PARTIES and parties, lots of them, will continue to dominate in Portugal this year. Even though there is a burgeoning housing crisis in the United States across the Atlantic, Portugal has a reason to celebrate because the crisis has simply not affected the country. Portugal actually continues to be the fastest growing tourist haven in Europe so let’s now take a closer look at other opportunities that you may enjoy this year while you’re here in Portugal.

In the last week of June, the World Masters Orienteering Championship will be held in Leiria. Orienteering is really an exciting event because it covers five days and participants and teams have nothing to guide them except a compass and a map. The World Masters Orienteering Championship will of course be broadcast live on television at a 24-hour pay-per-view channel dedicated for the purpose. This development comes at a time when Portugal has announced the creation of another government-owned television network to welcome the new year. The network will of course aggressively push for more tourism awareness in the region and is aiming to snatch Spain at the topmost destination in the Iberian Peninsula.

Economic confidence in Portugal is so much that the leading financial institution there, Banco Internacional du Funchal, has decided to open 30 more branches across the country in a three-year period. By the end of 2008, they will have 300 branches from all over the country. Even the Portuguese defense forces have never been this technologically advanced. Lockheed Martin has just awarded the Portuguese defense forces with a $141 million missile contract.
In fact, the Portuguese are so famous outside of the country that Iran has appointed a Portuguese as its football coach. The Portuguese coach’s name is Artur Jorge. He will be overseeing the Iranian team’s capability to handle the World Cup qualifier in February. Originally a Portuguese national team player, Jorge who is now 61 years old but still a fighter has likewise previously coached the Cameroon and the Swiss teams. He has also held extensive influential positions with the French, Spanish, Danish, Russian and Saudi Arabian teams.

Flooding may have inundated certain parts of the peninsula sometime last Christmas and New Year’s celebrations but forecast for the next week indicate that the rest of the Portuguese winter will have a very calm front. And this is hoped to last for seasons to come. Of course, the Portuguese government especially the tourism minsitry has nothing but safety to its tourists and expats. That is why the tourism ministry is constantly issuing weather forecasts to tourists so they will know where the next thunderstorm will strike. Another safety measure that has been instituted in hotel inns around the country is the instituting of nurseries in each hospitality resort. These nurseries have been put in place following the Madeleine McCann kidnapping last year. Each nursery is equipped with state-of-the-art playstuff and handled by child pscyhologists for your child’s utmost safety.