Simplifying the licensing of tourism projects

A new ruling aimed at simplifying licensing procedures, and eliminating bureaucracy for tourism projects, was approved by the Portuguese Council of Ministers on 20 April 2017.

Under the modifications to the current legal framework in Portugal, the advance notice procedure (“comunicação prévia”) is considered to be the method for setting up tourism projects – this reintroduces the possibility of such projects opening to the public soon after completion of works. This option had been eliminated in 2014.