More holidays for less, Young Madeirans prefer the UK, and not much else!
TODAY’S PHOTO : Thanks to Helen … a Parachutist at the Funchal 500 celebrations on Thursday.
Front Page News : source : Diário de Notícias 24/8/2008
Despite the economic problems, we on Madeira are continuing to go on holidays, in fact more than previously, but the types of holidays chosen are changing. Low cost travel (by air, or by ferry to Portugal / Canary Islands) is definitely changing the shape of travel, because families can save so much money on the journey costs. A big travel agent, Mundo Vip Madeira, says that the number of travellers has increased 18% on 2007, but pointed out that people are asking for cheaper options. The package to the Canary Islands, the old favourite, is sold out until the end of September. Caribbean, Cape Verde and the Tunisia are the more popular destinations outside of Europe, whilst Brazil is falling in popularity.
The United Kingdom is the current favoured destination for emigrating Madeirans, where there are already 120,000 living (YES ONE HUNDRED AND TWENTY THOUSAND!), whilst the scattering of Madeirans worldwide amounts to around one million. South Africa (400,000) and Venezuela (300,000) have the largest Madeiran communities, but they are aging, and the young and more dynamic are definitely headed for the UK. Could the last youngster leaving Madeira please turn off the lights!
The big front page picture is of ‘Danny’, a Portuguese footballer who is likely to be transferred within Russia for a massive €30 million.
Other news :
Having scoured the newspaper front to back, there is again nothing that warrants the effort of a translation, unless you want to know about a cracked pavement, a rubbish and recycling point that gets overfilled, or a man who puts trash in his neighbours garden.
Marítimo lost 0-1 yesterday in a game at Naval. Nacional also played and won 3 – 1 away at Leixões, putting them top of the Portuguese league!
Helen wrote in to comment on the Funchal 500 celebrations … sounds like another dissatisfied customer “On the whole, the celebrations were very disappointing and there were long gaps between events which made it a very long day. The parade was mainly very sombre, if you had stumbled across it, you would think it was a funeral celebration. The fireworks were very good but probably not as good as at New Year. As usual, the publicity was very poor. Even though we had a programme, I rather suspect we missed some things. If anyone had flown in specially for this, they would be disappointed. I hate to offer such negative comments but the whole event had a very amateurish feel about it. Such a shame.”
I had a letter from CaboTV last week, or Zon Madeira as I think they are now known. In a desperate attempt to get new and retain old customers, they are now offering the telephone facility free of charge for 12 months (unlimited free calls to Portuguese land lines), which was previously €9.99 per month. I had a look at their website and the offer was there for all to see, so I thought it was fair play that they wrote to me to tell me. However, you have to contact them to get switched to the ‘free phone’ deal, so why didn’t they just do it anyway … because they want me to feel loved I expect, but also so I agree to keep my whole TV / Internet / Phone deal for another 12 months.
So now we have 4 options for TV, including just a normal TV ariel, but excluding the illegal reception of Sky TV. We are feeling the benefits of the new found competition I am sure, but the confusion also. Do I go for Meo or Zon, what is going to be the best deal, and how come Meo has more channels than Zon, and what about the new Zon box HD … do I need it? Has anyone worked out in rough terms which is the best deal for TV, phone and internet, either in packages or individually … not an easy task if you don’t understand Portuguese.
ps – of those who volunteered to trial the ‘sign in’ version of the madeira4u blog, as far as I can see Alan is the only one who tried it. Tobi, Vic and Sam did you get the email invitations I sent?
Aside from your valued blog responses (you can reply direct using the form at the bottom of each blog comments page), please send any unreported Madeira news, photos, events information, or snippets for the madeira4u blog to blog@madeira4u.com – anyone can join in! Thank you!
