“Portugal could, without a doubt, better captivate the Portuguese-American community. It is a community that today has much more influence to benefit the development here in Portugal of investments from American companies. Portugal could be the entry point into Europe and, in the past, it was not necessarily the entry point”, says the state deputy serving his 17th term in the Massachusetts House of Representatives.

“There are governments that have done a better job than others, but it must be constant. When the government changes, sometimes these relationships, these contacts, do not continue as they should,” he says.

More tourists

The state deputy also argues that Portugal has the capacity to attract more North American tourists to the country, but to do so it has to invest more in marketing to make Portugal known. “There could be even more tourism”, he says, pointing out that, “in addition to the numbers mentioned in the USA, (this value) could be 3,4,5-6 times much higher than it is today”.

“When you leave the large Portuguese-descendant communities, Portugal is not known”, he notes. “It is important to have more marketing in the USA about Portugal, at the moment, the majority is done by a few companies. SATA does this a little, TAP not so much, at least in our region. What’s good is that American companies themselves, like Delta or United, are marketing here in Portugal.”