Five international tour operators have been sampling the delights of the eastern Algarve region this week, enjoying the mountain scenery, the hiking trails, the food, and the beauty of the Guadiana and Ria Formosa.
Hailing from France, Denmark, Sweden and the Netherlands the tourism experts were introduced to some of the highlights of the area, starting with a visit to the Alcoutim orgainsed by the Association of Tourism of the Algarve, and the Megasport company, in partnership with the City Council and the Odiana association.
Thursday day began with a presentation of the history of Alcoutim, then a visit to the library and exhibition centre of the town, then up to castle and the famous river beach.
The visit continued with a review of the area's walking trails and a river trip.
After lunch it was down to the Algarve coast, then a bike ride through Cacela Velha and on to Santa Luzia and sunset on the beach of Barril in Tavira.
All well organised and hopefully some business will come from this day out, however the organisations involved served to highlight the wide variety of tourism promotional bodies both local and regional that are in danger of getting their wires crossed with national and regional initiatives.
With the head of Turismo de Portugal recently criticising the number of bodies involves at a regional level, these local initiaives may be better as part of a larger plan.
Odiana is an Association for the development of the region of Baixo Guadiana, in the Algarve and was founded by the municipalities of Alcoutim, Castro Marim and Vila Real de Santo António in 1998.
