“We’re going to reinforce our efforts to make a positive difference in tourism in the Interior, and most importantly, it’s an agenda to bring to fruition projects and policies. It’s an agenda to act,” highlighted the State secretary for Tourism, Commerce and Services, Nuno Fazenda, during a presentation on the strategy, in the Covilhã Municipal Theatre, district of Castelo Branco.

According to the governor, the big priorities of the plan “are to bring value to the land, support businesses, qualify human resources, attract people and connect the territory and project the Interior’s image abroad,” with the intent of building national cohesion.


Opportunity for growth


Nuno Fazenda referred to how 90% of tourist demand is on the coast, and that demand is comprised 95% of foreign tourists, which means the Interior territories only get 5% of the international tourism demand and there “exists a large opportunity for growth.”

The State secretary presented various ways to reinforce the attractiveness in the interior, in order to “have more tourism over the whole country, all year round” and “reach new markets.”

This incentives pack will be available in May, according to the Minister for Economy and Sea, António Costa Silva.

Also, for the companies located in the Interior, there’s an out-of-pocket incentive up to 70%, with a ceiling of 50 thousand euros per project to internationalise the brands.

In the field of investment in environmental sustainability, there’s an increase of 10 percentage points in financing alongside the bank up to 500 thousand euros and a performance bonus.

According to the minister of the Economy, who was also present in the session, the Agenda “isn’t to develop the Interior against the coast, but to create synergies and transform tourism into a multidimensional factor.”