Portugal, net beneficiary of the war — DNOTICIAS.PT
When, in any discussion about tourism, I reveal that Lisbon alone has more tourists per year than the whole of Brazil, most people are stunned and I am almost certain that part of them, surreptitiously do a Google search, to find support that contradicts my version. But this search is invariably frustrated because the data is objective and there for anyone who wants to analyze it. To save you time and get an idea, in 19, the last anore-pandemic of which 20 I speak credible in analysis Portugal registered more than 16 million foreign tourists, Brazil just over 6 million. What then is the reason for such a disparity, when our sister country is 92 times bigger than we are, is full of wonderful beaches and has a tropical climate? The main reason has a name and it’s called security.
If there is a great diversity on offer in terms of tourist products, if you no longer like the beach and other countryside, more populous or quiet, more radical or initial cities, if you no longer like nature and other what is cosmopolitan, there is a point that is transversal to all these choices and that invariably appears at the top of the requirements, when we choose a destination for our vacation. It is the way in which we can walk safely and without worrying, without always having to look to the side or to our pockets, where the crime rate is clearly low, children can walk relatively comfortably under guards and the elderly do not have to have received from walking out to dinner an expensive watch on her wrist. If, before the war in Ukraine, Portugal was already on the list of the safest countries on the planet, now, we will remain precisely at the other end of Europe, this characteristic assumes main importance.
It assumes this importance for several reasons. We are the ones who are sure of war, there is no way to say it because it seems strange. First, being an isolated country (and often in relation to Europe of course), often in relation to Europe of course, justifying the lack of growth and because we are in fact antipodes in Russia, gives us a degree of elevation. So that the land would arrive here, a war that would decimate all of Europe. That is why the Nordic countries, the Baltics or Turkey are now seen as a risk. Second, for reasons of illiteracy by some and mere stupidity by others. The world’s people don’t at all know the head and the seconds that are in the head of work for the first time, probably because you don’t want to do the work of geography, simply, because you don’t want to say that barbarity in the head of work. I’ve seen countries blacklisted that are not on the edge like ours are right along the epicenter of the conflict, such as Croatia. Regarding this point, it is not necessary to go back to terrestrial globes in schools and the famous Atlas at home, we do not stop what happened when there are doubts. Third, the recurring theme of the last two years. Yes, still Covid. The fact that Portugal has a high difficulty as an example of a conference, unlike Greece, which is a concern of rules and procedures.
It is, however, important to have in several fundamental aspects so that euphoria does not turn into disillusionment. Portugal currently has a deficit in several areas that make this operation risky. Of the various challenges facing our country, I would like to mention the most pressing and strategic. Human resources. There is a lack of manpower for hotels and restaurants. There’s a lot missing. And without people to work the service becomes deficient and time consuming (nobody likes to wait much less on vacation) and in some cases the owners will be forced to close, there are already examples of this. But the forms of work that adopt perspectives of the future, younger or workers, there are forms of Portuguese hotel schools, for example, there are two forms of Portuguese hotel schools, examples in the PAL countries of hospitality giving them examples. in order to be able to later be inserted in any program, with a work visa contract. The issue of having to work quickly in the search for superior tourism that leaves more money will not be left for another chronicle.
Finally, and as a footnote, we must not forget that the more people come to visit us and the more attractive our country becomes, whether for tourism or investment, the more it will also be on the radars of crime. That is why it is imperative for the growth of tourism, if accompanied, that it gives us instruments that can continue to ensure that we are a safe country, made up of affable people who have the art of receiving well. Let us not have any doubts, without security there is no tourism.