By Guy Canessa
THE finance centre 'roadshow' started rolling at 2pm on Sunday 25 April. The six-hour coach journey from the frontier to the Algarve was broken up by a pitstop at Lepe, somewhat unfairly the butt of many a joke in Spain. However, the gruelling itinerary for the next few days would be no laughing matter as it involved getting up well before the crack of dawn (4:30 am on one occasion) and travelling for several hours ahead of an all-day exhibition followed by an evening reception.
Most participants travelled on the coach provided by the DTI but some preferred to make their own way there, whilst others were already based in Portugal.
The roadshow had been widely advertised under the slogan 'Gibraltar comes to Portugal' with full-page advertisements appearing in Anglo-Portuguese News on 22 April, the Algarve Resident on 23 April and The Weekly News on 24 April. In addition, invitations had been sent to 250 members of the British Chamber of Commerce in Lisbon.
