine is popular in every continent especially because of its original products like Green Wine, Port, and Madeira Wine.

Moreover, the country is the 4th biggest exporter of olive oil in the world and exports plenty of shoes, clothing, vegetables, and bicycles.

Last year a downward trend in debt and deficit was common in the Eurozone where public debt stood at 92% of GPD – four percentage points lower than at the end of 2021.Eurostat revealed that Portugal was able to register an even more pronounced reduction (eleven percentage points) in 2022, putting its actual public debt at 114%.

Even so, the Portuguese debt remains one of the highest of the 27 member states, just behind Greece and Italy.

The financial rating agency Fitch recently reaffirmed the assessment of the Portuguese debt at BBB+.
The robust reduction in public debt was also highlighted by the US agency, which forecasts that the Portuguese debt will further decrease to 105% next year. 

Even though Portugal’s economy has grown above the EU average this year, it still has one of the lowest growth rates in the world.

According to the newspaper Expresso, the GDP in the country has grown at a mean rate of only 1.2% per year since 1999 and is unlikely to change its course by 2028.


Enjoy the week            Aproveite a semana                                     (pic Público/Sapo)

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Delay

‘When traveling from Amsterdam last Sunday, the incoming TAP flight was delayed by an hour. Although they had to change terminals, no information whatsoever was given to the passengers. On arrival in Lisbon, they had to remain seated in the plane for about 20 minutes, due to lack of transport to the main building. Once arrived at the assembly line, they had to wait another 45 minutes to get their suitcases and subsequently stood 30 minutes in the queue to catch a cab to the city center!’

With the vigorous rise in the number of flights to Lisbon over the past 10 years – and a subsequent increase in passengers from 13 to 27 million – complaints about Humberto Delgado Airport have doubled since 2015. Delays at departure, on arrival, at customs ( especially when arriving from a non-Schengen destination) and delays in communication. ‘TAP is always delayed’, you often hear from fellow passengers and water bottles have become standard equipment in the long waiting queues.

Lisbon Airport is congested and overcrowded, a victim of a booming tourism industry. Records are broken every year. On the 22nd of June, 680 flight movements – take-offs and landings – were reported, an all-time high. That same month, the airport had to cancel even more flights than Heathrow, that handles three times as many passengers per year.

Nevertheless, growth is skyrocketing and a further boost of 10 million passengers is expected over the next 5 years. The 75 years old airport certainly can’t cope, despite its clean appearance, tasty food, and nice shops.
To alleviate the constraints, the government seriously considers renovating a former military airbase in Montijo – across the Tagus – that could be made operational for civil aviation by 2022.

The ecological movement ZERO criticises the lack of transparency in the decision-making and fears the impact on the flora and fauna in the nearby Tagus Estuary Natural Reserve and noise pollution for the approximately 55.000 residents in the area. It demands a proper environmental evaluation, including alternative sites for the complementary airstrip. If the government doesn’t meet these requirements, the environmentalists will go to court and eventually proceed to the European Commission. The aviation lobby warns that further postponement will cost the treasury each year 600 million euros in revenues, from tourism alone.


Bom fim de semana                   Have a great weekend                 (pic Público)

 

 

 

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Touristen tsunami

Wat is er lekkerder dan je met de wind in je gezicht en je armen buitenboord in een slow gangetje door Lissabon te laten rijden?

Nee, niet in een zo’n gescalpeerde dubbeldekker waar – op het bovendek en geroosterd door de zon – je pet steeds afwaait, als je die al had. Ook niet onderuitgezakt op de achterbank van een taxi, waar je niets van de stad ziet, alleen het steeds groter wordende bedrag op de taximeter, als die al aanstaat. En zeker niet in zo’n schattig toeristentrammetje, waar je zo dicht op elkaar moet staan dat je niet eens weet of je bestolen bent, als je al iets bij je had. Geef mij om de stad te ontdekken maar een zacht zoevende, elektrische Tuk-Tuk, zo’n veredelde scooter met een huisje erop waarvan alle ramen openstaan.

Portugal is in de mode

“Verblindende stranden, vibrerende steden en heerlijke wijn”. Volgens het Noord-Amerikaanse blad The Huffington Post, is een bezoek aan Portugal een absolute ‘must’ en Wallpaper Design Awards 2017 heeft Lissabon zelfs tot “beste stad” uitgeroepen.

Portugal is booming en de inkomsten door toerisme zijn verleden jaar gestegen naar een recordhoogte van bijna 12 miljard euro.

Toeristificatie

Meer vliegtuigen boven de stad, cruiseschepen op de Taag, segways op de stoep en de straat boordevol touringcars, trams en tuk-tuks.
We zijn in Lissabon, dat piept en kraakt onder zijn talloze blote-benen-toeristen. Een stad met meer buitenlanders dan Portugezen in zijn musea, met een winkelaanbod gericht op toeristen en niet langer op bewoners, die door de torenhoge huren hun stadscentrum worden uitgejaagd. Huurders in het nauw

De binnenstad een pretpark vol ijssalons en souvenirwinkeltjes, die allemaal dezelfde herinnerdingen verkopen. Waar koning Horeca heerst in straten en op pleinen en de elektronische muziek er moeiteloos in slaagt om de Lisbonieten tot ver na middernacht uit hun slaap te houden.

Maar ach, we zijn op een bepaald moment in ons leven allemaal toerist en wat is er dan lekkerder dan je met de wind in je gezicht en je armen buitenboord in een slow gangetje door Lissabon te laten rijden.

Geniet van het weekend                  Tenha um ótimo fim de semana

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