The Council of the idyllic, quiet, westernmost municipality of the Algarve region, has decided that what the area needs is more hotels.
Just as the tourism market changes slowly but surely away from hotels and towards short term ‘Alojamento Local’ type accommodation, Aljezur's mayor welcomes the arrival of new hotels and blames the growth in local 'AL' tourist rental properties for driving up prices and making property unaffordable for locals.
New hotels are to be built 'south of Arrifana beach and at Perdigão,' according to the Mayor of Aljezur, José Gonçalves, in an interview with local news service, Sul Informação.
Gonçalves says that tourism is growing and Aljezur benefits from some niche markets such as surfing and walking but that local AL accommodation simply does not provide enough beds despite there being over 700 AL registered businesses in the Aljezur area - and many more unlicensed ones.
The mayor said that one of these hotel projects has just been approved and that the 22-room hotel will be constructed at the Perdigão site with, "foreign investment," while not explaining why the source of funds in important.
A further project that has been on hold for over a year has just been approved by the ICNF (Instituto de Conservação da Natureza e das Flores) for an area located south of Arrifana.
This is a "Portuguese investment" project for 50-rooms of accommodation spread over the landscape.
Gonçalves notes that people who have done up old houses in the city and now let these to tourists are preventing locals buying properties and may think that the provision of more hotels will halt the inexorable rise of AL accommodation.
