Azores Situation Report Wednesday 16th April 2025
Northeast Council admits to applying tourist tax from May
The municipality of Nordeste, the only one on the island of São Miguel, in the Azores, that is not charging the municipal tourist tax, expects that the collection may go ahead in May, announced the mayor
Four of the six municipalities of São Miguel began charging a tourist tax in January, a procedure that, contrary to what was initially planned by the association of municipalities, was delayed in Nordeste and Povoação, a municipality where the situation has already been regularized, and the tax is being charged normally.
The tourist tax costs two euros per day for a maximum of three consecutive nights. For camping and caravanning, the amount is one euro per person, per night.
Immigrants receive Portuguese course certificates
Eighteen immigrants living in the municipality of Horta received qualification certificates for Portuguese for Speakers of Other Languages courses last week.
The initiative, promoted by the Horta City Council, in partnership with the Regional Directorate for Communities, was attended by 18 citizens from 12 countries: South Africa, Germany, Argentina, China, Philippines, Gambia, Great Britain, Netherlands, Pakistan, Poland, Russia and Venezuela.
At the certificate awarding session, held in the Salão Nobre dos Paços do Concelho, the mayor, Carlos Ferreira, reaffirmed the fact that Faial “is the most intercultural island in the archipelago”, with 934 foreign citizens residing there.
Banana from the Azores with Geographical Indication designation
The banana produced in the Azores archipelago has been recognized with the designation of Geographical Indication, within the scope of the process that aims at its classification as a Protected Geographical Indication (PGI), revealed the Regional Government
According to an order from the Regional Secretariat for Agriculture and Food of the Azores published in the Official Journal, “under Article 11 of Regulation (EU) No. 2024/1143 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 11 April 2024, protection is granted at national level to the name ‘Banana dos Açores’ as a Geographical Indication, with effect from 3 April 2025, the date of submission of the application for registration to the Commission”.
The regional secretary for Agriculture and Food, António Ventura, explained that the ruling means that at a national level “there was no opposition from any region, from any entity, to the Azores having this Community legal qualification” attributed to the bananas produced in the region.
“The process now goes to the European Commission, so that the European Commission, at a global level, can also issue an opposition notice, that is, to see if there is any country that opposes this legal qualification,” he added.
In this way, António Ventura indicated, the first step has been taken towards the classification of Azorean bananas as a PGI product.
“We [Regional Government], together with producer organizations, prepared the specifications, a manual that states that this agri-food product is the result of the soil and climate conditions of the Azores and the work of the people,” he highlighted.
Bananas from the Azores “have different organoleptic characteristics to other bananas produced worldwide”. “And it is this difference that we want to certify at the level of a globally recognised certification from the European Union, which are the PDO [Protected Designation of Origin], PGI [Protected Geographical Indication] and TSG [Traditional Specialities Guaranteed] products”, he reported.
The minister described that the Azores have 10 community qualifications already attributed to agri-food products (seven PDO and three IGP). The banana (IGP) will be the 11th and three more PDOs are in preparation (melon from Graciosa, turnip and lamb from Santa Maria).
“These qualifications, in addition to recognizing people’s know-how in relation to soil and climate conditions, also have an economic aspect that allows us to provide consumers with a product with unique conditions,” he said.
Banana certification “is in an advanced and terminal process” and the other three products are in the specification booklet preparation phase.
He said that the classification of Azorean bananas as a PGI product will allow for their economic value and the development of the sector: “With this, we believe that there will be more demand, at national, regional and European level, for this product of ours”.
In January this year, the Cooperativa Agrícola Açoreana de Hortofloricultores said it was working on the IGP classification of bananas to promote sustainable growth in the sector and “guarantee the quality of the product”.
The president of Frutaçor, Carlos Araújo, has said that the cooperative intends to “register the banana from the Azores as IGP with the aim of promoting the sustainable growth of the crop and guaranteeing the quality of the product, creating a strategy to win over and retain customers who identify it as IGP banana, giving it notoriety”.
Bananas from the Azores are of the species ‘Musa acuminata Colla’ and ‘Dwarf cavendish’ (commonly known as small dwarf) and are produced in delimited geographical areas outdoors, mostly under dry farming conditions.
According to the president of Frutaçor, they have different characteristics from others produced worldwide, as they are “smaller, sweeter, with a soft texture and an intense and pleasant aroma” when ripe.