Vasco Cordeiro visits House of Volcanoes works that will boost tourist attractiveness of the Region and Pico Island
The President of the Government visited today the construction works of the House of Volcanoes, a two-million Euro investment that will include an educational component on the geological heritage of the Azores. It is also intended to boost the tourist attractiveness of the Region, in general, and Pico in particular.
"This investment began in November 2017 and has a completion period of 15 months. It is in line with the purpose of creating a point of tourist interest in order to allow visitors to have a closer look at our reality," said Vasco Cordeiro.
On the second day of the statutory visit to Pico, the President of the Government stated that the future House of Volcanoes, which recovers the built heritage located in Lajido de Santa Luzia, "improves the conditions to increase attractiveness and tourism growth in the Region."
"The island of Pico is an example of the growth registered throughout the archipelago. In 2017, the increase in overnight stays exceeded 9 percent and the revenue surpassed 11 percent. This trend will continue this year, with an expected growth of about 20 percent in overnight stays and 50 percent in revenue," said the President of the Government.
According to him, this path is being followed and consolidated throughout the Region. In addition to serving Azorean residents, the investment in the construction of the House of Volcanoes also comprises the factor of profitability and tourist attractiveness.
Hence, the House of Volcanoes will be a centre for the dissemination of geological heritage, joining the network of environmental interpretation and visiting centres throughout the Region as places of proximity and awareness of the Azores' natural heritage
This investment is located at the heart of the Pico Island Vineyard Culture Protected Landscape, classified by UNESCO as World Heritage, having as background the mountain of Pico, the youngest volcano in the Azores.
The contents include the Sensorial Capsule consisting of a geodetic dome that represents a vehicle intended to make imaginary voyages to the centre of the Earth and where audiovisual projections will be made. Moreover, there will also be an Earthquake Simulator that simulates, with a high degree of realism, this type of natural phenomena.