Turismo de Portugal recalled the “unerasable legacy” and “work of strategic vision” of businessman André Jordan, who died February 9. at the age of 90, according to a statement.
“At the age of 90, Portuguese tourism saw the departure of one of its most important entrepreneurs,” said the organization.
Turismo de Portugal recalled a “man of thought and action”, saying that “André Jordan leaves an indelible legacy, a work of strategic vision, modernity and excellence, which greatly honors and enhances” the Portuguese tourism offer in the world context.
The organization gives Quinta do Lago, Vilamoura XXI and Belas Clube de Campo as examples of this legacy.
“Turismo de Portugal, through its Board of Directors, would like to pay tribute to André Jordan and send its condolences to his family and friends,” it said.
The businessman, promoter of several tourism projects, died today at the age of 90, the president of the Algarve Hotels and Tourist Resorts Association (AHETA) confirmed to Lusa.
“This is an invaluable loss for Algarve tourism, as he was a man who did a lot for the Algarve,” AHETA president Hélder Martins told Lusa.
The president of the region’s largest business association for hoteliers said that his meetings with André Jordan “were a lesson in life, because for him the word quantity never existed, but rather quality”.
“He was a man who continued to take an interest in tourism and the Algarve in particular, and it’s a great loss,” he said.
According to information on the André Jordan Group website, the businessman was born in Poland but grew up in Brazil, where his family sought refuge in 1940, fleeing Nazi persecution in Europe. He came to Portugal in 1971 to create Quinta do Lago, in the municipality of Loulé, having acquired dual Brazilian and Portuguese citizenship.
At the end of the 1980s, after selling Quinta do Lago in London, he took on the role of executive director of Bovis Abroad, a Bovis Group company dedicated to international real estate, with projects in Spain, Portugal and the Caribbean, including the famous La Manga Club in southern Spain.
In 1995, he acquired Lusotur, the owner of Vilamoura, the largest residential and leisure complex in Europe, a company that was sold to Spanish investors in 2006.
In the Lisbon region, he founded the Belas Clube de Campo project in the municipality of Sintra.
André Jordan has been involved in various civic, cultural and educational organizations and initiatives in several countries.