Overtourism in Madeira?

Lately, there has been a lot of talk in the media about overtourism in Madeira. If you believe what people say, there are way too many tourists, way too many houses bought by foreigners, and prices are being driven up to such a level that the Madeirans really can´t afford to live on their own island any longer. Finding out if this is the reality or just ‘entitled’ people moaning, I have done an attempt to analize the matter. First of all, it seemed useful to find out who the complainers are exactly. Roughly, there are two different groups with really different complaints.

Madeirans

Yes, there are Madeirans who complain about there being too many tourists on the island. Mostly, these are people who are looking for a house or an apartment to buy or to rent, and they find that many are way out of their budget. I soon found that the cause of these high prices are not the tourists at all. A tourist will book a flight and an accommodation, but the prices of accommodation have only gone up in proportion with normal price increases in general. If they book an all-inclusive tour, the prices may well have come down lately. So what is the reason that prices of real estate are so high?

second homes

Anyone who travels the island these days will see that, in many places, constructions are going on. They are building white concrete blocks of incredibly exaggerated dimensions, that, once ready, are being put on the market at extortionate prices. Unfortunately, there are many wealthy people from abroad who can and will buy them. As a result, Madeirans who have property to sell have raised their prices, too, thinking that foreigners will pay any price for any real estate. And, unfortunately, there is some truth in this. When Madeirans find they can no longer afford to buy a house or an apartment, they try to find a place to rent. It will be a no-brainer to understand why the rent has generally gone up, too.

Trojan horse

Meanwhile, during covid, something else happened: the influx of many ‘digital nomads’ who found there was no other place they could go to. In a time with little or no tourism, they were welcomed with open arms, especially the council of Ponta do Sol became a hub, with work places at the local cultural centre and, of course, superfast internet being installed everywhere. Madeira was overjoyed with this new source of income, as there really was not much else in 2020. It turned out to be the proverbial Trojan Horse. The nomads had online jobs that paid very well, way above the Madeiran or Portuguese standard, so they could afford very high rents and did not care if the prices of the restaurants in the area were over the Madeiran standards.

inequality

All this is not good for the islanders. They are now part of a society with a mixed composition. On the one hand, there are the islanders, of which the monthly minimum income is around 915€, on the other hand, there are the foreigners with maybe 5 – 10 times that income. Not only does that inflate the prices of real estate, it inflates all prices. But the digital nomads at least spend money on the island. The owners of the white concrete blocks hardly contribute to the local economy as these megalomanic boxes are standing empty most of the time.

who is to blame?

There is not one single party to blame. The prices of real estate started to go up in mid-2020, when covid was in full swing. Madeira was one of the few places that had their act in order: from July 1st, tourists were welcome to the island and were offered a (compulsory) covid-test at the airport upon arrival. And the digital nomads came. Also, we saw a new group of tourists discover the island, unfortunately not always the kind of tourist that used to be typical for the island: nature lovers and seekers of peace and quiet, with the odd day in town. As the Costa-goers could no longer go there, they came to Madeira, desperately looking for the non-existent beaches and the coma-boozing in town. From then on, you could see tourists in a not very tasteful state of undress crowding the city center. Nobody complained, because the Madeirans know full well that tourism is their main source of income. After the rest of the world opened up again, this group of tourist fortunately disappeared again, but the seed for more massive tourism was planted.

heritage obliterated

People who had never heard of Madeira suddenly came to visit, and many wanted a place for themselves on the island. There is nothing wrong with that, in itself, but unfortunately, the regional and local rulers have no interest at all for their heritage, allowing horribly large houses to be build, letting people destroy old typical Madeiran houses in the process. The result: some areas in Madeira are already named ¨Funchal Malibu” or even “Dubai in Madeira” and, what is worse, some people even take pride in that. Instead of realizing they are destroying not only their heritage, but also making the island less attractive for the original visitors, they only can think along the lines of more, more, bigger, bigger. A perfect example is the Savoy Palace hotel in Funchal, that took away the view and a lot of daylight for many living in the area. The opinions about this building is a good example of the greed of the authorities of Funchal, who gave a permit to built such a megalomanic monstrosity, no doubt after receiving a nice lining to their coffers. And some groups of tourists keep aah-ing and ohh-ing about it, as it gives them luxury and they don´t really intend to leave the hotel anyway. Those who live in the area have a different opinion.

The conclusion is not all that complex: Real estate prices are high because

• Madeirans selling theirs want ridiculous prices and buyers are willing to pay those.
• authorities allow ugly big concrete blocks to be built and allow them to stand empty most of the time.
• authorities have no intent of protecting their heritage.

We have seen this happen in many places: there are concrete walls consisting of high rise buildings along the Spanish costas, the Belgian coast, the German island of Borkum, some places in the Canary Islands, just to mention some. All even nice enough to go to if you want a beach holiday. But… Madeira is no beach destination and never will be.

foreigners

The second group of complainers are tourists and foreign residents of the island. The tourists are often attracted by resort like hotels at very reasonable prices, and as Madeira still has the name of being a quiet island full of flowers, they are disappointed when they find they are not alone as soon as they leave the hotel. They drive up to the Pico de Areeiro at the crack of dawn and find themselves in a traffic jam with their rental car. That´s when they start complaining, without giving any thought to the fact that it is they who are part of the problem. If you all just want to go to the places that are advertised as ‘must see´, and you all want to go there at once and with your own car, don´t be surprised when you find out all your colleagues are doing exactly the same. And it is their own fault.

Facebook as a travel guide

Many tourists get their information, not by finding things out exploring all that the island has to offer, but just dropping a ‘where to go´ in on of the several Facebook groups, where the same answers keep going around. So the variety of beautiful spots the island still has to offer in relative quiet, are overlooked by the larger group of tourists. When Noud and I want to do a hike, we have a choice of stunning walks we can do, not bothered by hordes of tourists. Of course, we skip the 25 Fontes walk, the Ponta de São Lourenço trail, Ribeiro Frio and, heavens forbid, the famous PR1 from the Pico Areeiro to the Pico Ruivo – apart from the fact that this hike is far beyond our physical capacity these days. To be honest, we took the covid time to do the São Lourenço and the 25 Fontes in June 2020 when there were no tourists. One glance at the parking lots near those hikes whenever we pass tell me we took the right decision. And where do we go now, when going for a hike? I think I won´t tell. For two reasons. One is the obvious one: we want those trails to remain peaceful. The other is one that will benefit the visitor: Do your own exploring, don´t be a flock of sheep just doing what all the others do. And you will find an island that is not spoiled by mass tourism, that is not overcrowded, and that lives up to the name it used to have.

so is the island too overcrowded?

It depends on your point of view. It depends of where you are. It depends on your tolerance. To be honest, the world population has been growing fast in the last decades. Everywhere you will see constructions underway, nature being gobbled up by residential areas. Nice? No. But all those people need to live somewhere, and Madeira is no exception to any of this. So why do some people believe that the whole world is getting busier, but it won´t happen in Madeira. Or worse, they feel they are entitled to having the island to themselves, and to them alone.

government measures?

So, has the government done nothing at all to regulate the influx of foreign house owners and tourists? Yes, they have, though it is always difficult to separate good intentions from greed. So what has been done?

• The city council on Funchal has imposed tourist tax on all cruise ship passengers spending a day in port. A wise decision, as these visitors tend to spend hardly any money on the island. The only party profiting is the infamous Grupo Sousa, pulling the strings in the harbour of Funchal who collects the mooring fees. With the tourist tax, some revenue flows to the city, necessary to keep the infrastructure in good shape.
• A number of councils have introduced tourist tax on anyone spending time within their council limits. Not much, only € 2.00 per night and only for the first 7 nights. More people means more maintenance, more rubbish to deal with, you name it. If it helps keeping things in good working order, fine with us.
• The ministry of tourism is now imposing a fee for walking the official PR trails on the island. That seems a bit greedy, perhaps, but maintaining the hikes is a lot of work. On top of that, if you are injured while hiking, you expect a rescue crew to carry you to safety. I see no harm in asking a small contribution of €3 per hike.

I have made a page where you can find out how the online payment works here.

conclusion

As we are part time residents and live in the West of the island, we have been watching things develop over the years. And our findings: We are still spending 6 months a year in a stunning island, with plenty of space, and yes, we do sometimes notice the number of visitors has increased, like anywhere else. Funchal can be very busy, especially when cruise ships put maybe 12,000 day tourists in the streets of central Funchal. Those are the days we avoid downtown Funchal till, say, 5 PM when the cruise ships want their passengers back on board as they usually leave at 6 PM. On the other hand, and empty city centre is no fun, so we don´t complain. We always find parking space in one of the parking houses, so no problem there. It happened once that I could not find a parking space in Calheta anywhere near the Pingo Doce supermarket. That was a beautiful and sunny day after a period of bad weather, so everyone wanted to go to the beach, and I couldn´t blame them. As I said: it happened once. Only once. And the increase in tourism has not only brought negative effects. On the positive side: we have more and nicer shops in our area, the infrastructure has improved, there are nice and even more upmarket restaurants in our area, where we used to have only the standard Madeiran fare, or tourist restaurants. About that: recently there was an article published in the Madeira Island News Blog about mass tourism threatening the local cuisine. We find that, as soon as you leave the trodden path, there are still plenty of family run smaller places that offer the ´Espetada’, the ‘Espada Preta’, the ‘Prego no bolo de caco’ and all local dishes exactly as they should be. These places cannot handle the contents of a tourist bus, which is just as well. They can stick to deep fried mystery meat and pizzas.

In short: the Madeira of old is still there for those who explore and enjoy the remote, non-touristy spots and don´t ask Facebook advice. It´s up to you. Enjoy Madeira.