“All” garve

The latest «Allgarve» “cultural” line-up is here again, and truly it begs the question: is it really worth carrying on with this programme of events - supposedly designed to attract tourists “hot for entertainment?”

The answer, in this 4th year running, after millions have been spent, is quite honestly ‘nobody really knows’…It has been impossible to gauge.

Until now, that is. This year, the University of the Algarve will try to discover the answer.

The Algarve’s academic profession has been invited to study “with criteria and rigour” the success of «Allgarve», in relation to the movement of tourists in the region.

President of “Turismo do Algarve” Nuno Aires announced the news during the «Allgarve» presentation ceremony last Saturday 20th.

Meantime, a release from Eurostat on 22nd February, regarding tourism in Europe’s 27-member states, could give some clues. The total number of beds taken up in “hotel establishments” in 2009 fell by five per cent relative to the year before – and on average, the number of nights spent in hotels by non-residents, in each of the 27 countries, fell by nine per cent.

These numbers clearly show that all is not well within the hotel industry, and that it’s an international problem.

Relative to this year’s «Allgarve» programme, maybe the strongest point (in its favour) is that for the first time, organisation is in the hands of an Algarve-based team.

Augusto Miranda and his colleagues will be working with a budget similar to that of 2009.

Three million euros will come from Turismo de Portugal, and Nuno Aires “has the expectation that this money will be joined with another million from the local borough councils, and a million from private interests” – resulting in an investment of five million euros in total.

The amount will finance events for the next 10 months (the calendar is twice as long as in previous years), with 1.5 million going towards publicity nationally and internationally, and the rest to financing the various events – sports, exhibitions, concerts, gastronomy, etc.

But fundamental questions remain.

Who is it really all for? Will tourists that flock to our beaches for their tans be interested in visiting an exhibition of contemporary art lent to the Algarve for a few months by entities in Lisbon, or Oporto? And does anyone who lives here (roughly 400 000 people) have any “relevant” role in the programme? Will they be part of the audience – or will they simply watch the carnival parade of socialites from Lisbon, as they turn up for the various openings? And surely the “big names” that come here also give tours and concerts in our tourists’ own home countries – making their “interest factor” here somewhat relative.

In the final analysis, perhaps the «Allgarve» programmes could at least serve to whet appetites in the Algarve (those of visitors included) for culture - and revitalise some of the consumer habits that have been laid down over the years.

It would be better for the future if the region’s “culture organisers” had the means (not necessarily millions) and autonomy to respond to the real needs of the Algarve.