Current Situation and Trends in Economy and Job Market

The main aim of this project was to learn more about “European economy and job prospects – in the past, present and future”. For that reason, we were asked to do a pre-task about the following topics:

• How does tourism create jobs?

• How can cultural heritage promote tourism and economy?

• Migrants’ expertise in use.

We chose to do a video about it that was presented during the online session with the other countries (Greece, Norway and Germany). During these online sessions we also got the opportunity to see their presentations on these topics and learnt more about in which way tourism affects each countries’ economy.

How does tourism create jobs?

The arrival and stay of tourists help create jobs in different factions of our economy. Since they need a place to stay, hotels and hostels gain a lot from it. During a long day of sightseeing, they need places to have a bite or eat a nice home cooked meal which leads to the need of more employers in restaurants and cafés. The interest of tourists in the country they are visiting leads to the necessity of someone to guide and orientate the activities such as visiting museums, monuments or having a tour in the typical “Casas de fado”.

Besides that, when tourists choose Algarve as their destination, they’ll need instructors to help them trying water activities such as surf and paddle. The same happens when they go to places like “Serra da Estrela” and want to try snow skiing.

In order for more tourists to come to our country, it is necessary to ensure that they have a safe and pleasant trip, and this is mainly due to flight attendants. A flight attendant helps maintain a smooth travel experience for passengers on flights, usually on commercial flights. They are responsible for providing customer service by answering questions, delivering meals and beverages and ensuring passengers' comfort and safety.

Besides these aspects there are more which help maintain our economy and that’s why our country depends so much on tourism.

How can cultural heritage promote tourism and economy?

In Portugal, tourism is an activity with a huge importance for the country’s economy. In 2018, the tourism industry made our country gain 14.3 million euros, which is 19.1 % of the total gains for that year. Tourism also promotes the number of existing employments. In Portugal, about 1.05 million people work in the tourism area which accounts for 21.8 % of the active population of the country.

The most visited destinations in our country are Lisbon and Porto because of their history, Algarve because of its beaches and water temperature, Fátima for religious reasons and Azores and Madeira Island for their landscapes and gastronomy.

Lisbon is an ancient city and, as such, there’s a lot to visit, in the older part we can visit monuments like the Jeronimo’s Monastery, the lift of Santa Justa and the Belém Tower.

Terreiro do Paço, a big square in the city center, which was used as the king’s palace for about two centuries, is known by tourists for its astonishing view of the Tagus River.

The Belém Tower is a big tower which was built in the sixteenth century and it was used as a way to defend the coast. The monument of the discoveries was built to give a tribute to the Portuguese sailors in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries. The fact that Portugal is a safe country, has a kind and receptive population and attractive prices are all aspects that help bring in tourists.

The gastronomy of our country has also a big diversity, from the 1001 recipes of codfish to the famous red wine and pastel de nata. The Portuguese cuisine has a lot to offer and it shows a lot of Mediterranean influences: the use of olive oil, wine, bread and a lot of fish, vegetables and garlic. Some ofthemostfamousdishesinclude “Bacalhau à Brás”, “Polvo à Lagareiro” and “Cozido à Portuguesa”.

Migrants’ expertise in use

Portugal has faced a serious lack of manpower and immigrants are the solution for this problem. The food industry and tourist accommodation companies are the sectors that have been seriously affected by this problem.

It is important for the government to offer conditions to immigrants so they can come and stay. Integration, education and housing policies for immigrants need to be resourced.

The presence of immigrants in the country not only contributes for the job market but it is also a valuable feedstock for the Social Security revenue raise. In 2019 the social security collected 884 million euros only from immigrants. The year before this amount was 651 million euros. These numbers reveal a positive result due to the presence of immigrants in our country.

Portugal is in the top 10 countries that better integrate immigrants having active policies for integration into the labor market and family reunification such as programs that encourage work and training that seek to introduce professionally the immigrants into the job market and also policies that guarantee access to school to all students including immigrants no matter their status as well as social support for foreign students if requested.

However, we recognize there is still a lot of work ahead in many fields as far as the immigrant’s context is concerned.

We learned a lot with this project, not only from our own country but from all the others. Unfortunately, we were a little disappointed since we didn’t get the opportunity to visit and see the cultural heritage from Greece ourselves. We had hoped to interact with our foreign Greek friends which wasn’t possible but at least we got the chance to interact with them online.

In this online meeting, we were divided into five groups, each consisting of students from the four participating countries. Each group had to do a PowerPoint on the topic assigned to them to present on the last day. The themes were: Agritourism, Archeological Tourism, Religious Tourism, Cosmopolitan Tourism and Cooperatives.

By doing this work, we got to know more about the history of Greece, the main tourist attractions and even some myths, legends and curiosities.

Furthermore, we believe it was a good way to finally get in touch with other cultures by talking and sharing knowledge and experiences with the other participants. After all, it was an enriching experience!

This article was written by:

Clara Sentieiro, Diana Ciobanu, Leonor Gouveia, Letícia Anjos, Maria Rodrigues – 11.º C1