As Albuquerque said he will not back down on this, and yes its already happened.
The announcement was made by the Regional Secretary for Tourism, Environment and Culture to RTP Madeira.
Residents of the Autonomous Region of Madeira are exempt from the mandatory reservation requirement to hike classified walking trails, the Regional Secretary for Tourism, Environment and Culture, Eduardo Jesus, announced this Sunday, January 25th, to RTP Madeira.
According to the official, in statements to the Portuguese public radio and television service in the region, residents of Madeira and Porto Santo only need to show their citizen card and the Resident Card in the Region, issued by the SIMplifica Portal, upon entering the classified routes.
“Above all, we wanted to create another alternative to make life easier for residents. They can continue to register on the platform if they wish, or, if they prefer the alternative, they can simply show up at the start of a classified route and present their citizen card and SIMplifica resident card,” he revealed to RTP Madeira.
The issue, he said, is the need to “manage the load,” specifically, he added, “to control the number of people, because only in this way can safety be guaranteed, only in this way can the control of [human] pressure at the sites be ensured.”
The new technological system, he stated, “is very important, not only for controlling the cargo during transit, which was the top priority, but also for safety reasons.”
As reported by DIÁRIO in its print edition of January 10th, the mandatory registration of trails has generated discord. “The new regulations for hiking trails are limiting access to private property. On the island, there’s already talk of taking the government to court, and in Serra de Água the motto is to disobey,” revealed the headline of this morning paper.
The control of access to classified hiking trails is the responsibility of the Institute of Forests and Nature Conservation (IFCN).
The requirement to book classified hiking trails in Madeira and Porto Santo has been in effect since the first day of the year, following the publication of Decree No. 801/2025, of December 10, which establishes the fees and respective amounts to be charged by the Institute of Forests and Nature Conservation, IP-RAM.
The fees establish free entry for residents of the Region and a price of 4.5 euros for the general public. In the case of visitors accompanied by operators with an agreement signed with the IFCN, the entry fee is reduced to 3 euros.
According to the Regional Government, the system’s objective is to “control the carrying capacity of the routes, improve the management of visitor flows, reinforce security and enhance the tourist experience, while simultaneously guaranteeing environmental sustainability and operational predictability.”