Portugal honoured with the Best Sustainable Destination Award in Europe
Portugal received today, and for the first time, the prize of Best Sustainable Destination of Europe, a distinction announced today during ITB Berlin, the main international tourism fair.
[dropcap type=”default”]”I[/dropcap]t is more attractive and more a business card to promote Portugal in a market that values both sustainable destinations. It is fantastic in terms of international notoriety,” told the Ana Mendes Godinho, Secretary of State for Tourism.
“It was a surprise, they had indicated that we would be on the list of finalists, but it was a good surprise to see recognition of the work and strategy of tourism in 2027,” he said.
The prize is the result of an application made by Portugal, and the second and third places were Bled, a region of Slovenia, and Mali Losinj, Croatia.
“It puts us on the radar of investors and the public who, increasingly, make their choices of vacation destinations by criteria of sustainability of the tourism offer itself,” said the Secretary of State for Tourism, who in addition to the visit to the ITB fair Berlin also participated in the International Tourism Investor Forum (IHIF), where more than 2,200 investors were present.
Portugal, which participated for the first time in the IHIF, had a “presentation panel” as a tourist destination that aroused “a lot of adherence and a lot of curiosity” with “some international groups and brands interested in knowing and looking to Portugal as an investment destination“, he said.
According to Ana Mendes Godinho, Germany is the second most important market for Portugal in terms of overnight stays.
“In 2018 we experienced faster growth in revenue than in guest hotels. We had a 10% revenue growth and a 5% increase in the number of passengers landed from Germany, which means we had about 2 %, 6 million passengers disembarked from the airports coming from Germany. In terms of guests, we had a slight decrease of around 3% which shows that we are reaching segments that spend more when they go to Portugal, ” he clarified.
According to data from the National Statistical Institute (INE), for 2016, the average cost per trip of the German tourist was 960 euros, and the average daily expenditure was fixed at 91 euros. In 2018, German tourists generated 1,900 million euros of revenue, 9.8 per cent more than in 2017.
“We are investing more and more in the promotion of Portugal as a destination for international congresses and corporate and corporate events and also as a destination for sporting stages, precisely to promote” the country also as a destination that attracts a diverse audience throughout the year, and “not as a sun and beach destination, as it was known a few years ago here in Germany,” said the Secretary of State for Tourism.
The ITB Berlin fair ends next Sunday. The Portuguese presence has the seven regions of the Portuguese tourist promotion areas: Porto and North of Portugal, Center of Portugal, ATL – Association of Tourism of Lisbon, Alentejo, Madeira and Azores and 92 companies distributed by 870 m2.
