The news comes has a huge blow to the Algarve – the WRC Rally of Portugal is going north in 2015, it was announced this week, leaving a bitter taste in the mouth of Algarve tourism boss who had been fighting for months to keep the rally event in the south.
Eager to express his disappointment at the decision of the FIA, tourism boss Desidério Silva, immediately called a press conference for Thursday, July 10, after the Resident went to press.
Speaking to TSF radio station, a bitter Silva said: “It is my hope that the event won’t be as successful in the north as it was in the south. I hope the FIA will soon realise that they made a bad decision and that the Rally will return to the Algarve.”
Desidério Silva also said that the decision to move the Rally away from the Algarve will mean losses of around €80 million to the region.
Rally of Portugal, organised by the International Automobile Federation (FIA) and the Portuguese Automobile Club, will now be gracing the roads of Fafe, Cabreira, Vieira do Minho, Ponte de Lima, Marão and Aboboreira at the beginning of summer – unlike in the Algarve, where it took place in spring.
Considered one of the most important international sporting events in the Algarve, the Rally was a welcome boost to the region’s economy and tourist image.
