Jose Manuel Durao Barroso, Prime Minister of Portugal, told the annual World Travel and Tourism Council in Vilamoura, Algarve, last month, that he aims to make Portugal “a key player in world tourism”.
He said: “If there is a perennial growth industry, tourism is the one. The current downturn, even if worrying and troublesome for some operators, is in my view a downturn in an industry with large potential for growth.”
He also expressed his determination to push Portugal into the World Travel Organisations top 15 global tourism destinations. Last year, Portugal was ranked sixteenth.
The UK is Portugal’s largest market for bed nights, with over seven million sold in 2002.
