With an increasing investment in innovative products, tourism joins synergistically to environmental considerations, generating inseparable activities and in close interdependence. Tourism activities require an environment to occur whether it is natural or not, this interaction may result potentially positive and negative impacts, dependent care, actions and associated principles. On the other hand, conditioning tourism activities, climate change is an example on a global scale, testing the innovative and creative capacity.
Given the negative impacts associated with the presence of a more conservative tourism, there was a concern for its minimization, creating a tourist activity in harmony and principles of environmental integration: sustainable tourism. According to the World Tourism Organization (UNWTO), sustainable tourism is seen as one that meets the needs of present tourists and recetoras regions and at the same time protects and promotes opportunities for the future. Specifically, sustainable tourism development should be done for the management of all resources so that they can they meet the economic, social and aesthetic, while respecting the cultural integrity, ecological processes, biodiversity and other natural systems that sustain the life of this place.
Inserted in local sustainability concerns increasingly demanded by users, lodges and tourist developments, have several fronts of environmental quality recognition, including certification and eco-labeling. In the Azores, this membership has a very minimal expression because of the inadequacy of some criteria to local conditions and in some cases the fees associated with applications and applications. To bridge this gap and to ensure both judicious and appropriate environmental practices to be implemented in local tourism developments, there was a need to restructure and create new parameters and to speed up the recognition by creating this award.
Goals
- Create a credible and rigorous environmental award to be given to housing, according to the regional characteristics where they belong;
- Recognize the accommodations that implement good environmental practices in accordance with regional specific features;
- Implement and sensitize employees and customers of the tourist accommodations for good environmental practices.
Covered Accommodations
- Local accommodation (for the first time since September 2015)
- Hotel establishments
- Tourist villages
- Tourist apartments
- Tourist complexes (resorts)
- Rental accommodation
- Rural tourism
- Nature tourism