The run-down building adjacent to the local football team’s stadium will reportedly be done up to host courses and students of the Portimão Hospitality and Tourism school, which serves the entire western end of the region.
The existing facilities are to be renovated and adapted, as currently the building is degraded and its area is insufficient for the dimensions of its new role.
National newspaper Correio da Manhã (CM) reported intentions of the transformation were revealed by State Secretary for Tourism, Ana Mendes Godinho during a parliamentary meeting with the Committee for Economy, Innovation and Public Works.
The building currently belongs to public company Estamo, which manages real estate belonging to the State.
According to CM the process has been developed through the national tourism board Turismo de Portugal and Portimão Mayor Isilda Gomes is “pleased” with the government’s intent.
“For us to have sustainable tourism we need qualified human resources at our disposal,” she commented to the newspaper.
She added, the city’s current hospitality school, in Pedra Mourinha, is to small and also dilapidated and the investment necessary to renovate it “would be very high.”