Speakers

Peter Booth is an economics graduate from the University of Natal in South Africa. He joined Unilever, the consumer goods multi-national group, as a marketing trainee and rose to become marketing manager during a five year working period. Peter’s friendship with the Pestana family in South Africa resulted in him moving to Portugal and joining their family business in 1983. Peter is a board director of Group Pestana, the largest hotel group in Portugal with 90 hotels on four continents and is directly responsible for its timeshare, golf and real estate divisions. He launched Pestana’s first timeshare development in 1985 and today Pestana has 12 timeshare resorts with a member base of 30.000 families. Pestana has expanded its timeshare operations to Brasil where Peter oversees a points club operation affiliated to its 10 hotels in South America. The real estate division in the Algarve gained strength with the acquisition of Carvoeiro Golf in 1996 and Peter has been responsible for the development, marketing and sales of 500 holiday homes. Also falling within his remit are six golf courses that Pestana owns and manages in Portugal. Peter has been the Honorary Consul of South Africa in Madeira, Portugal since 1995.