The president of the PS-M directly questioned the president of the Regional Government, from Porto Santo, about the contingency plan for Madeira Airport, affected this last week by strong winds that paralyzed the air operation.
“They (the Regional Government) say that the contingency plan exists, but they never show it. We ask the same question and the answer is always the same”, said Sérgio Gonçalves to the vast audience that is present at the Porto Santo Congress Center. The socialist leader guarantees that there is no plan in force, “as we saw this week”, and that the Regional Government’s plan was the one verbalized by Miguel Albuquerque, which is “to let the strong wind pass”.
On this recurrent theme, Sérgio Gonçalves argues that Porto Santo can and should be an alternative to Madeira Airport, when it is affected by adverse weather conditions. “We don’t want Porto Santo to serve only to park aircraft, but to be an alternative”, with the corresponding maritime connection with Madeira. It is not the optimal solution, but it is what exists”, he underlined.
At the start of the Estado-General dedicated to Tourism, Sérgio Gonçalves took stock of the sector, asked the Regional Government to also invest in other areas of activity, criticised the non-allocation of PRR funds for digital innovation and the “insufficient” professional training existing in the Region.
The president of the PS-M defends the existence of tourism that generates value and is not massified, because, as he said, “we have too much tourism and too little economy”.
The event includes the participation of Nuno Fazenda, Secretary of State for Tourism, Commerce and Services, who will participate via videoconference, José Alberto Cardoso, hotel manager and former leader of the Association for the Promotion of Madeira, Alex Muñoz, university professor from Costa Rica and Filipa Caldeira, interpreter guide.