José Theotónio thus reacted to the decision by the Lisbon City Council to approve, on April 17, the PSD/CDS-PP proposal to increase the value of the tourist accommodation tax, from two to four euros per night, making possible an amendment by the PS to exclude camping parks.

"As a matter of principle, this mania that exists of starting to tax a sector when it is doing well is not the best in economic terms. Therefore, I am against any tourist tax, whatever its value," said the CEO of the Pestana Hotel Group (PHG) at a meeting with journalists in Lisbon.

"Companies already pay taxes, they already pay VAT. There are already too many taxes paid in Portugal, why should there still be a tax on top of that?" he also asked.

"The great argument to show the importance of tourism is - not to have a short memory - and to look at when there was no tourism. When there was no tourism, how the whole economy was affected, that of the city, that of the country, the development that was not provided to society as a whole. Tourism plays this role. There is a mania of saying 'now we have too much tourism' is to look at when it did not exist," reinforced the CEO.

Even so, the official stressed the need for "irrespective of that", there to be "concerted public and private policies" in order to achieve better circulation and better dispersion of tourist flows in the city, for example.

"I hope that when there are bad years [in the sector] they will lower the [tourist] tax, but I have never seen taxes being lowered," he joked.

In Lisbon, the PSD/CDS-PP proposal also provides for the update of the tourist arrival tax by sea, from one euro to two euros, although the value that is now proposed to be updated is the one that began to be applied this year, with the start of the collection of this tax from cruise passengers.

In a private meeting of the municipal executive, on 17 April, the PSD/CDS-PP proposal was approved with the abstention of the PCP and the votes in favour of the remaining councillors, namely the proponents, PS, Livre, Cidadãos Por Lisboa (elected by the PS/Livre coalition) and BE, according to a local source.

PHG today announced that it had obtained a net result of 105 million euros in 2023, 4% less than in the previous year.

At the meeting, José Theotónio said that in terms of recurring results, that is, not taking into account the extraordinary capital gain obtained in 2022, PHG's profit rose 30% last year.

During the 2022 financial year, the Group sold a hotel unit, the Pestana Blue Alvor, to the Azora fund for 75 million euros.

Revenue rose 23% in 2023, to 557 million euros, benefiting mainly from the growth in the average price of overnight stays.

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