The head of the Algarve’s Hotels Association (AHETA) says he does not want to join the slanging match going on between Oporto council and TAP, and then criticized the airline’s strategy, or lack of, for the Algarve.
Elidérico Viegas today hit out at the airline, "Despite TAP never depending on the Algarve and the Algarve tourism sector never depending counting on TAP, hoteliers and tourist business owners refuse to feed a north-south war."
AHETA added that TAP and the Algarve tourism sector are "on a collision course."
"Successive alliances entered into by TAP over the past decades were clearly detrimental to the Algarve’s tourism interests, particularly as regards the abandonment of slots at airports considered strategic for regional tourism, Heathrow for example," accused AHETA.
According to representatives of the Algarve tourism sector, the national air carrier “has never had, and in all likelihood, will never have a strategy directed towards tourism in the Algarve.”
Despite the position taken, tourism representatives in the Algarve expect that TAP "can overcome the serious financial problems in which it is immersed."
The Mayor of Oporto’s council, Rui Moreira, has criticized TAP in recent weeks, accusing the company of failing to serve the interests of the north of Portugal and of abandoning Sá Carneiro airport which serves this region.
TAP runs flights to and from Faro and Lisbon and has remained aloof from the low cost tourist flight market, leaving easyJet, Ryanair and others to service the Algarve.
Elidérico Viegas, AHETA
