According to the decree, from September 1, entry to museums, monuments and palaces protected by the state will be free on Sundays and holidays for citizens living in Portugal.
According to a post published on August 4 in Diário da República, the ordinance also renews the entrance fees to these places, dependent on the Directorate General of Cultural Heritage (DGPC).
In the document, the government justifies the update of the current regulation since 2014 “by the growth of tourist activity, as a result of which the cultural offer has diversified in recent years, or by the introduction of an “online” sales channel, with the acquisition, in 2021, of a new ticket system.”
Currently, admission to museums, monuments and palaces administered by the DGPC is free on Sundays and public holidays until 14:00 for all visitors.
From September 1, free access to museums, monuments and palaces in general (and not just on Sundays and public holidays) also applies to children and young people under the age of 12, unemployed visitors resident in the European Union, researchers, museologists and / or heritage professionals, curators and conservators while in office, professors and students of any level of higher education, including senior universities and accredited vocational schools on study tours, and groups with proven economic need.
This free access, restructured to take into account the “basic principle of universal access to culture”, according to the dispatch, continues to include, among others, ex-combatants, visitors with a proven disability equal to or greater than 60%, tourism professionals. or the media, including new digital platforms, provided that they are accredited and, in the performance of their functions, are visitors to corporate events or occasional situations.
In terms of discounts, 50% remains for visitors aged 65 and over, the same for young people aged 13 to 24 and “families if they consist of at least two people, one of which is an adult and the other is a minor ”, in addition to protocols.
In general, the new DGPC General Regulations for the sale of tickets and access to museums, monuments and palaces make some adjustments, namely with regard to the tables regarding excursions and the parameters of benefits and discounts, norms and tables applicable to excursions, taking into account its specifics.
According to the document, some types of travel tickets, the cost of which has not changed since 2014, were adjusted and canceled.
Among other changes – the creation of a separate price list for temporary exhibitions and the unification of tickets with a discount on the Youth and Student cards and Family and Large children tickets in a single typology, according to the order signed on March 27. July Minister of Finance Fernando Medina and Minister of Culture Pedro Adao e Silva.
In an interview with RTP3 in July, Pedro Adão e Silva recalled that “70% of visitors to Portuguese museums are foreigners”, and out of 30% of the Portuguese “only 15% pay for a full ticket, all the rest have very significant discounts. , from 50 to 60%.
“With these kinds of changes, we can have a significant impact on revenue,” he defended at the time.
According to DGPC statistics, 3.3 million people visited national museums, monuments and palaces in 2022, representing a recovery of almost two million visitors in the face of losses during the covid-19 pandemic.
However, that number fell short of the roughly four to five million pre-pandemic numbers between 2017 and 2019.
Author: Portuguese
Source: CM Jornal
I’m Tifany Hawkins, a professional journalist with years of experience in news reporting. I currently work for a prominent news website and write articles for 24NewsReporters as an author. My primary focus is on economy-related stories, though I am also experienced in several other areas of journalism.