During a hearing on the issue of working group of local accommodation, the Secretary of State of tourism, Ana Mendes Godinho, revealed the existence of 68.310 local property records (AL), against the approximately 23 thousand existing in 2015.
– Em 2015 there were 23.136 local property records. There currently are 68.310. The AL was regulated in 2008 to respond to a reality that existed, the parallel beds. A phenomenon that existed mainly in the Algarve, where there was more awareness that there was this informal economy that was outside the law, Ana Mendes Godinho explained.
According to the ruler, the increase is due to a legislation simple rules, simple requirements, yet simple licensing rules who entered the formal economy and promoted a more equitable distribution of the tax effort, all pay, and promote real competition.
Secretary of State of Tourism also recalled that the local housing came up with responsiveness in areas where it did not exist, giving as an example the city of Reguengos de Monsaraz, where there 10 years there was no offer and currently has 73 unidades.
– The local accommodation created new dynamics in territories that were not prepared for large hotels and allowed ue tourist activity to widen throughout the year, said Ana Mendes Godinho.
Regarding hostels, the Tourism Secretary of State recognized the need to set more rules depending on their capacity and use, with different rules for collective housing, in order to also respond to different safety requirements and use, safeguarding what was provided in the room license.
My opinion:
1- The philosophy of accommodation should be to adapt and upgrade existing buildings.
2- The AL tourism activity should not be exercised in buildings built fractions for long-term lease or permanent housing.
3-It should be added to a typology AL: “Family tourism” for cases of tourists may spend parts of a house occupied permanently by the owners or tenants (a bedroom, bathroom, kitchen, room, etc).