Tourist Office Funchal. Good or Bad ???

Tobi Hughes·
News Blog

Way back when I had my blog with Blogger, I had a poll about the Tourist Office in Funchal. Unfortunately I lost all the results from this on the change to WordPress.

With the latset Government shake up, and new people put in place for Tourism, Transport and Culture, I want to know your feelings about the Tourist Office in Funchal, do you get the information you need? how helpful are they? Is it easy to find out about whats on around the island?

Please leave all comments below on this blog post, if you are reading this on Facebook or Twitter, please click through to my blog to leave your comment, this way all comments are collected in one place for everyone to read.

 

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Tobi Hughes

15 Responses

  1. I don’t use the Tourist Office, but I do try to look for Madeira related information through their website and social media channels. Unfortunately these channels and, even worse, their website are not offering enough information about local events and things to do on the island. Other websites, such as this blog of Tobi, offers much more information about Madeira. It should be the other way around for the mere fact that the tourism board and AP Madeira are yearly getting funds and financial support for this … while the other third-parties Madeira websites and social media channels are getting, as they say in Portugal, “nenhum tostão” (not a dime) from any entity.

  2. Tobi, when my wife and I were recently in Madeira we used it a few times by both speaking with staff (in English) and by obtaining leaflets on display. We enjoyed a couple of events through this process such as the European Folklore Festival in the Municipal Gardens and also the Wine Festival and Folk groups on-street too. Sometimes the staff were busy with other customers so overall I would have to say it was beneficial and helpful. I don’t think we would have aquired the information any other way really.

  3. Haven’t called in too recently,but in the past I never found staff that pleasant or indeed that helpful.

  5. Syntes det er for dårlig kapacitet for en by og en hel Ø med så mange turister som er så stor en industri ,der savnes oplysninger om transport på Øen og åbningstider på attraktioner for alle nye turister. ? ?

  6. In the past we have found the staff there to be unfriendly and not welcoming. Always long waits too and not enough leaflets or booklets on display, so you have to stand around waiting for ages to speak to someone for a minor enquiry. There should be decent FREE maps on display of the city centre/ old town/ lido zone that you can pick up without waiting. Would also be good to find island road maps in there for sale and perhaps some of the more popular walking guide books. This would also raise a bit more revenue for the centre. Perhaps these things are on offer in there now but I would never bother going in to look based on negative past experience. Now I usually find any info I need by looking online or posting a question on the TripAdvisor forums. Or asking a waiter or receptionist (if I’m staying in a hotel). Or looking at this blog obviously!

  7. Our very first ‘contact’ with anyone in Madeira in 2000 was with staff in the Tourist Office. They were rude, unhelpful and we left wanting to get on the next flight home! Fortunately we didn’t and we fell in love with this magical place. Since then we have met some wonderful people who have helped us on our Madeira journey. Tobi’s blog provides an essential lifeline when we are home in the grey rainy UK winters. Full of relevant information it helps us on so many levels.
    The staff in the Tourist Office are more helpful these days but my goodness they certainly ‘under sell’ this beautiful place. We often find out about little treasures through Tobi’s blog or through friends who live here. They could do so much more to promote events than they do.

  9. The tourist info office in arrivals at the airport always has a lot more leaflets, in several languages ,that you can help yourself too, but I imagine most people arriving are too concerned with their onward journey to notice it is there.

  10. We have not been able to visit Madeira for the last 2 years but did so from 1991 and twice a year since 1997. After many negative visits to the tourist office in those early years and some later when I by then had a fairly good knowledge of Portuguese, I always found the staff to be not only unhelpful but also extremely unwelcoming or friendly. I was always told I had to speak in English which was very different from visiting restaurants etc when staff would help you to improve your vocabulary. Apart from there never being any leaflets or brochures of where to visit, if you asked about anything in particular the staff rarely knew the answer. I once asked what was happening in the square just across the road from the tourist office and the answer was “it is something to do with soup and bread”. It was in fact stalls and kiosks raising funds for Alzheimers Day. We felt it would have only taken a member of staff a couple of minutes to go and ask what was happening. It was always the same if you asked about anything happening the Municipal Square, the Municipal Gardens or Santa Katarina Park. They never had any information. In the end my husband said I should stop going in there as I was always so frustrated and annoyed when I came out! Perhaps things have changed more recently, At least there is still a tourist office. Ours in Wakefield has closed down and I have also just learnt when needing some information that a place as big as Newcastle-on-Tyne no long has one either.

  11. Agree with all of the negative comments and don’t bother with them any more. Get more help from the locals and taxi drivers.

  12. We have been returning to Madeira for around 25 years and love the island. The tourist office in Funchal we sadly regard as a joke – each time we arrive we say we will go in to see what’s on. Other than handing out a few leaflets they seem to know less than us. I always google or look at the Madeira blogs to see what is coming up on our return. One Summer we found out there was a European Paralympic swimming competition on so we went up to cheer the UK team. Not necessarily a tourist venue but the tourist office hadn’t heard it was on. Many years ago we went into a tourist office at Porto Monica and it was so different. Far more friendly, lots of literature with a knowledgable young lady really selling the island.

  13. Tourism needs a tourist office
    And myself and all of my friends that’s visit Madeira laugh at the idea they are helping
    RUDE UNPROFESSIONAL UNHELPFUL UNiNFORMED BORING BORDED STAFF
    Sack them all and get happy normal Maderian staff who are proud of this Island and like what they do at work
    Disappointed in all aspects of a Tourist Office

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