“Tourist harvest” in Portugal. The country is expecting a record 33 million vacationers

This year's holidays, standing in Portugal under the sign of the mass influx of vacationers, are full of restrictions and sanitary controls on the beaches introduced in some resorts. However, they guarantee good financial results of the tourism industry.

“These are tourist harvest, which will probably last until the end of this year,” said the co -owner of Adapt, Miguel Pinto. She runs real estate for tourists in the Lisbon and Algarve agglomeration, in the south of Portugal.

This opinion, as Pinto pointed out, is confirmed by the forecasts of the Government Agenda for Tourism – the so -called Portuguese tourism. They prove that this year's influence for the country's economy in connection with the expected influx of over 33 million vacationers should exceed EUR 33 billion by the end of the year.

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Until now, 2024 was considered a record -breaking in this respect, during which a total of 31 million people spent in Portugal. They spent a total of nearly EUR 28 billion during the holidays.

The mass influx of vacationers, however, has its negative pages: higher prices for short -term rental of apartments, difficulties in parking vehicles, noise and greater pollution of beaches.

– vacationers in Portugal, unlike neighboring Spain, where protests against mass tourism are organized in many cities, they are still welcome. However, it cannot be denied that their mass presence bothers many local residents – Maria Domingus, a resident of Albufeira, in Algarve, told PAP.

It was in the area of this popular resort that the most protests have been held recently, disgusted with a very large presence of vacationers. During the manifestations organized in the spring, they demanded exacerbation of regulations to stop drunkenness and presence on the streets of undressed people.

“British, who often do not respect local customs, lead the way in this infamous relative, – added Domingues.

The Albufeira authorities did not remain deaf to the protests of the inhabitants and after the bans of walking in swimsuits after the resort, introduced on Wednesday a night ban on selling “take -out” alcohol by trade and gastronomy facilities.

In turn, from Thursday, sanitary inspectors began unannounced inspections on the beaches in the Algarve and on the west coast of Portugal, related to numerous incidents. Among them are, among others Cases of bathing pollution and attempts to limit the beach area by some hotels with tablets with the inscription: “For hotel guests”.

– I was already on several beaches in the Lisbon agglomeration and I noticed separate areas where only guests of the hotel adjacent to the coast could be stayed – PAP complained about this year's holiday in Portugal, Mr. Tomasz from Pruszków.

On Wednesday, the Portuguese Environmental Agency (APA) issued a statement in which she emphasized that plaques placed in bathing areas informing about allegedly private beaches are abuse. “In Portugal, all beaches are public,” said the government agenda.

Inspections carried out on Portuguese beaches also include control of water quality, whose purity here and there fell together with the mass presence of tourists.

In July and August, several beaches in Portugal were temporarily closed, including the beach in the popular Nazare resort, on the west coast, where several hundred people poisoned with feces. The cause of the incident was to be a failure of the sewage system adjacent to the beach.

The temporary closure of three bathing areas also occurred at the beginning of August in the Algarve, where at the beaches of Verde, Alagoa-Altura and Verde Lago, an excess of the colon, i.e. E. coli bacteria, were found.

From Faro Marcin Zatyka (PAP)

Zat/ Mal/ Mick/