“The APAVT will continue to grow and increase its influence, reflecting the growth of the sector and the increasing influence of the sector in the Portuguese economy,” said Pedro Costa Ferreira.
He was speaking at the closing of the 50th National Congress of the association that represents tourism distribution, travel agencies, and tour operators, which took place in Macau.
“In the sector, we know exactly what we want and where we are going,” he emphasized, adding that “work, intelligence, and innovation have built a sector that is currently experiencing the best economic figures ever, a sector that demonstrates economic strength, leadership capacity, and modernity.”
According to APAVT, citing a study by EY on the economic impact of Tourism Distribution in Portugal – a study the association commissioned from the consultancy because there are no available statistics unless paid for – the direct, indirect, and induced effects of Tourism Distribution represented 7.7 billion euros in 2024, equivalent to 3% of the national Gross Domestic Product (GDP).
“If we consider that, in 2022, the same economic aggregate represented 5.8 billion euros and, in 2019, 4.2 billion, we then understand the true significance of the fantastic growth in our sector’s economic influence,” the official stated on Tuesday at the start of the congress.
Today, at the closing, the official urged politicians to address the problems of a country that “needs immigrants but has reached the worst of both worlds regarding this matter, unable to either control their entry or welcome them as they deserve; that needs economic growth but does not want to discuss or plan it; that needs to integrate workers into business structures but binds them to trade unions that represent no one and to a labor law that betrays them, pretending to defend them while encouraging precarious work and difficulty in changing jobs and life.”
The association further considers that Portugal “needs airport and railway infrastructure and has lost itself in the maze of decisions, trying only now to correct its steps,” that it needs “to start thinking again and has lost itself in easy populism, vulgar coarseness, and intellectual poverty” and to “look to the future for new generations, burdening them with the current errors and omissions.”
Portugal “planned an airport ten years from now and cannot place police at the checkpoints of what still exists,” he added, alluding to statements on Wednesday by the Secretary of State for Infrastructure, Hugo Espírito Santo, and the president of ANA – Aeroportos de Portugal, about the effort the country should make to have the new Lisbon airport by 2035 and the admitted difficulties in having more police at airport border controls.
Macau hosted the APAVT congress for the sixth time, which was attended by more than 1,000 professionals from various tourism-related activities.
