The vice president of the Ponta Delgada Chamber of Commerce and Industry said yesterday at the inauguration of the Trade, Industry, and Services Fair at Portas do Mar that “over the last few years, we have not been effective in implementing plans for the tourism sector, so it is important to provide all the necessary resources to maintain our competitiveness, valuing the destination and investing in promotion.”
In Raquel Franco’s opinion, regarding the proposal to apply a tourist tax in the municipalities on the island of São Miguel, “the focus should have been on creating value by providing experiences with the user pays principle, but no,… it focused solely and exclusively on applying yet another tax.”
Regarding air accessibility policy, she stressed, “We cannot go back 10 years in a sector that is crucial to the development of the Azores, and it is urgent not to repeat the model of the last IATA winter.”
In this context, she called for “solutions to maintain the necessary air capacity for next winter.”
In Raquel Franco’s opinion, “the impact of the reduction in Ryanair flights has been significant, but even with the efforts made by other companies to compensate for this reduction, we have records of activities with losses of more than 20%.”
In tourism promotion, he continued, “it is important to have independent, capable and robust institutions, equipped with strategic, legal and financial tools to implement promotion plans that support and stimulate the sector’s sustainable development. It is essential to return to promoting Destination Azores, in which the 9 islands complement each other in a harmonious and sustainable way.”


In her opinion, the statistics from the last IATA winter “are a warning to shipping: more income, yes! But a percentage increase in costs greater than in income, which, as we all know, corresponds to a degradation of economic value.”
The Vice-President of the Chamber of Commerce and Industry began by explaining the Ponta Delgada Chamber of Commerce and Industry’s “new global and integrated strategy” for promoting industry, commerce, and services, particularly concerning organizing fairs and events.”
She revealed that FICSA 2024 opened its doors with more than 61 companies and 54 artisans present, in a total of 182 stands. With a varied offer, this event is expected to attract more than 40,000 visitors, including residents, tourists, and immigrants from our diaspora.
In her speech, Raquel Franco highlighted the new challenges facing Ponta Delgada’s commerce “in improving the effectiveness of the process of promoting their products, as well as attracting and retaining their customers,” given the aggressiveness of online commerce.
She spoke of the need for traders to take advantage of the Azores Digital Commerce Accelerator and the Ponta Delgada Historic Center Digital Business District, which focus on “empowering companies with new tools that will allow them to reach out to the market.” He considered that the Regional Government has a digital package of 22 million under the PRR, and “it is very important that this money is invested quickly so that they can take digital solutions even further.”
She also stressed that despite the Azorean industry’s “strong export nature, “we have seen a retreat and an abandonment of support for external promotion and export support for industrial companies in the Azores.”
She highlighted “the need to reduce bureaucracy and speed up the analysis of applications for the CONSTRUIR 2030 incentive system. The transition from one EU framework to another has led to stagnation, so it’s urgent to make up for lost time”, she said.
She gave the SOLENERGE support system as an example, which “has delays in analysis of more than a year and which, due to its importance for companies, individuals and organizations, should be boosted and even its budget reinforced.” In his opinion, foreign investment in the Azores “is residual when compared to the rest of the country and Madeira, evidence that something is lacking in the attractiveness of the Azores in attracting foreign investors.”

from a Correio dos Açores news story–Natalino Viveiros, director

Translated to English as a community outreach program from the Portuguese Beyond Borders Institute (PBBI) and the Modern and Classical Languages and Cultures Department (MCLL) as part of Bruma Publication and ADMA (Azores-Diaspora Media Alliance)  at California State University, Fresno–PBBI thanks the sponsorship of the Luso-American Development Foundation from Lisbon, Portugal (FLAD)