Speaking to Lusa, Rita Marques said that a Portuguese “business mission” is being prepared for the last quarter of the year to “guarantee” that the country can receive workers from the CPLP (Community of Portuguese-Speaking Countries) countries, within the framework of the new regime for the entry and permanence of workers in Portugal.

“The objective is to take a delegation of Portuguese business owners who are looking to reinforce personnel and to then identify potential workers who are interested in working in Portugal… and that the consular services can then administratively dispatch visas favourably and we can bring with us the workers who intend to enter this sector of activity”, she explained.

According to the Secretary of State for Tourism, Commerce and Services, who met with several representatives of the tourism sector in the Algarve, the Portuguese business mission, which includes several areas of the Government, such as "Labour, Foreign Affairs and Economy", should take place in the last quarter of 2022.

New law to help with recruitment

“At this time, when there is a strong recovery in the tourism sector, we are experiencing several challenges and one of them has to do, precisely, with the lack of human capital”, she said, adding that, during the meeting with entrepreneurs in the sector, the new law was addressed.

According to the official, the new law has introduced “very relevant and substantial changes in the issuance of visas, namely within the scope of countries that have ratified the CPLP [Community of Portuguese-Speaking Countries] agreement”.

Estimating that the country needs between 45,000 and 50,000 workers in the sector to guarantee the quality of services in tourism, Rita Marques considered that the new regime for the entry and permanence of workers in Portugal “can be useful precisely to be able to import human capital”.

However, she stressed, there is a concern “to ensure that this human capital is also adequately trained and qualified” to maintain “a provision of excellent services” in the sector, involving national schools of hospitality and tourism in this matter.