A report into the seasonality of tourism commissioned by airports operator ANA has resulted in a 35 action point plan to improve and promote the Algarve’s walking and cycling routes.
Essential upgrade work will be completed by the end of the summer and a schedule of improvements will be made over the next three years to enable the Algarve to become a walking and cycling destination in the cooler, off season months.
The Development Plan for Algarve Cycling & Walking 2016/19 was launched today. The plan builds on existing infrastructure to create a salable product and promotes it to combat seasonality.
Some of the routes already are “world class, such as the Rota Vicentina” which has just won a coveted European award from the Ramblers Association, and other such as the Ecovia pan-Algarve cycling route has fallen into decay in many sections due to council spending cut backs. Other sections were never completed, such as in the Olhão council area, as the council seemed to have better things to do with its time.
This study was commissioned by ANA Airports of Portugal and produced by Tourism Development International’s consultants Peter Mac Nulty and James Chilton who presented their findings at the headquarters of the Algarve Tourism Board in Faro.
The consultants concluded that although the Algarve has ideal conditions to promote cycling and walking holidays, there remains much to do for this type of holiday to become recognised, particularly in the most important markets such as Germany, the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, France and Spain.
The whole thing needs pulling together with targeted communication, a good website, a reservations system, trip planning apps and a coherent and coordinated approach by the many agencies and businesses involved, according to the report.
According to Filipe Silva, representing Tourism of Portugal which will be coordinating the plan, the idea is to have a structured offer which can be launched, "in the winter of 2016/17."
For this to be possible, Silva said that four key routes; the Rota Vicentina, Via Algarviana, the Guadiana Route and the Ecovia cycling route along the coast, must be improved, maintained and new integrated signage “in harmony with European standards" needs to be installed.
Mayors group AMAL, Turismo de Portugal, the Algarve Tourism Association and the Algarve Regional Tourist Board are the four key drivers of this strategy which includes more than a dozen entities.
This plan, said Secretary of State for Tourism Ana Mendes Godinho, needs to go beyond a mere protocol, "I do not believe in agreements which do not leave the desk," she said, confident that the cycling and walking plan will not fail.
"In this plan, there are 35 concrete actions with a budget and well-defined timings. I will be behind the project coordinator every day to see what is happening," Godinho assured the audience.
Rui Ribeiro from ANA said that the ariport operator's management felt it was time to be proactive in finding solutions to combat seasonality.
"Passenger numbers at Faro Airport in January are six times lower than in July or August,"
The first stumbling block is that the maintenance of the paths and cycling routes is down to local councils.
"The councils, coordinated by AMAL, have a key role here. We are working to turn the Algarve into an area that is attractive throughout the year," according to the president of AMAL, Jorge Botelho.
"What we'll do is repair the paths, enabling them to be promoted with confidence and we will fix the signage and work on other aspects of this project with wi-fi points, maps and also working with communities to create reference points," added Botelho who earlier this year led the councils’ refusal to pay for the maintenance of the Via Algarviana walking route.
The reason for the councils' reticence is clear; the mayors knew that someone else would be paying them to carry out the Via Algarviana maintenance work which again they may subcontract to Almagem.
The President of the Algarve’s Regional tourism Board was at the launch if this brave new world of off season tourism. Desidério Silva said that from today it will be possible to produce the promotional materials and website and that “I myself have often said that it is necessary to boost the region between October and May and these products have an important role," concluded the Sage of Faro.
