Portugal’s principal Hotels Association has issued a damning statement about the government’s support of the oil industry, notably the planned Galp-ENI test well 46 kilometres off Aljezur which is going ahead without an Environmental Impact Assessment.The Association of Hotels in Portugal (AHP) points out that, "it has been reiterating, since 2016, when the first news about oil exploration came to the public, that the simple association of the ‘Portugal’ and ‘Algarve’ brand with a polluting industry such as oil exploration will be very negative for tourism.”
The Algarve and the Costa Vicentina, "have been strongly committed to international promotion based on their sustainability as a destination for families on ‘sun and sand’ holidays, along with other segments such as nature tourism and sport," reads the hoteliers’ statement.
The AHP stresses that "this decision to move forward without an Environmental Impact Study is clearly harmful, since exploration is likely to generate negative impacts, either on fauna and flora, or from the socio-economic point of view because it affects the image of the destination and the resident communities that gain an important source of income from the sea."
For Raul Martins, president of AHP, "sustainable tourism and oil exploration are not compatible, so this situation will only hurt the largest export sector in the country and that contributes significantly to the national economy - not to mention the image of Portugal, the best destination in the world, when associated with an industry as polluting as this."
See also: 'Ready for battle - 'Algarve mobilises against oil'
by Natash Donn
portugalpress May 24, 2018
