(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%.
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