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Portugal strives to boost revenue in most popular tourist district

Xinhua, June 19, 2015 Adjust font size:

Portugal is striving to boost revenue in one of its most popular tourism district in the riverside district of Belem in its capital Lisbon to help the country amid its steady but slow recovery from the debt crisis.

The government on Thursday approved a cultural strategic plan for the area at a cabinet meeting.

The Jeronimos Monastery, the Tower of Belem and the Berardo Museum of Contemporary Art, among other monuments, all stand in Belem and attract over 2 million visitors every year.

"The high quality and diversity of the cultural heritage that are concentrated in the area of Belem, coupled with the natural beauty of the mouth of the Tagus river, and the fact that it is a privileged destiny for national and foreign visitors, offers a potential for growth that should be mobilized for the sustained creation of wealth and employment," the government said.

The country wants to get different entities responsible for museums, gardens, monuments and cultural facilities involved in the plan.

The Jeronimos Monastery last year was the most visited monument, registering over 807,000 visits, according to figures by the Directorate-General for Patrimony (DGP).

The National Coach Museum, which recently reopened in a new building in that very area and displays coaches from the 16th to 19th centuries, is also expected to help raise the number of visitors in the area.

The responsibility to draw up a plan for Belem was handed by Portugal's Secretary of State of Culture Jorge Barreto Xavier to President of the Cultural Center of Belem Antonio Lamas last year.

Antonio Lamas told Portuguese Lusa News Agency that the plan will be given to the government before the end of July.

Belem is also popular for being reminiscent of Portugal's age of discovery, as explorers set off from here in the 15th and 16th centuries, which led to a vast empire.

Portugal signed a bailout program in 2011 with the troika of international lenders -- the European Commission, International Monetary Fund and European Central Bank. The debt-laden country had a clean exit from the bailout program in May last year.

Export growth and tourism have helped put Portugal's economy back on track. The Portuguese government expects the economy to grow 1.6 percent this year. Endit