Te sector is responsible for some 371,500 jobs directly whilst there were some 20 million visitors last year of which 11.4 million were foreign tourists.
Portugal was named as Destination of the Year by
TravelandLeisure.com in 2017 whilst the number of US travellers to Portugal has risen by 22 per cent in the last 12 months.
Tourism has been steadily growing since 2011 with British tourists making up the largest group of visitors followed by Germany and Spain. Over the last couple of years Portugal has opened 150 more hotels and most are four or five star establishments whilst areas have been redeveloped and infrastructure improved. In July 2017 alone there were 626,000 registered hotel sleepovers whilst expenditure also increased.
Te main tourist regions are the Algarve and Madeira whilst the cities of Lisbon and Oporto are also popular for city breaks. A programme was launched back in 2016 called Programa Algarve aimed at mitigating the seasonality of the region and boosting employment through greater appreciation of artisans and artists and the promotion of tourism and golf.
Once upon a time Portugal was recognised as a world power during the 15th and 16th centuries,
although much of its wealth and status was destroyed alongside Lisbon following the 1755 earthquake. Te natural disaster killed an estimated 40,000 people and left the capital city in ruins.
Te Napoleonic Wars and the independence of Brazil as a colony in 1822 didn’t do Portugal any favours either and in 1910 a revolution saw the monarchy thrown out and repressive governments ran the country for the next 60 years.
Today Socialist Antonio Costa is Prime Minister after he took on the role after an inconclusive general election plunged the country into political limbo back in 2015. Costa is the former Mayor of Lisbon and after a minority conservative win by Social Democrat Passos Coelho, he struck an unprecedented deal with two far left parties to take the lead from the former Prime Minister who had led since 2011.
LOTTERY AND BETTING MARKETS Te decree 14.463 back in 1927 brought a
century old tradition of gambling prohibitions in Portugal to an end. Later in 1989 another decree introduced games of chance and gambling concessions whilst online gaming was permitted in 2015.
Street or single site gambling is still not permitted in Portugal and slots are only allowed in casinos.
Te Servico de Regulacao e Inspecao de Jogos (SRIJ) is the Portuguese Gambling Regulatory and Inspection Authority which monitors and regulates the operation of land based games of chance (casino games, poker, slot machines and bingo) and online gambling (games of chance, fixed odds sports betting and pari-mutuel and fixed odds horseracing bets).
It is integrated in Te Institute of Tourism of Portugal and its responsibility is to issue licences for online and offline gambling and regulate and approve rules and administrative decisions.
Tere are 10 gambling zones across the country – Azores, Algarve, Espinho, Estoril, Figueira da Foz, Funchal, Porto Santo, Povoa de Varzim, Troia and Vidago-Pedras Salgadas. Te operation of casino games is only permitted in casinos which exist in permanent or temporary gaming areas established by law.
Concessions are granted for 10 years for bingo halls and between 15 and 20 years for casinos. Online gambling licences are valid for three years and may be extended for successive three year periods.
NEWSWIRE / INTERACTIVE /
247.COM P47
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71 |
Page 72 |
Page 73 |
Page 74 |
Page 75 |
Page 76 |
Page 77 |
Page 78 |
Page 79 |
Page 80 |
Page 81 |
Page 82 |
Page 83 |
Page 84
