A website that advertises regions of southern Spain as the “Spanish Algarve” is coming under heavy fire from the Algarve Tourism Board, which is trying to prevent the abusive use of the region’s name in the promotional campaigns of rival markets.
The ‘Algarve’ name is being used in the advertisement of properties for sale in the area of Ayamonte, which are presented as being 50% cheaper than in the “Portuguese Algarve” and promise a “luxurious” life-style only 45 minutes away from Faro Airport.
“We strongly oppose this kind of abuse of the Algarve’s image and name,” said Desidério Silva, the president of Turismo do Algarve, and added that the entity is studying the available legal resources in order to present a complaint to the relevant authorities.
The website, World Property Warehouse, describes the “Spanish Algarve” as an area which runs along the Andalusia coast for 261km and is gifted with well-preserved beaches.
“Frequently associated with southern Portugal, the Spanish Algarve offers a variety of top-quality golf-courses, which favour tourism all-year round,” says the website in one of its promotional texts.
The website also states that the “Spanish Algarve” possesses “excellent infra-structures” and is easily accessible from the Faro, Seville, Jerez and Gibraltar airports, which all offer regular low cost flights to and from most European airports.
“At first glance, it may seem like they are promoting the Algarve. However, it is a huge abuse of the region’s name,” Desidério said.
A similar situation had already occurred in 2007, when an Algarve politician, Mendes Bota, complained about the use of the region’s name in the sale of properties in the south of Spain as if they were located in the Algarve.
At the time, the company was presenting the estates as being situated in “El Algarve.”
