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Portuguese Chamber of Commerce
4th Annual Conference on Portuguese Property and Tourism
March 31st 2008
Portugal’s popularity as a tourist destination has continued to increase. In 2007, the growth in revenue from Tourism in Portugal was 11% reaching 7337.6 € Million. The UK’s enthusiasm for Portugal has also continued: over 75,000 Britons own homes in Portugal, and over 2,000,000 visited the country last year.
The Portuguese Chamber held its 4th Annual Conference on this sector in March. Almost 120 delegates crowded into the lecture theatre - the growth in attendance year on year showing the increasing interest in Portugal as a destination for Tourism and Residential Property.
The Conference was held in the Auditorium of Withers Worldwide LLP, the international law firm located in the City of London. John Newgas the Chief Executive of the Chamber welcomed everyone and thanked all for coming to what was the largest such conference the Chamber had held. He then introduced the Chairman, Manuel Fernando Espírito Santo the Chairman of Espírito Santo Tourism, who had flown specially to London for this occasion.
David Dannreuther, a partner at Withers Worldwide, introduced his company to the audience, outlining the many areas of Wither’s operations in legal matters geographically and in service areas.
The Chairman, then introduced Prof Bernardo Ivo Cruz, the new director of AICEP in London. Bernardo outlined expected Trends and Investment into Portugal in the next 5 years. He showed how the expansion in growth over the last few years was and will continue. The Government was planning to encourage growth in different regions and recognised that different destinations will appeal and grow different target markets. He outlined the 5 action lines and 11 project areas being targeted.
Next to speak was Afonso Rocha, Senior Banker, Banco Espírito Santo de Investimento, on “Development Finance for Companies in Today’s Market Place”. Afonso outlined the sources and types of funding available in this critically important area, and explained the requirements that were likely to be found in today’s changing environment for funding.
Mário Azevedo Ferreira from the CS Group Portugal outlined the mutual benefits of Resort and Hotel Tourism working together. He explained how hotel operators saw one of their key abilities being good management of tourist facilities. He showed examples of current developments where a residential resort and hotel facilities mutually strengthened each other and attracted visitors.
In a contrast to this Jerry Cobb, of The Fractional Ownership Company, outlined what Fractional Ownership was and how it provided a growing alternative to outright sale for high quality developments. He explained the key differences in the ownership types and how fractional ownership was an actual real ownership of property but shared amongst owners.
After a Coffee Break, Manuel Fernando Espírito Santo introduced the next speaker Robert Sinclair of AIFA - The Association of Independent Financial Advisers. His presentation “The Position of the IFA- who are they, and what do they need to know”, explained their role: IFAs advise many buyers, outlined the role of the IFA, how they worked, and held a duty towards their clients. Often such clients might wish to buy overseas property, and an IFA could advise on this. Increasingly this was happening and this gave an opportunity to understand what an IFA was looking for and what they could and could not do.
John Langan, Withers Worldwide LLP, gave the second presentation after the break on “Property Funds and Holding Structures”, looking at various options for property and resort ownership. He explained the different structures and advantages of different holding methods such as Limited Partnerships. These could be important for high value investors and groups.
Property Values are the core of real estate business. Nelson Rêgo from Prime Yield in Lisbon gave a talk on “Property Values – What Are They and How We Know”, showing the conference his detailed analysis of market prices. He showed the trends of steady growth across the many different areas and types of property, showing how the Algarve Golden Triangle really did have high values. Nelson finished by analysing the availability and demand for properties in the future, where he felt that demand would continue to exceed supply of quality properties and that prices would therefore continue to increase.
The final speaker was Sue Ash, Director of Ash Communications. Sue spoke about The Power of Public Relations, explaining how to be seen in a competitive world. She was able to show actual statistics of the effects of PR, in for example visits to a Web Site, and showed how everyone needs some Public Relations to be visible and gain clients.
Manuel Fernando Espírito Santo, the conference Chairman, then opened a discussion and question session. He then summed up the success of the both the Conference and the Portuguese Tourism and Residential Property markets expanding it with his own experience of the Tourism industry.
After the conference, delegates had an opportunity to network during a drinks’ reception sponsored by Banco Santander Totta and Banco Espírito Santo. Many overseas visitors and delegates then joined for a dinner nearby where the wines were also sponsored by the two banks.
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