Tourism | Chinese are discovering Portugal’s diversity, Secretary of State says

Ana Mendes Godinho pictured during the visit to IFT

Portugal’s Secretary of State for Tourism, Ana Mendes Godinho, said that the Chinese tourism market is setting its foot into more corners of Portugal.

Last Friday, Godinho paid a visit to the Institute for Tourism Studies (IFT), where she told the media “what we feel right now is that the Chinese market is discovering Portugal [instead of] the traditional areas that they know.”

“Traditionally, the Chinese market went to Lisbon and Porto, and it is spreading all around the country. […] In Algarve, which was not a destination for the Chinese market, the Chinese market this year is growing 15 percent. […] In Évora, a UNESCO heritage city in Alentejo, the Chinese market this year became the third most important market,” said Godinho. “This shows the commitment and interest the Chinese market has in regard to Portugal, as well as the commitment and interest that Portugal has, with Macau as this […] traditional and historical bond.”

According to Godinho, this year, 14 hotel groups of Portugal participated in a workshop in China promoting themselves.

“These hotel groups are already operating in the Chinese market. we do think as the figures of the Chinese market are growing so much in Portugal, it will obviously spread to all the country,” the Secretary of State declared.

The Portuguese tourism governor was at the IFT discussing the strengthening of “the relationships between Macau and Portugal tourism schools” in order to enhance the exchange programs among students and “to have more collaborations between tourism schools of Portugal and IFT.

“Next year, [there] will be a team from the Tourism of Portugal coming here and there will be a team from IFT going to Portugal. […] I think we will make some changes in our relation for the future,” said Godinho.

Regarding the number of students involved in the aforementioned program, Godinho noted that the organizers are still doing some calculations.

“This will maybe not only involve IFT, but also other schools and universities. We are identifying the number of students that may go. We want it to be an ambitious project. […] This is a win-win project: it will help Portugal to cope and be prepared to answer to the needs that we have in Macau, to adapt our market to the Chinese market. […] Currently we have an increase of 40 percent of the Chinese market in Portugal. The Chinese are discovering Portugal, but also Macau, which is positioning itself as a platform to make a bridge, a dialogue, between Portugal, between Europe and China.”

“We are preparing two types of exchange programs. Some [students] go to tourism schools in Portugal; […] Portuguese students come here, and also directly [within] the industry, so they [can] do their practical training in the [hotel] sector,” said Godinho.

Eleven students from IFT already went to Portugal, according to Godinho. They were in the School of Lamego studying in a Portuguese Gastronomy and Wine course.

“The results were quite good. What we want is to make this short example as a routine program of mutual and permanent relationship and very deep relation between the two schools.”

As the Chinese market is growing rapidly in Portugal, tourism schools are also promptly reacting to the increasing number of tourists coming from the far east.

Earlier, tourism schools in Portugal launched a “Welcome Chinese” program to “help the hotel and shopping industries, and restaurants to be prepared to receive the Chinese market.

The “Chinese market is also growing a lot in Portugal […] because we have a new direct flight that allows people to go directly to Lisbon […]. We have more and more Chinese people coming to Portugal. This is why we need our offers to be prepared and why we created this program exactly to accelerate and capacitate our hotels […] to know how to receive Chinese market [people]. We know the Chinese market feels comfortable in Portugal, precisely because they know that in our country there is someone prepared to receive them [and care] about their special needs, such as language. […] We guarantee an increase over the number of hotels that are prepared […] but we want to make it regular for every hotel and every restaurant,” said Godinho.

In July, the first direct flight between China and Portugal was launched.

“The results have been quite good, […] overcoming our expectations. […] We think this was just the beginning of this direct flight, because the market is demonstrating that there is a volume that justifies even more flights,” said Godinho.

When talking more about direct flights between China and Portugal, Godinho announced that the involved parties are indeed considering “not only the increasing of the number of flights per week from Beijing [to Lisbon] but also from other areas from China [to Portugal].”

In regard to the cooperation between IFT and Portuguese tourism schools, Godinho disclosed that an exchange program will “be in place in 2018”.

“Macau’s role is determinant for us, mainly because it is a gateway for us, where […] there was such a good relationship between the two countries here. It also serves as a way for us to show to the Asian market how Portugal is. If you come to Macau, [you can see that] we are also committed to increasing the cultural events of Portugal here,” said Godinho.