The group is looking ahead with more projects planned for Ponte de Lima, Elvas, Figueira da Foz or Miranda do Douro, as well as looking to expand outside Portugal.

According to Expresso Newspaper, “It is the fourth hotel opened this year by the Vila Galé group, which claims to have “another half a dozen projects in hand”, inside and outside Portugal. Following opening two hotels in the Alentejo and one in the Azores, the Portuguese group officially celebrated this Saturday the start of operation Vila Galé Collection Tomar, which resulted from the conversion of two historic buildings in the city (the former Convento de Santa Iria and the former -Colégio Feminino), in an investment initially estimated at €11 million, but which ended up exceeding €15 million.

“It was a painful project, like all conversions of old buildings, we had to do a lot of excavations here, and this was not a building, it was shards”, highlighted Jorge Rebelo de Almeida, president of the Vila Galé group to Expresso newspaper. Adding, “But it is a great pleasure to develop projects in the interior, it is one of our priorities, we have a fabulous interior in this country, and it is in so much need of investment”.


“Thank you for this investment, for this courage”, highlighted the mayor of Tomar, Hugo Cristóvão. What were ruins, and a source of expense for the municipality, became recovered heritage, and the best solution was to return it to private individuals."

The Secretary of State for Tourism, Nuno Fazenda, made a point of “welcoming this investment in favor of national tourism”, in the interior, and that “it is not just a hotel that sells rooms, it is a contribution to territorial cohesion and mobilizing the economy local", Expresso newspaper shared.

With 100 rooms, and employing 50 workers, Vila Galé hotel in Tomar (which opened in phases on July 1, for the Festa dos Tabuleiros) aims to attract, in particular, tourists from Brazil or the USA "who are coming back with great strength, and they like this type of product", notes Jorge Rebelo de Almeida.

The president of Vila Galé says that he has “more investments planned for this region”, detailing that he is analysing moving forward with a tourist project in Quinta da Cardiga, in Golegã, “a Templar farm, which is in very bad condition”, and at the request of a friend of yours who is the owner, António Mello.

“We are going to create another hotel package in the interior, later this year”, assured Jorge Rebelo de Almeida, at the inauguration ceremony of the new hotel in Tomar.

At the end of the month, Vila Galé will begin work on the Casas de Elvas project, involving the restoration of a group of more than four dozen houses from an old plum factory, in the center of the Alentejo city (where the group already has a hotel, which resulted from the conversion of a building of heritage value as part of the Revive project).

Additionally, in October, the group plans to begin work on the Paço do Curutêlo, in Ponte de Lima, for a hotel project recovering a building that “even predates Portuguese nationality”, says Rebelo de Almeida.

In Figueira da Foz, work has already begun on a Vila Galé hotel in the building where the Grande Hotel da Figueira was located, which is scheduled to open in 2024. The group's president also hopes to begin work on the Paço Real de Caxias soon, following the concession won under the Revive program.

Vila Galé Isla Canela Hotel

According to Expresso Newspaper, the expansion of the Vila Galé group is also advancing outside of Portugal, highlighting its entry into Spain, with a hotel in Isla Canela, which was part of the Iberostar chain, which already has a date to start operating, which is the 28 April 2024.

The Vila Galé Isla Canela hotel will have 300 rooms, which includes two swimming pools, two restaurants, three bars, a Satsanga spa, among other facilities which are being aimed at “beach tourism and families”.

The hotel in Isla Canela is owned by the Saint Croix Hi funds, SOCIMI (Sociedades Anónimas Cotizados de Inversión Inmobiliaria), which agreed to carry out a complete renovation of the unit until it becomes managed by the Portuguese chain, at Easter next year.

The unit in Spain will mark a new geography for the Vila Galé group, which to date has 31 hotels open in Portugal and 10 in Brazil.

Outside Portugal

At the end of October, the Portuguese hotel group will be present in yet another new geography - Cuba - with the opening of a large resort next to the beach with 638 rooms, seven restaurants and five bars, operating on an 'all inclusive' basis, built with roots in Cayo Coco, and from Vila Galé Cayo Paredón.

The new hotel in Cuba from the Vila Galé group will be part of the 'charter' travel packages, available in the Portuguese market, from the Iberian tour operator Newblue, in the summer of 2024.

“The hotel will open with a big event, and we hope to take many Brazilians to Cuba”, said Jorge Rebelo de Almeida to Expresso Newspaper.

In Cuba, the presence of the Portuguese group could go beyond Cayo Coco. “The Cuban Government also told us about the possibility of being able to keep projects that are under construction in Havana and Varadero”, said the president of Vila Galé.

Vila Galé's focus is also on Brazil, where it is already the largest resort operator, maintaining expansion plans in the country. One example is a project in Ouro Preto, a historic city in the state of Minas Gerais, with strong Portuguese roots. “In Brazil, there are many governors on the waiting list who want to offer us land at a symbolic price to develop projects, says the group's president.

However, the main priority assumed by the leader of Vila Galé is to continue investing in the interior of Portugal, and rehabilitating historical heritage. “We have several projects in hand, and we are going to a place where Judas lost his boots - Miranda do Douro -, but which is a magical place”, he exemplifies.

“Some people call me crazy for doing so much in the interior of the country”, notes Jorge Rebelo de Almeida, stressing that “today, the interior has to be a national priority. And as Pedro Abrunhosa says, let’s do what hasn’t been done yet.”