Portugal Scoops Europe’s Leading Destination Award in 2020
The World Travel Awards is a very prestigious organization. Choosing the best performers of tourism each year, the WTA is active since 1993. Its mission is to analyze and evaluate the tourism sectors at the global level. The competition takes place in many categories. These include “Best City Break Destination”, “Best Adventure Tourist Attraction”, “Best Destination City Break in Europe”, “The Best European Cruise Destination”, “Best Island in Europe”, and many more.
Portugal Received 13 Awards in 2020
The World Travel Awards initiative announced the winners of 2020 on November 2nd. The announcement decorated Portugal with 13 awards. These included the “The Best City Break Destination”, and “The Best European Cruise Destination” to Lisbon; “The Best Destination City Break in Europe” to Porto; “The Best Adventure Tourist Attraction” to Passadiços do Paiva; The Best Beach Destination in Europe” to Algarve; and, “The Best Island in Europe to Madeira for the seventh time.
The Executive Director of the Lisbon Tourism Association Paula Oliveira, back in 2019, said, “boosting tourism has been the main driver of Lisbon’s recognition at the World Travel Awards. Rehabilitation projects such as the new Lisbon pier, […], are an example of how Lisbon continues to reinvent itself and innovate to continue to exceed the expectations of locals and those who visit us”. It certainly looks like Portugal managed to reach its goals.
Portugal as Europe’s Leading Destination Amid a Pandemic
The fact that the world goes through a global pandemic makes this award much more valuable. Portugal performed very well in times of restricted mobility. The country managed to tackle Covid-19-related problems in an exemplary fashion. As result, their efforts did not go unnoticed.
The founder of the World Travel Awards, Graham Cooke comments, “Our winners represent the very best of Europe’s travel and tourism sector and my congratulations to each of them. They have all demonstrated remarkable resilience in a year of unprecedented challenges.”
Cooke also signaled that the post-pandemic era will be glorious for tourism. The selection process of the initiative involves two voting processes. In one, professionals from the tourism sector reveal their choices. In the other, the candidates are open to evaluation by the public. Analyzing the interest in the voting process, he adds, “The World Travel Awards 2020 programme received a record number of votes cast by the public. This shows that the appetite for travel and tourism has never been stronger and bodes well for the industry’s future as the global recovery begins.”