The number of visitors to Funchal’s beach resorts, managed by the municipal company Frente Mar, doubled to 85,000 in the first five months of the year, compared with the same period last year, it was announced today.
“In the first five months of the year, from January to May, we had already beaten a record attendance last year. And this year, from January to May, we had an incredible 102% increase, meaning we doubled the number of accesses,” said the company’s sole administrator, Rui Cortez.
At the blue flag hoisting ceremony at the Ponta Gorda beach resort, one of four managed by Frente Mar, the manager said that 42,000 entries had been recorded in the first five months of 2022, and that this figure had risen to 85,000 in the same period this year.
Of this number, around 15-20% were tourists, he added.
For Rui Cortez, this increase is due to the “good weather” Madeira has experienced this year, but it is also “a recognition of the quality” of the resorts and the company’s management, which is now “balanced from a financial point of view”.
In a similar vein, the mayor of Funchal (PSD/CDS-PP), Pedro Calado, stressed that this was a year of “recovery for the company”, which was in a “difficult situation” when the mayor took office in 2021.
“We found a difficult situation, we had to reduce the number of employees, we proceeded to a requalification of jobs, functions and today, this blue flag, in addition to the quality of the complexes and the significant investment that has been made, honors the quality of the workers that we have”, he felt.
Pedro Calado stressed that the Funchal Waterfront “is stable, autonomous and financially independent”, pointing out that in 2023, the local authority did not transfer any money to the municipal company.
Last May, Funchal City Council approved a proposal to cover the 580,000 euro deficit recorded in 2021 by the municipal company Frente Mar. The opposition voted against, led by the PS, which governed the municipality between 2013 and 2021, and advocated closing the company.
At today’s ceremony, Pedro Calado also announced that from Sunday, there will be a second security and surveillance post at the eastern end of Praia Formosa, Funchal’s largest beach.