“A welcoming city, that receives with excellence all that visit it”. This is how the Funchal mayor classifies the city, and justifies the existence of a tourism information centre run by the council.
And all this because through the last months, since its opening in October 2016, the new information centre, in the Funchal seafront, has already received eighty thousand people – more than three hundred per day.
Paulo Cafofo, the mayor, speaks of an undeniable impact (…) which confirms the reasons for our bet in a setup with these characteristics. Funchal has greatly benefitted from the creation of this additional information centre, thus contributing for the creation of the image of a welcoming city, that receives with excellence all that visit it”.
Through the eight months it has operated, and taking into account the average ten thousand visitors per month, it was possible to design the profile of the visitor: 45 percent is between 45 and 64 years of age, and 30 percent is over 65. British prevail (38 percent), followed by Germans (18 percent) and other northern European visitors (8 percent together). From the people questioned, ninety percent travel accompanied, amd they mostly fly into the island, where they spend between four and seven days (47 percent) or for longer periods (34 percent).
In the city, they mostly stress the friendliness of the people, the diversity of cultural offerings, gastronomy and nature, which are all important elements that will assist Funchal in remaining a differentiated destination within the tourism markets.
The tourism office has received people from 49 different nationalities.
