The government, together with the country’s tourism schools, is preparing a program to welcome and mentor digital nomads in the territory, the State Secretary for Tourism announced on Friday.
“We are preparing a program in our tourism schools – and we have 12 all over Portugal – and the idea is actually to help these digital nomads decide, inform them about the potential of the country, what will be the best location for them.” to settle in.” , said Secretary of State for Tourism, Commerce and Services, Rita Marques, during this year’s edition of the Web Summit.
“If you like surfing, probably the center of the country, with Peniche and Nazaré, if you also like the modesty of our Alentejo, our Douro, the center or the Azores. The idea is to serve as a showcase for Portugal (…) and to facilitate the decision”Rita Marques told journalists, on the sidelines of the panel “The Rise of the Digital Nómada”.
The official hopes these measures “can attract more digital nomads not only to the major cities, but also to the interior” of the country, which has “extraordinary potential to live and work”.
In her intervention on the panel, Rita Marques addressed what she sees as advantages of the new regime for the arrival of digital nomads in Portugal, defending the importance of “attracting young people to Portugal”.
“We have a demographic problem, we need to bring in new people, fresh blood”he said, adding that they are a group that can “stimulate the economy.”
However, he stressed that this is not a regime that is only intended for foreigners, but also for Portuguese citizens who have moved abroad.
“We need to attract the Portuguese who left the country a few years ago, and if we promote digital nomads, so will the Portuguese. We sell the land not only to foreigners, but also to Portuguese who work in US and Canadian companies and who can work from Portugal,” he explained.
Faced with criticism from these programs linked to rising house prices, Rita Marques said the government should “be vigilant and make sensible public policies,” leaving doors open to the possibility of digital nomads receiving benefits in the future. receive if they move inland or to less central parts of the country.
Rita Marques also said the TAP crew strike, scheduled for December 8-9 by the National Civil Aviation Flight Personnel Union (SNPVAC) on Thursday, will “certainly” have an impact on tourism.
“TAP is a fundamental partner for tourism (…) and the entire private tourism sector has supported TAP,” he concluded, pointing out that the right to strike is “enshrined” in the legislation and that he is “confident that they have the right harmonized and calming speech to solve the problems of the workers”.
Source: DN
