In 1996 the idea for a walking route from Alcoutim to Cape St. Vincent, some 300 kilometres, was born and by 2015 the Via Algarviana’s 800 kilometres of well-signposted paths is being used extensively by just the sort of out-of-season tourists the authorities are keen to attract in greater numbers.
The route has been developed and nurtured by Almargem since 2011 but the funding runs out this month and no other body wants either to manage or fund the route's maintenance and promotion.
On July 3rd in Faro, Almargem presented a new, free and bilingual guide in Portuguese and English with details of all the available routes including five new links, ten audio-guided routes and four new themed routes.
There now are eight picnic parks and a reception centre in Marmalete in Monchique yet the Almargem staff may as well not have bothered as nobody is interested that the money runs out at the end of the month and Almagrem soon will be out of the picture after years of inspired management and care.
The original project cost €1.2 million from European and national funds with contributions from each of the eleven councils that the path crosses.
The Regional Tourism Authority (RTA) and the Tourism Association of the Algarve (ATA) also were happy to chip in but now that proper funding is needed these bodies suddenly are invisible.
Almargem has twice presented the problem to the mayors’ talking group, AMAL, but that’s all the mayors have done, talk.
According to Almargem, the route’s survival and development needs a budget of €3,000-€8,000 for each of the participating councils per year.
"By the end of July we have to deliver a report to the CCDR. From August 1st, Almargem will have no money or personnel to invest in the Via Algarviana. The question that arises is: what do we do from there?" asks Almargem’s Luís Raposo.
The municipalities, parishes and partner organisations have agreed unanimously that there is an interest and aneed to ensure that the Via Algarviana is kept alive as it boosts the local economy of the interior of the Algarve.
If it is not cared for and promoted, the route will deteriorate and over time many of the guest houses, restaurants and bars past which the Via Algarviana runs will close.
The conference where this stark choice were outlined was attended by David Santos of the CCDR Algarve, Jorge Botelho from AMAL, Dora Coelho from the Algarve Tourism Association, João Fernandes from the Algarve Tourism Board, Victor Aleixo mayor of Loulé, other councilors presidents of parishes.
Too many cooks? If this number of people and organisations all think the Via Algarviana is a good idea, yet not one of them is prepared to help fund it, the future looks bleak and many years work will have been wasted.
