Azores going for gold certification as sustainable tourism destination in 2024
In 2019, the Azores was the first region in the country certified as a sustainable tourism destination, a distinction awarded with a silver category by Earthcheck.
The Azores want to “raise the standards of sustainability” and achieve gold certification as a sustainable tourism destination in 2024, said the regional secretary for Transport, Tourism and Energy, Mário Mota Borges on Monday.
In 2019, the Azores was the first region in the country certified as a sustainable tourism destination, a distinction awarded with a silver category by Earthcheck.
EarthCheck is an international certification and consulting group for scientific ‘benchmarking’ in travel and tourism, active since 1987. The certification met the criteria of the Global Sustainable Tourism Council, the international accreditation body for sustainable tourism certification.
The process of certification of the Azores began in 2017, proclaimed by the United Nations as the International Year of Sustainable Tourism.
Today, speaking at the meeting of the Advisory Committee for Destination Sustainability, Mário Mota Borges stressed the need to “raise the standards of sustainability” of the Azores as a tourist destination, preserving nature, “an asset” of the Region.
Before reaching gold certification as a sustainable tourism destination, the Region “is subject to a local audit” with a view to “achieving level two” of the silver category, he explained to journalists.
“Some of those present at this meeting have already been in the Azores for some time and are checking what is being done, requesting some corrections. And, therefore, it is a process in continuous development,” he said.
He said there are “two fundamental pieces”, in the strategy, namely the preparation of a new Strategic and Marketing Plan for Tourism in the Azores for the 2021-2025 horizon and a new Regional Tourism Land Use Plan.
“We are very well positioned in this certification area, but there is still a way to go before we reach a figure that allows us to go further,” he said.
Also under preparation are the Legal Regimes for Tourist Accommodation, for the Region’s Hiking Trails, as well as the Legal Regimes for Tourist Entertainment in the archipelago.
