LISBON
With a major seaport, Lisbon remains a critical hub of commerce.
In days gone by, great ships laden with coveted goods set sail from Lisbon’s port, bound for faraway locales. Like other settlements that developed along sea coasts and rivers with deep, natural harbors, Lisbon matured as a vital part of an international trade network. Today it’s still the location of one of Europe’s principal commercial and container ports, with business as usual.
Despite setbacks created by the pandemic, the business forecast for Lisbon remains positive and includes projected salary increases averaging 2.2 percent within the private sector during 2022. According to the U.S. Department of State’s 2021 Investment Climate Statement on Portugal, the country’s Recovery and Resilience Plan efforts will benefit from an economic boost in the form of about €14 billion in European Union grants expected to be delivered between this year and 2026 — much of it earmarked to back energy and digital transitions.
In the pre-pandemic world, Portugal’s services sphere — especially tourism — supplied much of the momentum for economic recovery and growth. Closely associated with the leisure tourism market, the number of planned conferences and conventions (a key sector for Lisbon) has dwindled significantly. Over the past few years, heavy industries such as the automobile sector have been joined by construction, energy and technology as crucial, expanding components of a mutable economy.
“Foreign companies receive very competitive tax incentives that are in
full compliance with EU regulations,” said Nisan Larido, vice president, Brand & Product, Gold Tree Hospitality. “Large corporations are taking advantage of this and moving their offices or even headquarters to Lisbon, which is driving a large number of their employees to relocate.”
Mainstay industries such as agriculture, textiles and footwear have pivoted to accommodate the world’s changing needs and have grown into important exports. Adaptation is essential, as demonstrated by luxury Portuguese shoe designers including Luis Onofre, who shifted his design focus from an exclusive portfolio of swanky high heels and upmarket men’s shoes to more footwear appropriate for health care professionals and work-at-home scenarios. High heels in particular have taken an understandable hit in a world where comfort has become a priority. Today Portuguese footwear with rubber soles and environmentally friendly materials are seeing a boost in popularity.
The lack of legal restrictions in Portugal with regard to foreign investment makes Lisbon, in particular, an attractive base for large companies. The long list of multinational companies with a major presence in Lisbon includes Nokia, Siemens, Vodaphone, Teleperformance, Fujitsu, Microsoft, Novartis, Mercedes-benz International, Marriott International, Sky and L’oréal.
When it comes to tourism, there’s still a lot of ground to recover, but the sector is making progress. British travelers have traditionally comprised a significant tourist base in Lisbon, the location of the country’s main international airport. The decision by the British government to resume air travel to Portugal has been important. In addition, TAP (Portugal’s national airline) has resumed flights
from all nine North American gateways, with incentives that include the Book With Confidence program. This program enables passengers to make changes to their booking with no additional fees, provided they do so up to three days before their flight (the program applies to purchases made by Dec. 31, 2021, and excludes discount fares).
“Over the past five years, Lisbon has experienced a massive growth both in the volume of tourists that visit the city and in its economy — supported by said visitors,” said Larido. “Lisbon continues to develop its tourism infrastructure by investing substantial amounts of funding in hospitality and simplifying the process for companies to receive its hospitality permits.”
While tourism begins to recuperate, tech companies have recognized the advantages offered by a presence in Portugal’s capital. This includes a number of startups in the tech space including Ydata, Vawlt, Quantam Leap and
Navaro. Startups with an entertainment angle such as Scoreplay, an Ai-powered management platform for sporting clubs; voice-driven game studio Dopplo; and Augmented Reality content creator MYLADS are also looking to put down roots in Lisbon. Already in place to make travel easier for a new wave of tourists is LUGGIT, a personalized transportation service that tracks and delivers baggage to travelers — including that bag packed with comfy designer shoes.