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Residential Tourism
Residential Tourism
http://www.algarveresident.com/story.asp?XID=30422
Algarve heeds Spanish costa chaos warning
By ELOISE WALTON
Tuesday, February 10.
Residential tourism accounts for a large proportion of visitors who come to the Algarve, with an estimated 120,000 second homes in the region. Around 50 per cent of all visitors to the Algarve are believed to stay in these private second houses or apartments instead of official tourist accommodation such as hotels.
António Pina, president of the regional tourism board, ERTA, said: “In 2006, I would have painted a different picture to what I will in February 2009. The housing market has certainly suffered and residential tourism could be the most affected part of the tourism sector during the current economic crisis.”
According to several speakers throughout the day, the reasons behind this dark picture are the devaluing of the pound sterling as well as the economic situation in the UK and Ireland, the region’s most prolific property buyers.
This has led to a significant reduction in the number of property sales in the region as well as the disappearance of off-plan purchases.
“Portugal was too optimistic, loans and mortgages were being given away too easily and projections for the prices and sales of new developments were completely distorted,” said Diogo Gaspar Ferreira, president of the Vale do Lobo resort.
Although residential tourism is still a grey area for researchers and tourist entities, it is generally described as seasonal home ownership. This, however, can mean home owners who live in the property for several months of the year, those who only come on holiday for a few weeks a year but let it out as well as those who buy property as an investment.
A survey conducted by PHD student Cláudia Almeida, between June and October 2007 in the departure area of Faro airport, revealed that the general profile of second home owners in the region were people aged in their mid fifties from the UK and Ireland. It also revealed a variety of other data such as the main activities that second home owners do while in the region such as walking (56.8 per cent), going to the beach (55.4 per cent) and golfing (36.6 per cent).
During the conference, sociology lecturer, Tomás Mazón from Alicante University in Spain gave dire warning to his Portuguese colleagues, showing the irreversible downfall of residential tourism along the Costa Blanca.
“A stretch of coast 200km long has no land left to build. Every last scrap of it has been used to build homes, the vast majority of which are second homes used just a few weeks each year,” he said.
Tomás Mazón shocked the audience with before and after photographs of the southeast Costa Blanca area of Spain, which has undergone major development of villa and apartment complexes.
“A recent article in a Spanish newspaper pointed to there being 90,000 apartments that are illegally rented each year,” he said.
According to the President of the regional association of Algarve Câmaras (AMAL), Macário Correia, the problems of private properties being rented out illegally has also provided a challenge to the Portuguese government, which has responded by creating a licence for property owners to declare this activity.
“Câmaras have faced new challenges in the last two decades with licensing and providing basic infrastructures for isolated and often ruined homes that have been bought and refurbished by foreigners,” said Macário Correia.
In response to the problems described and warnings of the irreversible damages caused by unplanned residential developments, many speakers also pointed out some key solutions to pull Portugal, and the Algarve region in particular, out of the crisis.
“There is no need to cry over spilt milk. Now is the time to act,” said António Pina. “In Chinese, the word crisis also means opportunity, and so the ERTA will do what it can to promote the residential tourism product.”
António Correia Mendes, Faro airport director said that the facility will be expanded to cater for an extra three million passengers per year as well as having specific services for frequent visitors.
“We predict the airport’s passenger numbers to grow from six million to nine million by 2023,” he said, adding that facilities such as an airport lounge, priority parking and fast track check-in will be created for frequent flyers, most of whom are second home owners in the region.
Diogo Ferreira said that Portugal will be one of the first countries in the EU to recover from the crisis.
“The Algarve has some great advantages over other countries. We are the closest sunny destination from the UK and have excellent accesses,” he said. “We need to promote a ‘buy in Portugal’ campaign alongside traditional tourism promotion.”
According to Diogo Ferreira, a range of measures should be applied to encourage the purchase of second homes in Portugal. These include investing in promotional campaigns targeting buyers from other countries such as Russia and Eastern Europe as well as the usual market, the creation of specific entertainment events in Portugal and an attractive fiscal regime for second home buyers.
Algarve heeds Spanish costa chaos warning
By ELOISE WALTON
Tuesday, February 10.
Residential tourism accounts for a large proportion of visitors who come to the Algarve, with an estimated 120,000 second homes in the region. Around 50 per cent of all visitors to the Algarve are believed to stay in these private second houses or apartments instead of official tourist accommodation such as hotels.
António Pina, president of the regional tourism board, ERTA, said: “In 2006, I would have painted a different picture to what I will in February 2009. The housing market has certainly suffered and residential tourism could be the most affected part of the tourism sector during the current economic crisis.”
According to several speakers throughout the day, the reasons behind this dark picture are the devaluing of the pound sterling as well as the economic situation in the UK and Ireland, the region’s most prolific property buyers.
This has led to a significant reduction in the number of property sales in the region as well as the disappearance of off-plan purchases.
“Portugal was too optimistic, loans and mortgages were being given away too easily and projections for the prices and sales of new developments were completely distorted,” said Diogo Gaspar Ferreira, president of the Vale do Lobo resort.
Although residential tourism is still a grey area for researchers and tourist entities, it is generally described as seasonal home ownership. This, however, can mean home owners who live in the property for several months of the year, those who only come on holiday for a few weeks a year but let it out as well as those who buy property as an investment.
A survey conducted by PHD student Cláudia Almeida, between June and October 2007 in the departure area of Faro airport, revealed that the general profile of second home owners in the region were people aged in their mid fifties from the UK and Ireland. It also revealed a variety of other data such as the main activities that second home owners do while in the region such as walking (56.8 per cent), going to the beach (55.4 per cent) and golfing (36.6 per cent).
During the conference, sociology lecturer, Tomás Mazón from Alicante University in Spain gave dire warning to his Portuguese colleagues, showing the irreversible downfall of residential tourism along the Costa Blanca.
“A stretch of coast 200km long has no land left to build. Every last scrap of it has been used to build homes, the vast majority of which are second homes used just a few weeks each year,” he said.
Tomás Mazón shocked the audience with before and after photographs of the southeast Costa Blanca area of Spain, which has undergone major development of villa and apartment complexes.
“A recent article in a Spanish newspaper pointed to there being 90,000 apartments that are illegally rented each year,” he said.
According to the President of the regional association of Algarve Câmaras (AMAL), Macário Correia, the problems of private properties being rented out illegally has also provided a challenge to the Portuguese government, which has responded by creating a licence for property owners to declare this activity.
“Câmaras have faced new challenges in the last two decades with licensing and providing basic infrastructures for isolated and often ruined homes that have been bought and refurbished by foreigners,” said Macário Correia.
In response to the problems described and warnings of the irreversible damages caused by unplanned residential developments, many speakers also pointed out some key solutions to pull Portugal, and the Algarve region in particular, out of the crisis.
“There is no need to cry over spilt milk. Now is the time to act,” said António Pina. “In Chinese, the word crisis also means opportunity, and so the ERTA will do what it can to promote the residential tourism product.”
António Correia Mendes, Faro airport director said that the facility will be expanded to cater for an extra three million passengers per year as well as having specific services for frequent visitors.
“We predict the airport’s passenger numbers to grow from six million to nine million by 2023,” he said, adding that facilities such as an airport lounge, priority parking and fast track check-in will be created for frequent flyers, most of whom are second home owners in the region.
Diogo Ferreira said that Portugal will be one of the first countries in the EU to recover from the crisis.
“The Algarve has some great advantages over other countries. We are the closest sunny destination from the UK and have excellent accesses,” he said. “We need to promote a ‘buy in Portugal’ campaign alongside traditional tourism promotion.”
According to Diogo Ferreira, a range of measures should be applied to encourage the purchase of second homes in Portugal. These include investing in promotional campaigns targeting buyers from other countries such as Russia and Eastern Europe as well as the usual market, the creation of specific entertainment events in Portugal and an attractive fiscal regime for second home buyers.
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Bruce Wallis
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squidgybits
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e-richard
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I'm feeling quite thick. I don't understand this article.
It starts out by warning the Portuguese not to fall into the mess created in Spain as a result of overbuilding, then the article concludes with "a range of measures should be applied to encourage the purchase of second homes in Portugal".
What's the message ?
It starts out by warning the Portuguese not to fall into the mess created in Spain as a result of overbuilding, then the article concludes with "a range of measures should be applied to encourage the purchase of second homes in Portugal".
What's the message ?
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Bruce Wallis
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What I think it means is that Portugal must look after the 2nd home owners and not treat them like "milch cows", and allow totally unregulated development, (or apparantly so), as was the case in Spain.
Coincidentally, I was talking to somebody about Carvoeiro camra may, or maynot be doing, with a Carvoeiro businesswoman yesterday.
She was saying that several maids and gardeners had lost work recently as villa-owners tighten their belts.
Also that the camra needs to recognise more clearly just how important a contribution to the local economy the villa owners make.
I think we are all agreed that the villa owners dont actually make much, if any actual profit from the villas. But each let villa probably feeds in excess of 5,000 euros a year into the local economy in terms of maids, poolmen and gardeners wages, plus all the household bills. This in addition to the several thousand euros spent in the area by the guests who come to Carvoeiro.
Any attempts by the camra to find ways to levy additional taxes on the villa owners, who in the main run almost loss making businesses is short sighted in her opinion.
I agree with this view.
Coincidentally, I was talking to somebody about Carvoeiro camra may, or maynot be doing, with a Carvoeiro businesswoman yesterday.
She was saying that several maids and gardeners had lost work recently as villa-owners tighten their belts.
Also that the camra needs to recognise more clearly just how important a contribution to the local economy the villa owners make.
I think we are all agreed that the villa owners dont actually make much, if any actual profit from the villas. But each let villa probably feeds in excess of 5,000 euros a year into the local economy in terms of maids, poolmen and gardeners wages, plus all the household bills. This in addition to the several thousand euros spent in the area by the guests who come to Carvoeiro.
Any attempts by the camra to find ways to levy additional taxes on the villa owners, who in the main run almost loss making businesses is short sighted in her opinion.
I agree with this view.
I'm slightly confused by the article too. It looks as if the journalist has summarised in a sentence or two what probably took the various originators several pages to explain, and in so doing has lost some of the meaning.
The airport anticipates a 50% increase in passenger numbers over 15 years and the majority of passengers are tourists .......Wow! That does seem to contradict the current slowdown in new builds, house sales etc. not to mention the plight of the Brits with the euro exchange rate and the Irish with a broken economy.
Why should Portugal recover more quickly and since when has it been the closest sunny destination to the UK? Positive rhetoric perhaps but can it be true?
The airport anticipates a 50% increase in passenger numbers over 15 years and the majority of passengers are tourists .......Wow! That does seem to contradict the current slowdown in new builds, house sales etc. not to mention the plight of the Brits with the euro exchange rate and the Irish with a broken economy.
Why should Portugal recover more quickly and since when has it been the closest sunny destination to the UK? Positive rhetoric perhaps but can it be true?
The article is talking about a 50% increase in traffic over the next 14 years, and this will depend on when and whether the worldwide economy picks up.
What is true is that there was a downfall in properties rented last year, and the bookings for villa rentals this year are again down, which in the short term is going to be bad for villa owners and for local shops and restaurants.
Hopefully in the short term it will also bring the price of golf down - well I can live in hope!
What is true is that there was a downfall in properties rented last year, and the bookings for villa rentals this year are again down, which in the short term is going to be bad for villa owners and for local shops and restaurants.
Hopefully in the short term it will also bring the price of golf down - well I can live in hope!