It’s very encouraging to see that the leaders of the entrepreneurs of the islands of Terceira, São Jorge, and Graciosa can see beyond the “sale” of tourism, realizing that that’s the only way we’re not going far. In this newspaper, Marcos Couto defended a diversified economy beyond the “obvious” – and the “obvious” is tourism.
In recent days, we’ve received sad notes about the Cuban economy, which is languishing as tourism falls sharply. The European statistics system has also highlighted a grim reality… The more dependent on tourism, the more poverty there is in Europe. The Azores are on this path – which has a return, but after a certain point, the return is traumatic and can require catastrophic engineering before a region returns to normal.
One of the problems with tourism is that it doesn’t promote the distribution of wealth. It enriches a few and leaves the people in misery, forced to pay poor wages, work seasonally – and face a series of misfortunes such as unaffordable housing, the high cost of all goods and services, etc.
Another problem Cuba is now experiencing is that hordes of tourists are appearing and disappearing. The Azores are receiving hordes that will disappear to North Africa, the Middle East, and other exotic locations as soon as the wars are over. As we know, wars don’t last forever. Cape Verde will also bite us in the shins, which is only fair within the market economy and competition.
The business leader sees the problem well. He just might not be listened to. That would be tragic.

In Diário Insular

Armando Mendes is a journalist with a doctorate in history and international relations and the editor-in-chief of the newspaper Diário Insular.

NOVIDADES will feature occasional opinion pieces from various leading thinkers and writers from the Azores to give the diaspora and those interested in the current Azores a sense of the significant opinions on some of the archipelago’s issues.

Translated to English as a community outreach program from the Portuguese Beyond Borders Institute (PBBI) and the Modern and Classical Languages and Literatures Department (MCLL).