Madeira News Blog

(15th September). The last of today’s headlines : ‘Gratitude – Several personalities in the tourism sector pay tribute to Bernardo Trindade, in Lisbon’. The recognition from the tourist ‘trade’ is principally from hoteliers, who have made good use of the initiatives from Trindade, the secretary of state for tourism, and also a Madeiran. The tribute dinner, scheduled for tonight in Lisbon, carries some political baggage, involving businessmen from across the political spectrum, and some key players in tourism from Madeira, some of whom are regarded as ‘close’ to Trindade’s political opponent president Jardim. The dinner marks four years of good work and satisfaction, and the end of a 4 year political mandate. One of those interviewed said that Trindade was always "very open to innovation, to new ideas", focusing himself on the initiatives undertaken in the area of aviation [liberalisation of the airways], "which turned out to improve conditions for competition [in the sector], as well as take promotional measures that are very important for tourism nationally". In two years of doing this blog, Trindade has always come across to me as a respected, hardworking, and innovative individual in the media. It seems everyone thinks highly of him, except of course president Jardim and his PSD cronies. He will be re-elected on 27th of September, and assuming he doesn’t get reshuffled, either through the election results or by his boss, he will hopefully be able to continue making an enormous contribution to the economies of Portugal and Madeira. Complementary words from me, as far as politicians are concerned, are like hens teeth, but credit in this case is definitely deserved.

‘Hotel Sector Activity Fell 12.6% In The Month Of July – Madeira registered 76,400 less in nights occupied compared to the same month in 2008′. The number of rooms occupied fell to 529,200, mainly due to a decline in tourism from the UK and Germany, with decreases over the same period of 32.2 and 7.1% respectively from those two countries. The average number of nights stayed remained unaltered at 5.6. The likely loss of income to Madeira and businesses will be around €13.6 million, comparing the two Julys. Nationally, the fall in nights occupied fell 4.8%. It seems up and down with every month, and differing reports I know, but I just tell it as I see it.

‘Promotion in the Nordic market’. The Association of Promotion for Madeira is conducting various promotional activities in the Scandinavian market, an initiative aimed at travel agents and tour operators. Cátia Carvalho, executive director of the APM, said "that these actions are very important to Madeira, as we have been experiencing a decline in demand from tourists from Denmark, Norway, Sweden and Finland. The Scandinavian market is very important to Madeira and this new investment is aimed at stimulating demand and recovering the market". There are positive signs however, due to the new flights operated by SATA, serving Copenhagen and Stockholm, coming to Madeira, and the future is still brighter, with the recent announcement from Cimber Sterling airline of another flight between Copenhagen and Madeira, starting next month. In the first 8 months of this year, the number of visitors from Sweden dropped (-48%), Denmark (-28.1%), Finland (-14%), whilst those coming from Norway increased 94%.

(13th September). The last of today’s headlines : ‘Santo da Serra Takes In Biomass Plant – Nutroton invests €22 million for energy production’. Nutroton Energy, whose CEO is an ex PSD president, will install the biomass plant in the parish to generate electricity. The decision was taken unanimously by Santa Cruz councillors, after a proposal by the majority PSD. As well as produce clean energy, the plant will bring prosperity to the area, provide new jobs, and reduce the environmental problem of disposal of poultry waste. The land needed will be transferred without cost from the council to the company. The plant will have a capacity of 8 MW.

It’s probably more theoretical than practical for most of us, but the natural gas market reaches the final stage of liberalisation at the end of this year, a time when we the domestic consumers can choose our supplier, an option that is already available to large consumers. The liberalisation of the market started in January 2007, with EDP and Galp dominating the market up until then. Switching suppliers will cost nothing, but as most of us on Madeira probably use bottled gas we will not see much impact, although the impact of liberalisation on gas pricing is yet to be seen.

(12th September). ‘Fund Doesn’t Thrive – Only one family on Madeira has signed up to the fund created to help those who can’t pay their monthly bank mortgage payments’. The central government created scheme was there to help families during the crisis who were in arrears with their mortgages, by allowing them to give up ownership, but pay rent instead, until times improved. The truth is that the results show that the Portuguese, and Madeira in particular, did not believe in this product, which allowed the ‘tenant’ the right to buy back their property until the end of 2020. The banks were not keen to get involved, being one problem, but the massive retreat in interest rates also made the whole scheme less necessary.

‘Construction Slows But It Doesn’t Stop – Home building registers the lowest fall in Portugal’. It is a significant statistic. Madeira is the region of Portugal with the smallest fall in the construction of domestic properties, signalling that the crisis has not hit as hard here in the construction sector. In the first two quarters of this year, 275 homes were licensed, a fall of 27.6%. That compares with falls of 69% in the Azores, the worst, 55% in the Algarve, and 54% in Lisbon. In 2008 the number of residential buildings on Madeira was estimated at 82,735, with the actual number of homes within those estimated to be 119,995. 32% of these buildings are located in Funchal, 16% in Santa Cruz, and 11% in Câmara de lobos.

(13th September). The count for visiting cruise ships continues to impress. 35 are due in Funchal next month, and another 100 are expected in the final two months of 2009. The three month period will see over 220,000 tourists arriving by cruise ship, by far more than any other Portuguese port. November alone will see around 100,000 visitors here (54 cruise ships).

(12th September). ‘Lobo Marinho Will Undertake More Journeys To Porto Santo In October’. An extra six crossings will be fitted in, with Porto Santo Line rejigging it’s schedule for the big Porto Santo weekend of 3rd to 5th October. High demand for that weekend will be catered for through twice daily trips on 2nd, 5th & 6th October. Monday 5th October is a public holiday, and many Madeirans want to make a long weekend break on the golden island.

(11th September). The last of today’s headlines : ‘Fisco Recovers €12.2 Million In 7 Months – The Madeirans flee less from their financial obligations but the coerced revenue increases’. The treasury is benefiting from citizens feeling more inclined to pay their taxes, despite financial difficulties in families and businesses. More effective collection and checking from the Regional Directorate of Fiscal Affairs means that taxpayers are becoming more compliant. Some fines for late or non-payment have also decreased, and the number of court actions are lower comparatively than in mainland Portugal.

(10th September). ‘Finanças To Replace Letters With Emails – Electronic communications with the taxpayer starting in earnest this month’. The Directorate General for Taxation (DGCI) wants to finish with the paperwork and reduce costs. The action will need a progressive implementation, starting next Tuesday, because "we need to change the attitudes and habits", says a spokesman.

In the same article, the DGCI says it has 75,000 cars it needs to sell, that were seized for non payment of taxes. It aims to sell all of these by the end of this year. A spokesman says that cars are the most ‘seized’ item, followed by household goods and ‘bank accounts’, for non payment of taxes.

(11th September). ‘Ports Promote Terminal – Partnership with the Canaries is better value for the Port of Funchal’. The port of Funchal will be present in the trade fair ‘Seatrade Europe’, which this year will take place in the city of Hamburg from the 15th to 17th of this month. This year the representation is in partnership with the Canary islands, through (the theme) ‘Cruises in the Atlantic Islands’, which has a 48 square metre stand. Asked about the importance of this event for the region, particularly with regard to the port area, Bruno Freitas of the port authority APRAM acknowledged that "the representation of APRAM at this show serves as an effective promotion of Madeira Islands, and the Port of Funchal as one of the more competitive cruise ports in this area of the Atlantic, but also in the continuity of work on publicity and projection that have been held regarding the new Maritime Passenger Terminal". He reminded that work has already been done in this respect in Lisbon in January, as well as in Miami, the largest fair in the market, that took place in March this year.  "APRAM is promoting, along with national ports, the creation of new partnerships to explore new routes with the aim of attracting more cruise ships to the Port of Funchal, highlighting in this way its seasonality", he said. November this year will be the busiest and important month with 54 cruise ships visiting, some on repositioning journeys for a new cruise season, and able to see the construction of this new facility.

In a related article . ‘Project Alterations Could Delay Completion Of The Terminal’. The port authority APRAM guarantees that alterations being made to the new terminal, so that it can accommodate it’s own services, will not delay the inauguration. But the truth is that that opinion is certainly not shared by those who are on the site, having been obliged to take down structures (walls) to ensure the right configuration. The president of APRAM said "the changes in the project are designed to ensure the maximum functionality and comfort of passengers boarding and disembarking, as well as improved conditions for passengers in transit". "These changes at no time have caused any inconvenience or delay in carrying out the work, which, incidentally, continues on schedule", he added. The Diário believes that completion by the deadline of December 2010 is in jeopardy. APRAM has until December 2010 to complete the work without penalty to the €7 million granted by the Cohesion Fund.