The Regional Secretary for Energy, Environment and Tourism stated in Ponta Delgada that the Azorean Government and tourism agents are satisfied with the growth levels of the sector, calling for a continuous and joint strategy between public and private entities.
Marta Guerreiro spoke at the end of the meeting "Tourism in Motion: Roadmap to Competitiveness," promoted by the Portuguese Tourism Confederation, which brought together entities related to the sector for a shared discussion on the challenges of tourism in the Azores.
"It was a very productive meeting where participants and industry players felt very comfortable putting questions on the table," the Regional Secretary said, adding that several challenges were addressed, including training, product creation and seasonality.
Regarding seasonality, Marta Guerreiro considered that is "a challenge of several tourism markets," but stressed that the Azores have "very favourable conditions to achieve good performances in this matter."
The Secretary for Tourism reinforced that there is an interesting offer of thermal products, although it needs to be further enhanced and developed, as well as of sports that can be practised in the winter and nature products that do not require sunny weather.
"We have to develop and evolve, together with private entities, so that we may have products to offer in these areas and, of course, contribute to their promotion and dissemination towards our establishments in these sectors," defended the Regional Secretary.
Between January and April this year, the Azores registered more than 400 thousand overnight stays in hotel establishments, representing an increase of about 18 percent over the same period in 2016.
Marta Guerreiro pointed out that agents are "very satisfied with the growth of tourism in the Region," registering "very good" data in statistical terms. Nevertheless, she stressed that figures are not the focus of the Government's action.
"Above all, we want a type of tourism that is sustainable and meets two main bases: safeguarding the quality of life of the Azorean population and becoming a memorable product of excellence for all those who visit us," said the Secretary Regional.