Olhão’s mayor has launched a tender for the construction of a 4-star aparthotel and luxury apartments in land next to the Real Marina Hotel (pictured) which neighbours several blocs of unoccupied, luxury apartments.
The original plan for green space next to the hotel is long forgotten, overtaken by a thrust to attract more high rollers to this most Portuguese of seafront cities.
Mayor António Pina talks of ‘leveraging domestic and foreign tourists' and the launch in January 2016 of the tendering process which includes a clause that the buildings must be completed in 2017.
In an interview with Sul Informaçao, Pina said that "There are already at least two companies interested in purchasing lots, to be put up for tender in January. One will be for high quality apartments and the other to a four-star Aparthotel. Besides occupying this land which currently is vacant, this will be a way to bring more tourism.
"The current hotel and tourist apartments associated with it have an annual occupancy of 80%. In the summer months there is always overbooking.
"In recent years, tourism has had an exponential growth in Olhão, and is the engine of a series of other activities. The number of beds, in addition to the direct jobs created at the hotel, has an important effect on restaurants and small local businesses. This will be the area where Olhão has greater development potential," believes the mayor.
Olhão council also announced recently the upgrading of the waterfront next to the twin iconic markets, the reuse of a marina for pleasure craft only and renewal of the riverside including the bizarre prospect of a new beach near the hotels where bathing is banned due to poor water quality.
Tourism is key to Pina as fishing/aquaculture is a ‘mature business’ that anyway is forced to use the waters polluted daily by the raw sewage outfalls from the city and the overspill of toxic sludge from the waste water plant to the west.
As for agriculture, another area Pina has not come to grips with, there is “some room for improvement. There have been some investments in niche markets and there is capacity to create more jobs.”
Pina’s vision of Olhão being a tourist destination dominated by flash hotels and high spending diners is at odds with the reasons that many people come to the city.
The hope now is that the historic centre is not subject to more of the council’s ‘improvements’ which already have turned many charming squares into bland, utilitarian areas devoid of any sense of history but replete with eye-piercing modern lighting which in itself strips parts of the centre of all atmosphere in the pursuit of modernity.
