Dear Editor,
Do the Portuguese tourist regions of the Algarve and Madeira have some sort of economic death wish?
Ignoring the absurdity of the A22 situation, we now also learn that because of prohibitive docking costs at Funchal, the ferry line Naviera Armas is cancelling its weekly ferry service between Portimão and Funchal, at a stroke removing 20,000 potential visitors from the joint tourist regions.
A fact that hard pressed Madeiran hoteliers are spitting poison over.
At the same time, I discover that easyJet has cut its Stansted/Faro service and its Stansted/Funchal services, removing several thousand more potential visitors to the joint region.
What makes the whole situation more alarmingly absurd is that it is cheaper to fly easyJet from Faro to Gatwick, and then Gatwick to Funchal, than it is to fly on a supposedly internal flight, Faro to Funchal, by the national carrier TAP.
In fact, it is cheaper to fly from London to New York, than it is from Faro to Funchal by TAP!
What is going on here? Isn’t the Portuguese government interested in tourism anymore?
BRUCE WALLIS, Carvoeiro
