Madeira News Blog

(30th August). Today’s main news story : ‘Inter-Island Voyages More Expensive In The Region – To travel by plane between the islands of Madeira costs triple that in the Azores and the Canaries. Airport taxes also penalise the connection between Madeira and Porto Santo’. The Diário conducted a study in the three locations mentioned, about the cost of inter island travel, by air and sea. The conclusion is that mile for mile, the good people of Madeira pay more, and one of the main reasons is the direct government subsidies given (or not given). Cheaper fuel prices and economies of scale also play a part, as well as airport taxes. One of the conclusions is that inter-island travel in the Azores, by sea, costs €0.07 per mile, whilst here it costs €1.20 per mile. By air it costs on SATA between the Azores €3.50 per minute of air travel, whilst here the comparative cost is €9.60 per minute, charged by the same airline. In the Canary Islands the state subsidises residents by almost 60%, the Azores by 25%. Nothing for Madeirans, although those who live on Porto Santo do have an entitlement of 35% discount. It’s a long article, but if anyone wants to know more the two charts on these links sum it up MADEIRA TRAVEL MADEIRA TRAVEL 2

All people suffer from post-holiday syndrome on returning to work and their routines – Syndrome is "a longer version of the sensation that people feel Sunday night, having to return to work". Fatigue, concentration problems, and irritability, are symptoms that experts associate with the post-holiday syndrome, which this time of year affects those who, after a rest period, have to return to work and the routine of everyday life. Many according to a report are suffering from anxiety. An expert on the subject recommends an easing back into the routines, by going to bed early and getting up earlier, and anything else that helps readjust the routines more gradually. I guess that day then for many is tomorrow?

‘Engineer Rui Vieira Died – The agronomist and politician was aged 83′. He was the first director of the Jardim Botânico (Botanic Gardens) of Funchal, and a Euro MP for the CDS / PP. He died yesterday of cancer. 

Today’s sports headline, in football again : ‘Real Madrid Win (3 – 2) With A Goal From Ronaldo – The Madeiran put away a penalty to score one of the goals of the victory of the ‘merengues’ in the start of the Spanish league’.

‘Ponta Delgada Waiting A Civic Centre – With the festival ‘at the door’, it is clear also that it lacks a public bathroom in the centre of the parish’. This sounds like one of those gripping local features that I thought had disappeared a few weeks ago. It has a nice photo of a petrol station / cafe, and a few local men going about their business on the front page of today’s newspaper, but I couldn’t copy that, so we have a scenic view instead. Aside from the WC, it seems that Ponta Delgada has just about everything except adequate parking, and having it’s own petrol station is indeed a great privilege. Aside from that it has it’s own multibanco (ATM), post office, pharmacy, and even a swimming complex. The civic centre was promised to the people ten years ago. As for life there, there is a small drug problem, but mostly out of sight, but people continue to feel safe in the parish. Next weekend is the festa of Bom Jesus, that is one of the most popular and well attended on Madeira, and that is one of the reasons so many people complained about the lack of a public toilet. Like everywhere else here, the youngsters don’t want to work the land their families worked for generations.

‘Funchal Câmara Doesn’t Back Down On The Projects Of Clean Public Transport – President Miguel Albuquerque  assures that the ‘Eco Line’ and the ‘Green Line’ will not affect the taxis’. Despite the opposition of the taxi drivers, Funchal Council will not back down on the projects for environmentally friendly public transport. Eco Line goes into free travel on Tuesday, and September 22nd sees the start up of the Green Line, which connects Praia Formosa Beach to the city centre. The president of CMF believes that the controversy with the taxi drivers is being fed and used by politicians on the eve of elections. As regards to the Green Line, which replaces the various existing buses, Albuquerque states that it will not be free travel, and what changes is that the new buses are environmentally friendly.

‘The president of the Azores, Carlos César, argued yesterday that the Portuguese autonomous regions can not be treated equally by the state – Madeira to Porto Santo is 40 miles, but Santa Maria to Corvo is over 600 miles’. He directed his speech at the elections of 27th September, and to support the re-election of José Sócrates, Prime Minister. In his view, the Government of the Republic can not "treat in the same way things that are different," noting that the Azores are composed of nine islands and Madeira of just two. So the Azores should be entitled to a "positive discrimination" within the Regional Finance Law, which determines the amount of money that comes from the state to the autonomous regions. In other words he argues that the Azores should receive more state money than Madeira. That reality, according to the PS president, "the PSD and Manuela Ferreira Leite (party leader) have not understood" accusing the Social Democrats of wishing to change the calculations of transfers from the islands so as to "harm the Azores". "It is therefore crucial and fundamental to the Azores that the PS and José Sócrates win in the elections of 27th September", he appealed.

UPDATES :

Following the earlier story about the new environmentally friendly buses in Funchal, the council has said it wants to take out out the hotel coaches / buses that frequent Avenida do Mar, and encourage tourists to take the new ‘Green Line’ buses instead. The idea is to reduce congestion along the Avenida and the Estrada Monumental, by taking out the coaches which often carry very few passengers. That means tourists will have to pay for transport in and out of downtown Funchal.

‘RTP-M Interviews 12 Candidates In 12 Days’. The TV station of Madeira has decided to interview the 12 main candidates from the political parties that are standing in the national legislative elections on 27th September. The first one starts on Tuesday, and they will be shown after the 9 pm news. Each candidate or party representative will be given around 30 minutes to express their ideas and positions to the Madeira public. The channel is also considering having debates, but nothing is decided yet.

The final front page article today has a photo that makes no sense at all : ‘Ministers Come To Support Bernardo – A circuit of lectures will include a minister and several secretaries of state’. The objective is to discuss "key areas for the Region" with Bernardo Trindade, the socialist candidate for the parliament, as part of a set of initiatives that will take place from 7th September. He has invited several members of central government to take part, as well as other personalities from Madeira. "The aim is to trigger thought and discussion, and seek to decentralize initiatives," says Bernardo Trindade. The first lecture is scheduled for September 7th in Santa Cruz, and will be dedicated to the environment and spatial planning. The roadshow then goes to Câmara de Lobos (8th), Funchal (10th), administrative simplification will be the subject on 12th, then to Ponta do Sol (14th) to discuss agriculture, and then Machico to discuss employment. Porto Santo will be the venue to discuss tourism and transport on the 16th, with a final lecture still to be arranged on the 18th to discuss policies for autonomy.

‘Sócrates Against Social Security Proposed By The PSD’. The prime minister and secretary general of the Socialist Party, José Sócrates, said yesterday in Faro that he disagrees with Social Security based on "every man for himself", and criticized the social democrats for defending the capping of the Portuguese Social Security, as outlined in its prospectus presented to the public on Thursday. He said what was being proposed certainly means the "privatisation" of part of Social Security, and it would be "a bad decision for the country".

A very thin newspaper today, so that’s it for now. With the holiday season over tomorrow, perhaps there might be a few more journalists on duty.

(11th August). ‘Trade Unions Of TAP Call A Strike For The End Of August And In September – The strike will hit flights for Madeira’. 5 trade unions representing TAP workers have called the coordinated strike for 28th & 29th August, and 11th & 12th September. In a statement to the media, Vitor Mesquita, leader of the Workers Union for Aviation and Airports, said that workers are demanding a wage review and clarification of collective bargaining.

(10th August). ‘Unfair competition and unlawful acts in the ‘Safaris’. The off-road trips for tourists are a growing activity on Madeira, but often the law is disregarded. That creates a particularly difficult situation for an island that depends heavily on tourism, and where the necessary care is not present in the the quality of services offered to visitors. Some voices however criticise the law that is detached from reality. One way or another, the truth is that the extent of illegalities detected is extensive and ranges from the use of drivers without proper qualifications for the job (the law requires a tourism approved driver / mountain guide / guide-interpreter), to the use of vehicles in a poor state of repair and of questionable safety, and through the placement of cards (permits?) allocated to ‘jeep’ agencies’ in unlicensed vehicles belonging to third parties. One company in the sector said "For a start there is little regulation. Since 2006, when my company began to operate, I can assure you that we never had any checks, and never saw anyone doing them. Also, I see almost every day examples of the companies that do not comply with the law, including the provision of qualified drivers. The market is being distorted and those, who like me, comply with the law are the worst affected".

‘Passengers In The Airport Of Madeira Fall 3.2% – The airport lost seven thousand passengers in July compared to the same month in 2008′. The numbers relate to arrival and departure movements. The airport operator ANAM reports that there were 213,941 passengers last month. The decline was mainly due to a 19.1% fall in international traffic, down to 96,135 (118,839 in July 2008), but was mostly offset by an increase in domestic travellers, up 15.4% to 117,086, now representing 55% of all airport passenger movements.

‘Hotels On Porto Santo ‘Resolved’ This Year’. With the threat of the closure of several hotels during the low season this Winter, and still without a tour operator interested in bringing tourists to the island during the low season, the matter of new bed capacity is being questioned, taking into account the prospect of the three new hotels promised. With the Colombo Resort (on hold with financial difficulties), the hotel promised by Cristiano Ronaldo, and the Pestana Dunas (postponed), the council believe it will be a matter of some time until they are moved forward. The Pestana unit will go ahead, and although the work was originally planned to commence early in 2009, work should start at the end of this year, or early next, with the opening in 2011. Pestana already have the licences necessary, and have already started marketing units priced at €259,000. The socialist candidate there in the forthcoming elections is challenging the hotel strategy, asking "who benefits from all this?", with no guarantees of more jobs or opportunities for businesses, whilst tourism is so depressed.

‘Doggy Hotels Also Feel The Crisis’. Apparently dog hotels in the Algarve have seen a drop in bookings of 50 to 60%. A cat hotel too, that was full last August, is just 30% booked for this month, but 80% of their clients are English, French and German. People who used to travel back to their birth countries 3 times a year, are now travelling just once, and leaving their pets with friends and neighbours to be looked after. For one day at €7, the hotel for felines, offers custom hand-painted rooms, "room service" with morning greetings to each guest by the name of the animal, delicacies and water. There are also hygiene care and veterinary services in case of sudden illness. The "check in" Hotel for Dogs can be done between 09:00 and 19:00 and the service is door to door, with taxi, which collects and returns the animal to the owner. If the owners can’t afford to put their dogs in the hotels, when they go off on holiday I guess their pets have to sleep ruff?

There is a general article about the bus company Horários do Funchal, financial stuff and so on, but I was amazed by some of the facts and figures in the article. In 2008, it carried 27.2 million passengers, on journeys amounting to 9 million kilometres. It has 626 employees, all men apart from 35, costing in wages, employment costs, etc. €13.4 million a year.

(9th August). ‘Not Even With Jellyfish And Pollution – During July, the beaches of Funchal continued very popular’. A somewhat more upbeat account than the recent Jornal article about the jellyfish. Even with the complaints about pollution and jellyfish, Madeirans continued to frequent the beaches last month. The company that manages the beach and pool complexes in Funchal, Frente MarFunchal, reports that the number of entrances at Lido, Barreirinha, Ponta Gorda, and Doca do Cavacas rose to 92,000 in July, compared to just 31,000 in June. Lido alone saw 41,138 admissions in July, up also on 2008, with Ponta Gorda admitting 39,251 people. Sea water tests taken up to 2nd August all indicated good quality clean water for swimming at all the Funchal beaches. Sea water quality tests will continue until the end of September. The results can be seen here WATER QUALITY but to save a look, all the beaches of Madeira currently rate GOOD, except Ponta do Sol and Porto da Cruz (both ACCEPTABLE). On the website go to the tab at the top DADOS SINTETIZADOS, and then QUALIDADE DA ÁGUA,  then click Madeira when the map comes up.

(19th June). The hotel sector is going through a hard time, and unemployment after the Summer is likely to rise. That is the opinion of the president of ACIF, the Hospitality Bureau.

‘Businessmen In Tourism Say That This Summer Will be The Worst Of The Modern Era’. Comparable to 1975 they say, but the President of Tourism of Portugal disagrees and says it won’t even be the worst of this decade for the sector, but maybe the worst in the last three years. He believes that the tourism sector can finish with a loss not exceeding 10% in both terms of number of tourists and revenue.

The owners / administrators of Funchal Design Hotel were a little surprised to find their hotel up for sale on the website ‘Madeira Legacy’. The hotel that opened in June last year is up for sale at €2.5 million, and the administrator contacted denied having any involvement. The issue of hotels being sold on the internet was raised yesterday in the Legislative Assembly of Madeira (but not really sure why?).

At a meeting yesterday to discuss ‘green transport’ measures, Funchal Council (CMF) announced that travel on the ‘Linha Eco’ buses would become free of charge. The president of CMF is to sign a protocol with the Regional Secretariat for Tourism and Transport that will improve ‘urban mobility’ in Funchal. The fours buses owned and operated by the ‘yellow bus company’ Horários do Funchal, operate within specified city boundaries. The non-polluting buses were made free for a short period at Xmas 2008, and the initiative was a great success (wonder why?). The initiative will cost CMF €100,000 a year, money it intends to raise through institutional advertising.

Also, CMF is to announce soon and officially, the introduction of a ‘Green Line’, soon after the Summer. This will use non-polluting hybrid buses to connect Funchal centre and the zone of Ilha, running every 7 minutes at peak times, along the Estrada Monumental. This idea replaces another project announced around 5 years ago, for a surface level metro covering the same route.

A project called CIVITAS Mimosa is to revolutionise mobility in Funchal. Funded with €24.4 million by the European Union, Funchal is one of five European cities selected to promote more sustainable transport in urban areas. The challenge is set in eight categories : the restriction of access, vehicles and cleaner fuels, public transport of passengers, fare integration, lifestyle with less use of car, measures of mobility management, and transport management and logistics. The project also covers the cities of Bologna (Italy), Gdansk (Poland), Tallinn (Estonia), and Utrech (Netherlands). Some of the measures mentioned in supporting the project are prizes for companies with low polluting vehicles, half price parking for owners of electric / hybrid vehicles, new park and ride schemes, a rental service for bicycles and scooters, public transport ‘on call’, a public transport planning centre, new entry systems in pedestrian zones, bicycles allowed on public transport, SMS mobility service, search and orientation systems through GPS, and an mobility observatory.

I am not sure what most of these things mean, but I think I woke up on a different planet this morning, and if I didn’t, will I still be trundling around on a 40 year old Rodoeste bus next year polluting the countryside. Or will my local buses be prohibited from entering the new clean City of Funchal by an army of smoke sucking alien sentinels powered by moon sensitive organic solar panels. More importantly will Uncle Bertie have to actually leave Funchal to smoke his daily carton of Cuba’s finest?