Lisbon, Jan. 29, 2025 (Lusa) - The tourism sector is concerned about "a change in the perception of security" in Lisbon, according to the president of the Regional Tourism Authority, who is calling for greater police visibility and a coordinated strategy between organisations.
Speaking to the Lusa news agency, Carla Salsinha said that the change, which has been felt over the last few months, particularly concerns the capital's central and most touristic areas.
"There is concern. We're beginning to feel a change in the perception of security by tourists. [...] Other sectors of the economy aren't managing to overcome the different crises in the way that tourism has. Together with private and state organisations, we've been building a path here. Year after year, we've been conquering and overcoming challenges. Still, there are two fundamental things, regardless of the products and the tourist offer [...]: firstly, our capacity to welcome and the other is that we are a safe country," she said.
Carla Salsinha said that there have been reports of robberies and the presence of drug addicts even at the entrance to hotels, especially in the Baixa area.
"For the first time on social media, which tourists use to give their opinions on the city, the veil of insecurity is beginning to lift. The Baixa area is starting to get some less positive comments. We want more human resources and police visibility on the streets. We want to sit down with the Ministry of Internal Affairs to discuss the matter," he said.
Police visibility, she emphasised, is a major factor in inhibiting crime.
The representative recognised that "you can't get drug addiction off the streets overnight", as this response implies mechanisms and support at the national and local level, and she also considered it necessary to make the police profession "more attractive".
However, she called for investment in reinforcing human resources, for "police on the streets, patrolling in cars, on bicycles, on motorbikes—in other words, the visibility of the police, both for citizens and tourists", and she also defended video surveillance.
On 6 February, there will be a training session for hoteliers with the PSP to explain the precautions to be taken.
"We do our job, we make our way. We can improve the situation not just for tourists, but for everyone who lives in the city. We can't wait another seven or eight months. I often say that the time of public organisations is not the time of society, which evolves more quickly. That's why we're appealing to our minister for internal affairs to help us," she said.
Carla Salsinha said she had already requested a meeting with the minister, who replied that the meeting was pending.
On Tuesday, the mayor of Lisbon, Carlos Moedas (PSD), who pointed to an increase in the perception of crime and called for reinforcements to the PSP and more powers for the Municipal Police, considered that crimes in the city had been committed with greater violence.
Provisional official data from the PSP released by Diário de Notícias shows that crime in Lisbon registered "the second biggest drop in 10 years" - in 2024 "just over 28,000 crimes were reported, the third lowest number since 2014, only surpassed by the two years of the pandemic" of covid-19, 2020 and 2021.
In reaction, Moedas emphasised that "Lisbon is a safe city" but said there was also a perception that crime "has a different type of violence", refusing to take an alarmist stance.
"I insist that the crimes being committed in this city at the moment have a different level of violence. Mugging someone to steal a watch with a gun to their head is not normal and has never happened in Lisbon," he said.
In November, the commander of the PSP's Lisbon Metropolitan Command, Luís Elias, stated that the crime statistics "don't correspond to the feeling of insecurity" spread by public opinion, adding that violent crime had stagnated in this region.
DD/ADB // ADB.
Lusa
