Business opportunities in Galica (Spain) and Costa Verde (Portugal)

• Just two hours flight to London, Paris and Brussels from Vigo Airport (20 mins drive).
• The only English focused estate / holiday rental agent in the area has just retired.
• Solid wood furniture abounds here; opportunities to ship to Northern Europe.
• Operate as web agent for local companies (granite, furniture, wine, etc.).
• Many opportunities for English, French and German speakers.
• Porto Airport (1 hour drive) has many international including trans-Atlantic flights.
• Vigo (25 minutes drive) is a huge port that is rapidly expanding.

Directly across the border / river from us but mostly hidden from view due to International river conservation regulations agreed to by both Spain and Portugal, is the site of the new low level, low impact Vigo dry port area. Any senior management connected with that project and / or the companies which will be using it, such as Citroën Peugeot, will find this quinta's location and proximity to the dry port impossible to better. The point I make is that building restrictions and conservation regulations mean our quinta will not be affected detrimentally but will enjoy the benefits of such economic activity.

Galica (Spain) and Costa Verde (Portugal) are actually booming as a result of this and other nearby commercial expansion, creating many opportunities for expatriates. The current owners have a hobby come lucrative business of sword collecting (buying and selling) where they buy swords from around the world both to improve their own collection and to sell on at a nice profit. There are many sourceable items in the area both sides of the river to make a thriving eBay / Internet business for someone.

Although the Costa Verde region of Portugal is meant to be rurally poor, there are a lot of wealthy people in the area both from Spain and migrants who work in Lisbon, France, etc. who spend as much time as they can back home near the River Minho. On the Spanish side of the river, Vigo is a very affluent city with thriving port and fishing industries, while Porriño is a massive industrial, technological and commercial area. Many opportunities for English speaking executives and skilled workers exist nearby.

The current owners toyed with the idea of starting a business here several times; the fine solid wood furniture export business holds a great deal of opportunity. One of the showrooms their bought their furniture from regularly sends their truck fully laden to Spain and France. On the ferry from the UK to Santander / Bilbao, you will undoubtedly see English furniture shop vans and truck on their way or back from Portugal; hiring Portuguese driver, trucks or firms is likely to be a lot less expensive than the other way around. The north of Portugal and Galicia is home to forests of oak, chestnut, cherry, walnut and pine. While chestnut and walnut are the woods of choice for fine furniture here, oak and cherry timber prices make it hard not to look; we buy oak logs for our fireplace, 120 to 130 Euros a truckload. This is not to suggest the local firewood would make fine furniture but simply to illustrate the potential as "Solid oak furniture" is a sales label many people hard to resist in North Europe.

Another market which is wide open to a foreigner exploiting here is real estate and vacation lets. Although there are some local estate agents / realtors in the area, very few speak English and know how to market themselves on the Internet; just take a look (search) on Google and see how many you can actually find. One British expatriate in the area sucessfully ran a holiday rental and real estate business but has now apparently retired.

On from that is property development. It is perhaps strange that the Portuguese and to a lesser extent the Spanish like modern houses, near to / overlooking others. The number of old stone buildings which would make perfect restoration projects in the area to sell on to Northern Europeans is quite incredible. In the town of Monção there are ancient, tiny, terraced one (room) down, one room up stone built houses ripe for development for sale from 16,000 Euros; Monção is a wonderful place for a summer town home. Old quintas / farmhouses also hold superb potential for conversion to apartments to sell or time share out to foreigners, as the Portuguese like their just outside center, modern concrete 3 or 4 storey blocks.

Vigo and Porto are both large ports and gateways to the rest of Europe for imported items. Portuguese Alvarinho / Spanish Albarino wine is well known and consumed in fair quantity in France, but not in other Northern European countries. English is now a compulsory subject in schools but there is a shortage locally of qualified teachers; English night school places are over-subscribed.