An SDA regular and his wife recently got back from Portugal. Here’s an interesting summary from him:
We love Portugal – especially the northern part from Porto to the Spanish border. We have been there (Portugal) four times during the past seven years and enjoyed every minute of our trips. Lisbon and Porto are beautiful places; safe and clean. That said, things are changing … going in a direction that we really don’t like …. but have no control over. In no particular order, here are a few things that have made us decide that this trip we just completed will probably be our last one to Europe.
- Devaluation of Canadian dollar. In September 2019 it took $1.43 Canadian dollars to purchase a Euro. Today the figure is $1.64. This constitutes a 15 percent loss of purchase power – and a significant additional travel cost – and this is very likely to get a lot worse before it gets better.
- European countries set their own Value Added Tax (VAT) rates. In Portugal the categories are 6, 13, and 23 percent. In 2019 local food produce was not taxed at all; now it is taxed at 6%. Beer and wine in a restaurant was taxed at 23%, but taxed at a lower 13% if you picked it up in a store. Now all beer and wine purchases are taxed at 23%, and many of the food items that were taxed at 6 % have risen to 13% and some that were 13% have migrated upwards.
- Many hotels, guest houses and resorts in Portuguese cities and tourist centers are now imposing a “green” head tax of 2 to 4 euros per person per night. In some European cities it is higher.
- Starting October 2nd, the ETIAS documentation and identification system will be a mandatory pre-entry condition for those arriving in Europe through “regular” channels. It obviously won’t apply to the hordes arriving illegally. As this system evolves, it will require biometric identification: fingerprint and facial recognition and retinal scanning technology. Call it paranoia or whatever, but I’m really not happy about this Big Brotherism.
- Although we book accommodations that have kitchens, we do like to get out for dinner every 2nd night. But the cost of restaurant food is getting into the crazy zone (see point 1.). A small (and very thin) pizza and a beer at a beachfront restaurant will set you back 30 euros. The mark-up from shelf price fot food, beer, and wine is exorbitant … and consistent among all restaurants. There is certainly a sort of price-fixing going on. A lot of restaurants fell by the wayside during covid, and I think the survivors have decided to make up for lost time and revenue by gouging the rebounded tourist market.
We had tentatively planned to return to Portugal next spring, but we have just put our plans on hold – because of the above, plus a nagging feeling of general unease. We will see. Maybe things will return to a more stable orbit.
Here are some images he provided:
