The peak summer season of the Algarve has just ended and according to the overall strategy for the region, the RTA put this sort of ‘road-show’ together in order to attract more Spanish tourists to the region during the low-season. We know that in order for the Algarve to develop and thrive further, it has to start marketing itself during its off season as well, and this is part of a move to do just that.

The road-trip will last for three days, with the bus heading towards Seville, Granada and Madrid, where workshops will be held to promote the Algarve to potential visitors. The road-show will aim to also convince Spanish professionals to promote Algarve holiday packages to their local clientele.

Desiderio Silva – the head of the RTA – said that this tour round Spanish travel agents is meant to promote the Algarve to a universe of about 14 million Spaniard residents in the communities of Madrid and Andalucia, he continued to say that this will prove to be beneficial to the Algarve tourism business overall.

The road-show will include a dinner in each city meant exclusively for trade professionals, local press and other local entities which are relevant to the cause, the number expected to show up is of around 300 people in total.

Silva added that this programme has already shown success by the number of confirmation that have arrived. The initiative will be taking place in October, a date that was chosen so as to coincide with the start of the Algarve low-season.

This initiative will be repeated in November when it will be going to Corunna and Vigo in Spain, as well as Oporto and Aveiro, in northern Portugal meant to boost interest among national tourists.

After all is said and done, the RTA has invested about 55,000 Euros in these initiatives.

The name of the protocol is actually the Eurocity Vila Real Santo Antonio – Ayamonte protocol, and it binds traders on either sides of the river to help each other, and it has managed to raise the expectations of business and shop owners in both regions.

The protocol between the municipalities of Ayamonte and Vila Real de Santo Antonio was signed last month with the backing of the Algarve Committee for Regional Coordination and Development, and is seen by marketers of both nationalities as one way of overcoming the economic crisis.

The main objectives of the Eurocity protocol are to strengthen cross-border cooperation, to share equipment and to define a joint development strategy.

Shop and business owners in both towns seem to be a bit more optimistic about their future with the protocol having been signed, feelings that really weren’t possible before.

The power of both territories concentrating their efforts behind a common goal of attracting visitors to the ‘eurocity’ has people talking, with traders highlighting that this joint promotion of both municipalities can be very beneficial from the tourism point of view.

According to at least one establishment owner, the two cities share a lot of history, and in recent times they’ve turned their back on each other, but now with the protocol having been signed, there’s a definite change in the air, there’s renewed hope when there was none before.

We can only wait and see what happens in the future at the border between the two countries and regions.

Why has this not happened sooner? Well the protest was sparked by the decision of the Portuguese Government to not extend the exemption granted to residents beyond the end of September, even if by all accounts the tourism sector was on the whole expecting it.

Eliderico Viegas, a major representative of the Algarve tourism sector said that when it comes to these tolls there should be no discrimination between residents of the Algarve and those visiting, so they tolls should be suspended completely; further stating that the introduction of the tolls has shown to be an anti-tourism decision and thus against the interests of the entire region.

He backed up these claims by pointing out the fifty percent reduction in traffic on the A22 highway and a whopping twenty percent drop in the number of tourists coming from Spain, saying that these were enough reasons to eliminate the tolls immediately. The Algarve car rental industry and Faro airport transfers services has seen some problems as well.

Antonio Pina, the President of the Algarve Tourism Board, said that he too wasn’t surprised by the Government’s decision but also mentioned that it does threaten to be the ‘blow that would sink the Tourism Algarve ship’, pretty strong words indeed.

He continued to say that there is an urgent need to completely suspend the A22 tolls as well as oppose any and all attempt by the Government to either extend or withdraw any exemption for residents because this is an unacceptable discriminatory policy.

Will the 1^st of October protest combined with these harsh words from leading figures in the Algarve tourism sector sway the Government in any way? We have no way of knowing that, we’ll just keep an eye on what happens in the future of A22 toll and report on it.