Albufeira distinguishes 73 companies from the municipality in a ceremony

Between gifts and hugs, the recognition ceremony for the companies PME Líder and PME Excelência took place on Thursday, March 21st. The setting was “Garrafeira Soares Mixology & Education Studio”, a company honored for its success over more than 40 years. In total, 73 companies were distinguished, 43 of which were PME Líder 2022 and 30 PME Excelência 2022.

The awarding of the PME Líder and PME Excelência awards, a ceremony held annually by the municipality of Albufeira, aims to recognize and motivate companies in the municipality.

This year, the ceremony took place at “Garrafeira Soares Mixology & Education Studio”, a company created in Albufeira in 1983 by Maria Antónia and João Soares, first as a minimarket and then as a wine cellar, and which was honored by the municipality of Albufeira. As a Leading and Excellent SME, it employs more than 300 people and owns 28 stores.

Congratulating all the recognized companies, José Carlos Rolo said, on the occasion, that he wanted to “bring more development, more growth to Albufeira, as we are a very strong presence in this sector at a national level, with significant revenues and contributions to the State Budget”.

The mayor once again recalled the need to create a Ministry of Tourism to oversee the sector. As for the ceremony, he said it was “an act without pomp, but with circumstance, which is recognition and motivation for Albufeira businesspeople, with a view to working towards business and social improvement”, also remembering that of the 10,300 SMEs existing in Albufeira, more than 50% are in individual names.

Present at the ceremony were also representatives from IAPMEI and Turismo de Portugal, namely Vera Gomez and Elisabete Félix.

“We are witnessing a countercycle in Albufeira, that is, while in the rest of the country the Tourism sector is at the bottom of the list, here, it is in first place”, said Vera Gomez, for which she paraphrased, “we do not have in Algarve Tourism, we have to diversify the sector”.

The person responsible also recalled that this recognition translates into important information for the purposes of internationalization of companies, in addition to guaranteeing a set of benefits in the scope of financial products, with special conditions.

For her part, Elisabete Félix emphasized the need to continue investing in innovation. “Despite the good results, the challenges continue and include a focus on innovation and differentiation, in addition to a commitment to economic, social and environmental sustainability”, she concluded.