Unique tourism project in Tavira
September 16th saw the start of an interesting tourism project in Tavira, lead by a consortium established between the owner of the Pedras d’el Rei resort and the University of the Algarve.
The concept behind the project is for 12 graduates to start a one-year internship during which they’ll have to develop ideas meant to bring new life to the Praia do Barril beach concessions as part of the overall goal of fighting seasonality. The idea is to offer new tourism products and services aiming toward the senior and disabled citizens.
The idea man behind the project is Antonia Almeida Pires, the general manager of the Pedras d’el Rei resort; he invited the University of the Algarve to provide some academic backup and some institutional credibility to the venture.
The hope is that the project will have a positive effect on the region’s tourism industry during the low inter season, because Barril is indeed of regeneration, so the idea is to aim the project at seniors, a much more demanding market.
The interns will be the hands-on part of the approach, while the backing entities will be offering a background network meant to facilitate contacts with other entities, funding opportunities and providing their important know-how to the effort.
Around 200 University of the Algarve graduates applied for the 12 positions, so the organizers had quite the pool to choose from, and they were looking for a wide variety of fields of expertise, ranging from landscaping and management to things like marine biology and architecture.
Considering the one-year time span of the internship, during this time the interns will be staying at the Pedras d’el Rei development for free, and will be receiving a monthly wage of around 700 Euros – it’s quite a decent deal for fresh graduates.
We’ll have to keep an eye on this project this following year and see what comes of it.
