Another headline, that shows the the Tourism secretary has no idea what he is talking about , and puts himself up there with the likes of Albuquerque and Ramos. It’s a total shambles.
This is what Eduardo stated yesterday.
Tourist entertainment services on Madeira are expected to have had cancellations in the order of 90% during this week due to the fire that has been raging on the island for 11 days, the region’s business association announced today.
In a written statement sent to the Lusa news agency, the president of the Commercial and Industrial Association of Funchal (ACIF) explained that the cancellations “occurred one after the other” due to “access being blocked to the trails” or to areas “inaccessible due to fire in the central mountain range” of the island.
“It will be necessary for the [regional] government itself and the responsible institutions to conclude their assessments (some already underway on an urgent basis) in order to launch any tenders for repair/restoration work in order to enable the rapid and safe opening of the most affected popular routes”, defended Jorge Veiga França.
The representative said that cancellations of services by providers of tourist entertainment activities on land should be around 90%, but added that ACIF has launched an investigation to detail any losses caused by the fire.
“It is assumed that the cancellations to which several AL [Local Accommodation] businesses and hotel establishments have been subject, especially in locations outside Funchal, can be better accounted for following the survey we launched”, he added.
On Monday, the association representing the sector had said that, up until that point, the fire was not having an impact on tourist activity, unlike the strong winds that conditioned operations at Funchal airport.
Today, in statements to the Lusa news agency, the Mayor of Santana said he does not believe that “in the near future there will be safe conditions” to reopen the trails from Achada do Teixeira to Pico Ruivo, from Pico Ruivo to Pico do Areeiro and from Pico Ruivo to Encumeada and Curral das Freiras.