(26th July). Today’s main news headline : ‘Succession Generates Doubts’ separates images of President Jardim and Miguel Alburquerque, President of Funchal Câmara, glaring at each other. ‘Survey reveals that Alburquerque is the ‘pretender’ best placed to succeed Jardim in the PSD-M party leadership, but also there are 40% of undecideds’. After Albuquerque with 25.8% in the survey of ‘favourites’ is Sérgio Marques, the ex Euro MP, with 9.1%. I don’t believe Jardim is retiring until 2011 if at all, so a bit of a pointless survey if you ask me … I will bore you no more.
The leader of the PSD nationally is off sick with the flu, so won’t be able to attend the big PSD-M party rally at Chão da Lagoa today. Bet she’s gutted, and Uncle Bertie too, but she sent a message instead. The event is said to have cost €200,000, including €100,000 for 230 bus and coach hires. Those from Porto Santo wishing to attend pay just €5 for the sea crossing, with the PSD-M making up the difference, estimated to be around €20,000. The main entertainer is expected to cost €15,000 for his show. The social democrats won’t discuss the costs, so the figures given are the Diário estimates. Must be great for those supporters on Porto Santo of other political parties, a very cheap day out in Funchal at the very least, all at the expense of the PSD-M.
From The Journal da Madeira : ‘The Autonomy Has To Develop To Keep Up With The World’. Madeira’s president stressed yesterday that it is in the genes of the Madeirans to resist and fight, adding that many Madeirans thrive in the world because of the advent of the Autonomy. President Jardim pointed out that Madeira has always been a land of resistance, and of struggle, due to the territorial problems of distance from Europe. The youth of today, he reminded, are the heirs of the spirit of resistance and struggle, of the ability to overcome difficulties. Yes I realise the risks of taking politics from the Journal, but this story seemed harmless enough with no obvious reason to fabricate and spin political propaganda. Besides from that I can honestly claim that any news from The Journal comes without me even touching the newspaper or visiting the website.
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‘Debuts In Caniçal – The Port of Caniçal has two inaugural visits, one ferry and a tanker’. The ‘Volcán de Tauce’ arrives Monday at 3pm bringing all the cars and equipment for the Madeira Wine Rally starting on Thursday. The other debut is a brand new tanker, the ‘Nepheli’ bringing asphalt to fill the holes in the road ready for the rally. The ship was inaugurated in April this year. Also, anyone intending to use the Porto Santo ferry on Friday should note that the normal hours have been changed to allow two return journeys to be made that day.
(25th July). ‘Public interest of the ‘Armas’ challenged with new evidence – Letter from APRAM demanding that the Armas follows the rules or will be subject to legal action’. The association of ship owners, is preparing a new offensive to thwart the continuing operation of the Madeira / Mainland passenger ferry in carrying freight into Funchal Port. This time the move may include holding shareholders in Naveira Armas responsible for losses. Armas dodged the last court injunction aimed at stopping freight loading / unloading in Funchal, after a case was made that it was against the public interest to do so. The issue is the unloading of trailers and containers of cargo, something other shipowners cannot do in Funchal port due to different licence conditions. This time the case may be built around illegality of permission, but legal matters in Portuguese are not one of my strong points, so moving on …
‘Tourism Coaches Stopped And Waiting For Tourists – Madeira companies will have over 30% of their fleets parked-up this Summer’. Lack of business and cut-price competition is affecting the income of coach operators. With the crisis in the tourist sector and price cutting practiced by some companies, business for the coaches dedicated for tourism is being hit badly. It is hitting home more now because the high season for cruise ships has now passed. Some smaller coach operators say that half of their fleets are now not being used. Some operators have slashed their profit margins in desperation, whilst those on a better financial footing have not, and they are the ones complaining about lack of business. Also this time of year, the coaches that are used for school travel and are normally hired by the councils, are rented out for the Summer months for use in the tourism sector. Maybe some coach owners have never passed through a recession before, or have never understood economics, or heard of a relationship between supply and demand, but the survivors of a recession in a competitive market are not those that stand still and do nothing except complain … give me patience O Jedi master!!!
In the UK junk newspaper ‘The Sun’ (not my normal read I promise) it seems that airport taxes are to be raised again for UK air travellers to all destinations. For passengers within Europe, the rise will be £1 more this year, and another £1 in November 2010, but that is for journeys of up to 2,000 miles. For over 2,000 miles, it goes up £5 this year, and another £15 next year to £60, but unless you are flying from John O’Groats I think the lower band should apply.
Its a strange thing the internet, how it can influence people into decision making. Over the last week, 3 of the top 5 keyword searches on Google that have brought people to find this website have used combinations of the words madeira-swine-flu, amounting to around 15% of all searches that have ended up here. The chances they will end up at an article written last month ‘No Swine Flu Here’, which comes up as second on the first page of search results. I reckon these people doing the search, in the English language, are either people who have booked here for a holiday and are concerned, or are thinking about booking and checking out the Gripe A situation here. In a world of dog-eat-dog, wouldn’t it be great if the Gripe A problem here never really took hold and tourism here started to recover as people realised the risk was very low, and chose Madeira for their holidays in preference to other locations. I know I am just dreaming that it could happen, but of course it is unlikely in theory, as the more tourists that come here the higher the risk of new carriers and cross infection.
The post Leite Off Sick ; Madeirans Must Resists & Fight ; 2 Debuts In Caniçal ; Coach Firms Struggle appeared first on Madeira News Blog.