Legal Regime for Tourism in Rural Space

The rural tourism legal regime will be implemented in rural villages of the islands of Santo Antão, São Nicolau, Maio, Santiago, Fogo and Brava, considered as “privileged characteristics in terms of natural values,” such as biodiversity or landscapes, sociocultural or historical, with the ultimate goal of “diversifying the tourism offer, improving basic sanitation and increasing the income and quality of life of the population in rural areas.”

In general terms, this state programme will include business development measures that “provide more and better accommodation, agricultural production, gastronomy, local handicrafts and cultural events”, and for its implementation resources will be allocated mainly from Tourism funds.

In this vein, Decree-Law 43/2022 of 7 October responds to new values that inspire the promotion and management of national dialogue on the tourism sector, taking into account the repercussions and economic opportunities that the activity reveals on the sustainable development of the country.

The aim of Decree-Law 43/2022 of 7 October is to favour the revitalisation of rural development dynamics by promoting tourism in rural areas, through the regulation of tourism activities, harmonising with various interests of national importance, environmental protection and valorisation, the boosting of farming, fishing and handicrafts.

The diploma is applicable in relation to rural areas and these correspond to any non-urban areas of low population density whose primary sector activities are predominant.

Tourism activities in rural areas can be interspersed with (nature tourism, adventure tourism, and cultural tourism).

The whole process of implementing tourism in rural areas is done with the cooperation of public tourism agents.

For the purposes of this diploma, public tourism agents are understood to be all central, regional and local public entities with attributions in the planning, development and implementation of tourism policies, namely (members of the government responsible for the tourism area, central tourism authority, central environment authority, public tourism promotion entities, regional delegations of the national tourism authority and local authorities).

Regarding the conditions of operation, all rural tourism establishments must provide consumers of tourism services with written information on the general conditions of stay and rules of use of facilities and installations, including prices and opening hours of the services provided, as well as the facilities available to consumers of tourism services.

In terms of installations, rural areas must comply with all the rules set out in the environmental, land-use planning, urbanization, and construction legal regimes, as well as the applicable technical construction standards, namely with regard to health safety, hygiene and energy efficiency.

The decree-law determines which entities are competent to supervise these norms, which are the local authorities in collaboration with the competent authority, without prejudice to the competences attributed to the economic activity inspection entities.

With its entry into force, on the very next day following its publication, Decree Law No. 34/2014 of 17 July was repealed.