Expansion of Landscape of the Pico Island Vineyard Culture Interpretation Centre to provide more services
The Regional Secretary for Agriculture and the Environment stated at the Lajido de Santa Luzia Centre that the expansion of the Landscape of the Pico Island Vineyard Culture Interpretation Centre will meet the "significant increase" in the number of visitors, thus enhancing the tourism offer in the area classified as UNESCO World Heritage area.
Speaking on sidelines of the public presentation of the architecture project, Luís Neto Viveiros stressed that the traditional building that is adjacent to the current Centre will be renewed "in a perspective of redevelopment and integration." The interventions aim to provide the Centre with new services as well as with "better conditions" for visitors, "whose number has been increasing."
Included in the Network of Azorean Environmental Centres, this Interpretation Centre registered six thousand visitors as of October this year, which exceeds the number recorded last year.
With an estimated budget of 100 thousand Euros, the work is due to start in November. It aims not only to improve the tourism offer by providing the Visitor Centre with an exhibition space for the showcase and tasting of the wines produced in this area, but also to create room for the implementation of new services.
Currently, the Landscape of the Pico Island Vineyard Culture Interpretation Centre is installed in a manor house. It is located in the of most peculiar areas of the Protected Landscape of the Pico Island Vineyard Culture - Lajido de Santa Luzia - where it coexists with the Headquarters of the Environmental Services and Pico Natural Park.
The Centre opened on June 29, 2010 with the aim of providing information on the values that make up this landscape of unique features.