Tourism

Currently tourism has a value of around 11% of the Portuguese GDP and employ 8% of the population.  It is growing and may be around 15% of the GDP in just 4 years.  Portugal has to some accounts the potential to become the 10th most visited country in the world, currently it is around number 17.  The neighbors Spain and France are number two and number one respectively.

If you have never been to Portugal I can strongly recommend it.  Many people retire here for a reason as well.  There are fantastic places to visit.  To mention a few:

• Lisbon, one of the more unique capitals in Europe and also the European capital with the highest average temperature.  Not too cold and usually not too warm.   It is IMHO much more interesting than Madrid with a richer history, better gastronomy, more interesting topology, more cultural experiences and cheaper.
• The Alentejo is a favorite of mine.  Try visiting one or more cities, some Pousadas, the country side, and rent a boat for a weekend on the Alqueva - the largest artificial lake in Europe
• The Atlantic coast is beautiful and varied and has plenty of peaceful places.   However, the water is cold but invigorating with beautiful beaches.
• In the North you have Gerês, one of the most amazing national parks ind the world.  You have close to Spain, the "Trás-os-Montes" - behind the mountains.  It fun to reach by starting out from Oporto and by follwing the river Douro with its wine terraces.     

Gerês

Amiera Marina (Alqueva lake)

The variety of gastronomy and landscapes is unique in such a small country as Portugal.  Though the Portuguese generally speaking and with some real exceptions do not know the concept:  "Good service", they are a very nice people and make up for it in friendliness.  They like (most) foreigners and will more often than not go out of their way to help you.  This is specially true outside the big cities and tourist areas.

But actually, I would ask you to come in spite of the partial destruction of Portugal as a tourist destination.  Despite tourism being the single most important industry, and the one with the highest potential growth rates, it is difficult to imagine a more dedicated effort by the governing class to keep the tourist away.  Instead of writing an essay let me just give the reader some examples:

• There have been no limit or control of constructions
• All municipalities get a rather large fee for each new building.  Why should the corrupted nepotists ever limit any construction when part of the fee end up in their pockets eventually?
• There are no criteria that a new building should fit into the existing landscape/buildings. The Portuguese emigrants may have elevated the construction of the world's most ugly villa to an art form.   I have personally broken several cameras trying to take pictures in the North where they are more the rule than the exception. 
• A very large number of beautiful old buildings have been torn down.    You can build a lot of square 10 story apartment buildings on an old Quinta (farm).  Even more if you build the building close enough, so you do not have to buy a TV.  The neighbor's is right on the other side of the window.  Also you do not need green areas or playing grounds for the kids. 
• A trick to be allowed to tear down an old building is to let it rot until it basically falls down by itself or just becomes a danger. If it is an apartment building with people living in it, destroying the roof will soon make some or all move away.  A building with no rentals are worth much more. Ruins in the cities do not bother the municipalities much or at all until they start falling.
• It seems if you have money you can build anything or anywhere as one infamous Portuguese rich family has done in the Sintra-Cascais national park, where building was not allowed.  You just need a big fire, and then prohibit the firemen to enter through your private land. 
• I particularly dislike a shopping center at the entry to old Cascais Village.  Hence, I am waiting for them to build a garbage processing plant on the beach in the village.
• I, somewhat in jest, tell my Portuguese friends:  "The Portuguese hate the color green.   They prefer the color of concrete".
• What happened?  Old Portuguese buildings are mostly very pleasing even beautiful to look at?  
• Why do Portuguese Municipalities have city architects?  Are these people architects?  Has anybody in a Portuguese municipality heard about the concept aesthetics?
• What kind of tourist prefers to have his ugly 20 story hotel constructed on the beach, next to 100 other hotels on the beach?  Have a look in the Algarve.  Hooligan from Liverpool comes to mind.  As an interesting fact:  Portugal’s annual income from the golf industry represents 1.25 per cent of national income and 14 per cent of all income from tourism.  Golf tourists do as a whole not like Liverpool Hooligans 
• I live on the "Costa do Sol".  The sun coast.  It does indeed have sun and a wonderful climate as it is turned towards the south, next to the sea, a part of the bay of Lisbon (where the Tagus river enters the Atlantic) with the Sintra mountains in the back.   It used to be a wonderful and very pretty coast and continues 20 something kilometers long.  Many European royal families had a summer residence here.  Estoril was known all over Europe.   These days, hardly a square meter is not filled with, for the most ugly, concrete buildings.  The beautiful coastal road is a 4 lane highway (or the second worst thing).   Anybody with sense would have made the coastal road into a boardwalk with restaurants, shops, cafes etc. They would have limited the building and kept at few green areas (there is only one left on the entire coast located in Carcavelos.  It is reserved for the building of 4000 or so apartments).
• There is no Minister of Tourism in Portugal.  Let me restate:  There is no Ministry of Tourism in Portugal.  There was one for less than two years 7 years ago.  Instead we have  a tourism secretary belonging under the Ministry of something.  I am so glad we instead have ministers for these important areas:   
• Ministry for Parliamentary Affairs
• Ministry of Social Solidarity and Social Security
• Ministry of Agriculture, Sea, Environment and Territorial Administration
• You may notice publicity in your country for tourism.  Like:  "Come visit sunny Spain".   How often do you see the same for Portugal?
• I have heard how large international investors have fled Portugal.  It is rather easy to make them flee.  After they wait ten years for a permission, say for building a tourist resort on less than one of 1200 kilometers of shoreline of Alqueva lake, they go some where else like Brazil, where there is less bureaucracy.   Meanwhile the permission for exploratory oil platforms have been given outside the last unspoiled place in the Algarve:  The unique Ria Formosa State Park.
• Almost nothing is done in Portugal thinking about:
• Children
• Life quality
• Long term (Short term is more usual then medium term)
• Sustainability  
• Enticing investments
• Helping companies
• However, tourism is not quite forgotten.  A growing number of companies are creating real nice offerings.  Alas, they are still in the minority.  They also must have permanent head aches after continuously banging their heads on the red tape covered closed doors of the Portuguese bureaucracy. Furthermore they all have balls the size of elephants (including the female managers)
• I wonder how many 10 million population countries of Western Europe do not have a single amusement park (traditional one - not aqua park, zoo or similar).  I know one:  Portugal.  The traditional quaint fashioned one, Feira Popular, was closed in Lisbon several years ago by the municipality.  The plot was worth a lot of money in the center of Lisbon.  It stands empty yet and a few hundred peopled are now added to unemployment at the supposed care of Ministry of Labour and Social Solidarity.  Likewise the Ministry of Finance must have lost a few million in tax income.   
• Some tourists have children.  Some tourists with children look for fun activities for their children.  Some tourists with children looking for fun activities consider amusement parks as such!  Even some citizens of Portugal (the little ones) like amusement parks.
• One of my least favorite companies is ANA.  It is a state company just like TAP.  TAP is the Portuguese Airline.  It is surprisingly good.  They have a Brazilian boss. He managed to have the political board fired,  The man must be superhuman. They dislike ANA as well.  ANA takes care of the airports.
  You meet ANA when you arrive to and leave from Portugal by airplane as many or most tourists do.  In Lisbon, first you will usually have to take a bus to the terminal from where the airplane is parked.  There are not nearly enough gates.
  When you arrive you will notice you do so apparently without your luggage.  But do not worry.  The luggage is there.   If you are lucky and get one of the old transport conveyors, then you may look behind the plastic curtain.  I once did so when arriving from the US very late at night.  We had waited one hour for the luggage which is not unusual.  We looked through the curtain and down to the single guy working.  He was smoking.   Between each cigarette he would put a piece of luggage from the cart onto the transport band.  I asked him kindly whether he could speed it up a bit.  He did of course.  ANA might tell you they no longer are responsible for luggage - now there are subcontractors like Groundforce or whatever.  The speed is the same though - the slowest in Western Europe?
  When you enter the duty free from check-in, the security is fast and rather thorough.  Always has been.  
  Don´t buy anything in the rather bland airport.  It is cheaper every else except in other airports - the wine selection is excellent, however.
  You do not need to pay one Euro deposit for the luggage cart anymore.  That was fun.  I usually arrived at the arrivals of the airport without coins as my destination does not accept them and the metal detector likewise.   But I did have cash.  But nowhere to get a coin.  The 80 year old grandmothers got stronger in the Lisbon airport.   I wrote a formal complaint and got an answer from the ministry.  They could see no reason for the complaint.  It did not bother the passengers and it was to improve service (sic).
  Anyway, after a couple of years the deposit requirement was removed.   There are still no small luggage carts inside the airport.  It makes the grandmothers stronger.
• To finish off, before running out of ink:  A country like Denmark, with a more than a rather miserable climate, and half the size of Portugal makes more money in absolute amounts on tourism than Portugal.