Azores distinguished as "Best Destination" at the end of the 14th Annual Bestravel Convention
The Regional Secretary for Energy, Environment and Tourism received the distinction awarded to the Azores as the "Best Destination" of the year at the end of the 14th Annual Convention of the Network of Travel Agencies - Bestravel.
Marta Guerreiro spoke Saturday in Ponta Delgada at the closing session of the meeting. She reiterated the Regional Government's commitment to event tourism, stressing the "special importance" of this meeting, which brought to the Region "more than 200 travel agents and tour operators."
According to the Secretary for Tourism, the event represented "another moment of on-the-spot sharing of all the available potentialities" for those who visit the Azores. In addition, it confirms that the archipelago is increasingly considered "a privileged place for the so-called event tourism in which we should invest."
The convention was held under the theme "Training, Valuing and Growing." On the occasion, Marta Guerreiro emphasised that the qualification and sustainability of the destination are "two of the main goals defined in the Government Programme as strategic for tourism development in the Region."
"Qualification and innovation, both in terms of products and services, should be permanent in order to ensure the consolidation of a differentiated and exclusive offer for tourists, being in line with all the components of our tourism identity," said the government official.
Marta Guerreiro also stressed the commitment to "promote the internal sustainability of the activity in its environmental, financial and labour components, along with the sustainability of tourism flows, so that the development of tourism may be effectively a fundamental component of job creation and wealth generation in the Region."
"In view of the increasing challenges and the high levels of competitiveness to which we are subject, 2018 will be marked as a year where training and qualification will play a prominent role," said the government official.
In this context, she defended the need to "increasingly focus on the training and qualification of human resources to improve the level of professionalism in hospitality, so that the human capital of tourism companies and services may become an asset for the sector and its sustainability."
"This is necessarily a gradual process, but we believe that the measures we have implemented will enhance the training and preparation of professionals, which will reinforce the projection of our destination," said Marta Guerreiro. The government official took the opportunity to call the entities of the sector for "a responsibility that has to be shared with companies."