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Talks of Portuguese ‘Disneyland’ for the Algarve!

Talks of Portuguese ‘Disneyland’ for the Algarve!

South Portugal, Algarve, to get their very own 'Disneyland' style family theme park.

Guess who’s buying a holiday home in the Algarve? Rumour has it Mickey and Minnie Mouse, or equally special and fun characters! At the recent annual gala of the Franco-Portuguese Chamber of Commerce and Industry (CCIFP), discussions were had of building a new theme park, the likes of Disney, in Southern Portugal.

 

With the many current amusement parks in the Algarve being highly seasonal and mostly water themed, having a theme park running through the winter months could certainly help to increase the tourism through the less popular months. 

 

Carlos Vinhas Pereira, president of the Franco-Portuguese Chamber of Commerce and Industry made the point talking to NiT, "We have to be able to attract people also in the low season. We're thinking of a playground. It is true that there are already many in the Algarve, but they are all linked to water. What was needed was something like Disney, with a size proportional to the Algarve, ". This forward thinking would be sure to help the area which relies heavily on seasonal tourism to maintain its growing economy. 

 

Although the comparisons with Paris’ Billion dollar grossing Disneyland maybe at this stage just an idea for namesake, the primary objective is to cater to the family market. "We believe that the creation of a theme park [...] in keeping with the positioning of the Algarve as a destination geared towards families," says João Fernandes. Expectations for all the starry eyed children hearing the news should perhaps take care to head the extra added advice that the project would be "adjusted to our size", perhaps indicating that a huge ‘Disneyland’ construction maybe off the cards but rather a smaller more scaled back approach would be taken with careful inclusion of “the history of the region”. 

 

No matter what the square footage of the project turns out to be, one thing seems to be certain, the Algarve Tourism Association are on-side. Good news for the potential developers, Mr Fernandes concluded "it is very positive to see that the destination remains attractive", for any international investors. 

 

Perhaps it’s not time to get the kids excited just yet, but it looks like a new theme park is on the way to the Algarve. Who would blame them with tourism booming, a new airport in Lisbon in development and Portugal currently the 3rd best investment country in the world. Increasing the list of reasons to visit in all year round can only be a positive outcome. 

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