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yet more on tourist property licences
yet more on tourist property licences
I see on the general page a ref to one rental firm who has had a visit by the inspectors ..the message refers to the govt departments web site in case anyone missed it and or wants to contact them (I like the welcome page picture of two men shaking hands ...very reassuring !!! 
)
http://www.igae.pt./site/
)http://www.igae.pt./site/
and theres more ... a new press report from regiao sul paper
Touristic receipts could fall in 2006
Absence of regulation of parallel beds at the heart of the matter
Non-classified touristic beds, also known as parallel beds, have to be regulated, according to a law passed in 1997, which has never been fulfilled. Not one single licence for touristic utilisation for this type of touristic accommodation has even been issued until now, in the whole of the Algarve. The issue of licences is, by charge of the DGT - Director General of Tourism, the responsibility of the local authorities, who say they do not have the capacity or knowledge for such. However, the ASAE - Authority of Food Safety and Economy, has since 2005 been fining property owners and touristic operators who work with these beds, leaving them in a blind alley with no way out.
In other words, the touristic operators and property owners are fined for working with non-regulated beds, but there is nobody regulating them, and these are indispensible to complement the touristic offer of the region.
Nobody knows for sure the number of parallel beds existing in the Algarve, but they are estimated at around 500 thousand. The classified offer is also not well quantified, but in 2001, according to data from the Commission of Co-ordination and
Regional Development (CCDR), there were 384 hotel establishments, with a total of 86 thousand and 700 beds (currently 100 thousand), of which the number of non-classified beds must be very much higher than those classified.
If these parallel beds cease to exist, the classified touristic offer in the region will not be sufficient for the usual number of tourists who annually visit the area.
According to estimates from the Association of Hotels and Touristic Development of the Algarve (AHETA), in the last year, the region received 5,5 million tourists, of which 2,8 million stayed in their own second homes; with friends and family, or in the parallel market.
Fines reach 30 thousand euros per apartment
In the meantime, since July of last year, the General Inspector of Economic Activities (IGAE), now ASAE, have carried out inspections of parallel beds in beach locations, from the north to the south of the country. 210 cases of infractions have been instigated.
In August and September, the action centred on the Algarve, where 200 more processes were instigated and respective fines applied. In the last months of 2005, the ASAE began inspecting tourist operators, confronting them with the inexistence of the necessary Licença de Utilização Turística (Licence of Touristic Utilisation) for non-classified beds, with fines from 2.500 to 30 thousand euros per apartment.
The Social-Democrat deputy Mendes Bota, also a businessman connected with the sector, said he has knowledge of tourist operators recently fined "more than 40 thousand euros" each. An "inadmissible" situation, in his opinion, which has engendered a series of actions to alert the Government to the problem.
Following a first meeting with local authorities and with the Secretary of State for Tourism, Bernardo Trindade, who was made aware of the current scenario, Mendes Bota took the matter to the Assembly of the Republic on 10th March, explaining the situation and requesting an extension for fulfilment of the law to the end of 2007.
However, Bernardo Trindade defended that by 1997 there had already been two years for the regularisation of the beds, and that a new extension "only benefits the infractor".
The Government thus remains implacable in its actuation, emphasising only that it was the intention to "make the local authorities aware" of this competency: to regulate the non-classified touristic beds.
Six days later, the DGT held a training session under the heading of legalisation of touristic developments. Around 100 people participated in that meeting, amongst them local authorities and tour operators. The principal objective was to clarify to the municipal authorities the legislation in cause, which includes luxury touristic houses and apartments.
At the end of the session, "the disappointment was patent", concluded Aníbal Moreno, President of the AEA - Almancil Business Association, who attended the event. "Everyone hoped that the DGT would present a solution for the application of the Decree Law 167/97, which covers the legalisation of houses and touristic apartments, which did not happen", he stated, adding that "there was nothing more than a reading of part of the law", without raising "anything new".
Despite having been confronted with the reality of the situation, the officials of the DGT "did not know how to respond to the majority of the questions, resulting in everything staying just the same". "The only thing brought up is that - the law exists: it is to be fulfilled - full stop", added Aníbal Moreno.
Regulation "anti-commercial and counterproductive"
As well as the problem mentioned which touches on the incapacity of regulation of the beds on the part of the local authorities and of the fines levied by the ASAE, there exists another problem: the law in question foresees only the emission of regulations for lodgings, which covers guest houses and private rooms, which, in the opinion of Aníbal Moreno, "does not apply to all houses and luxury tourist apartments", reinforcing that "it would be counterproductive and anti-commercial for us to confer the category of «lodging» to a luxury property".
"It was clear that nobody, including the municipal councils, accept that the regulations of lodgings are the solution to the problem. The solution is to simplify or clarify the law, so that it can really be applied", explains the President of the AEA.
The DGT have said that "they do not have the competencies to make a decision on the matter". An appeal was made for that organism to intercede with the Government to suspend the law, seeing that the matter continues without a resolution in sight.
For Mendes Bota "there currently reigns a great apprehension in the touristic market", because "the people should either withdraw the properties from the touristic circuit and close the door, or if they continue, run the risk of being inspected and have to close the house because they do not have the money to pay such high fines".
In declarations to this journal last January, on the same subject, Vítor Neto, ex-Secretary of State for Tourism, underlined that the "repression", with the intensification of inspectoral activity and the consequent withdrawal from the market of parallel beds "is not the solution", and that it cold provoke a "disturbance" in the touristic activity.
He stated that legislation should be created specifically to allow "the integration and legalisation of the said parallel beds", allowing "an extended period, from three to five years", for the property owners to regularise their situation, with "fiscal exemptions" and, inclusively, "recourse to community funds" to effect the respective adaptations and renovations of the properties. But the position of the current Secretary of State is different, despite not having until now any immediate solutions.
In the meantime, the AEA sent on 20th March, a letter exposing the whole situation to various political entities, such as the President of the Republic, the Prime Minister, the Director-General of the Ministry of the Economy and the President of the Federation of the Algarve of the Socialist Party, amongst others. He is soon to schedule a Clarification Session about the problem to which responsible representatives from the Government will be invited, such as the RTA, DGT, AMAL and local authorities.
Touristic receipts could fall in 2006
Absence of regulation of parallel beds at the heart of the matter
Non-classified touristic beds, also known as parallel beds, have to be regulated, according to a law passed in 1997, which has never been fulfilled. Not one single licence for touristic utilisation for this type of touristic accommodation has even been issued until now, in the whole of the Algarve. The issue of licences is, by charge of the DGT - Director General of Tourism, the responsibility of the local authorities, who say they do not have the capacity or knowledge for such. However, the ASAE - Authority of Food Safety and Economy, has since 2005 been fining property owners and touristic operators who work with these beds, leaving them in a blind alley with no way out.
In other words, the touristic operators and property owners are fined for working with non-regulated beds, but there is nobody regulating them, and these are indispensible to complement the touristic offer of the region.
Nobody knows for sure the number of parallel beds existing in the Algarve, but they are estimated at around 500 thousand. The classified offer is also not well quantified, but in 2001, according to data from the Commission of Co-ordination and
Regional Development (CCDR), there were 384 hotel establishments, with a total of 86 thousand and 700 beds (currently 100 thousand), of which the number of non-classified beds must be very much higher than those classified.
If these parallel beds cease to exist, the classified touristic offer in the region will not be sufficient for the usual number of tourists who annually visit the area.
According to estimates from the Association of Hotels and Touristic Development of the Algarve (AHETA), in the last year, the region received 5,5 million tourists, of which 2,8 million stayed in their own second homes; with friends and family, or in the parallel market.
Fines reach 30 thousand euros per apartment
In the meantime, since July of last year, the General Inspector of Economic Activities (IGAE), now ASAE, have carried out inspections of parallel beds in beach locations, from the north to the south of the country. 210 cases of infractions have been instigated.
In August and September, the action centred on the Algarve, where 200 more processes were instigated and respective fines applied. In the last months of 2005, the ASAE began inspecting tourist operators, confronting them with the inexistence of the necessary Licença de Utilização Turística (Licence of Touristic Utilisation) for non-classified beds, with fines from 2.500 to 30 thousand euros per apartment.
The Social-Democrat deputy Mendes Bota, also a businessman connected with the sector, said he has knowledge of tourist operators recently fined "more than 40 thousand euros" each. An "inadmissible" situation, in his opinion, which has engendered a series of actions to alert the Government to the problem.
Following a first meeting with local authorities and with the Secretary of State for Tourism, Bernardo Trindade, who was made aware of the current scenario, Mendes Bota took the matter to the Assembly of the Republic on 10th March, explaining the situation and requesting an extension for fulfilment of the law to the end of 2007.
However, Bernardo Trindade defended that by 1997 there had already been two years for the regularisation of the beds, and that a new extension "only benefits the infractor".
The Government thus remains implacable in its actuation, emphasising only that it was the intention to "make the local authorities aware" of this competency: to regulate the non-classified touristic beds.
Six days later, the DGT held a training session under the heading of legalisation of touristic developments. Around 100 people participated in that meeting, amongst them local authorities and tour operators. The principal objective was to clarify to the municipal authorities the legislation in cause, which includes luxury touristic houses and apartments.
At the end of the session, "the disappointment was patent", concluded Aníbal Moreno, President of the AEA - Almancil Business Association, who attended the event. "Everyone hoped that the DGT would present a solution for the application of the Decree Law 167/97, which covers the legalisation of houses and touristic apartments, which did not happen", he stated, adding that "there was nothing more than a reading of part of the law", without raising "anything new".
Despite having been confronted with the reality of the situation, the officials of the DGT "did not know how to respond to the majority of the questions, resulting in everything staying just the same". "The only thing brought up is that - the law exists: it is to be fulfilled - full stop", added Aníbal Moreno.
Regulation "anti-commercial and counterproductive"
As well as the problem mentioned which touches on the incapacity of regulation of the beds on the part of the local authorities and of the fines levied by the ASAE, there exists another problem: the law in question foresees only the emission of regulations for lodgings, which covers guest houses and private rooms, which, in the opinion of Aníbal Moreno, "does not apply to all houses and luxury tourist apartments", reinforcing that "it would be counterproductive and anti-commercial for us to confer the category of «lodging» to a luxury property".
"It was clear that nobody, including the municipal councils, accept that the regulations of lodgings are the solution to the problem. The solution is to simplify or clarify the law, so that it can really be applied", explains the President of the AEA.
The DGT have said that "they do not have the competencies to make a decision on the matter". An appeal was made for that organism to intercede with the Government to suspend the law, seeing that the matter continues without a resolution in sight.
For Mendes Bota "there currently reigns a great apprehension in the touristic market", because "the people should either withdraw the properties from the touristic circuit and close the door, or if they continue, run the risk of being inspected and have to close the house because they do not have the money to pay such high fines".
In declarations to this journal last January, on the same subject, Vítor Neto, ex-Secretary of State for Tourism, underlined that the "repression", with the intensification of inspectoral activity and the consequent withdrawal from the market of parallel beds "is not the solution", and that it cold provoke a "disturbance" in the touristic activity.
He stated that legislation should be created specifically to allow "the integration and legalisation of the said parallel beds", allowing "an extended period, from three to five years", for the property owners to regularise their situation, with "fiscal exemptions" and, inclusively, "recourse to community funds" to effect the respective adaptations and renovations of the properties. But the position of the current Secretary of State is different, despite not having until now any immediate solutions.
In the meantime, the AEA sent on 20th March, a letter exposing the whole situation to various political entities, such as the President of the Republic, the Prime Minister, the Director-General of the Ministry of the Economy and the President of the Federation of the Algarve of the Socialist Party, amongst others. He is soon to schedule a Clarification Session about the problem to which responsible representatives from the Government will be invited, such as the RTA, DGT, AMAL and local authorities.
good editorial and worth a read from the observer - wonder why the resident or the news never have editorials?
anyway here it is.
http://www.observatoriodoalgarve.com/cn ... piniao=207
anyway here it is.
http://www.observatoriodoalgarve.com/cn ... piniao=207