Portugal praised for international tourism efforts

The Portuguese Euro MP Cláudia Monteiro de Aguiar and Minister of Tourism, Ana Mendes Godinho, attended the World Travel & Tourism Council last week in Buenos Aires, at which Portugal was held up as case study for the successful exploration of international tourism and its positive impact on the economy and a driver for growth.

The WTTC is the largest and most important international event on the private tourism sector calendar.

“It provided an excellent opportunity to centre the debate on the importance of the sector for the European plan. We need policies and a model whose legislative framework enables best practices to be fostered right across the sector” said the Euro MP, who is also a member of the European Parliament’s Tourism and Transport Commission.

The Global Summit 2018 brought together over 800 international tourism leaders and boasted a programme packed with debates and meetings on the sector’s strategic position for sustainable management under current challenges.

Also attending the Summit was the President of the Board of Directors of TAP, Miguel Frasquilho, who announced a new TAP route between Lisbon and the Argentinian capital.

Ana Godinho said that “Portugal was presented as a pioneer country in terms of sustainable planning in tourism, namely with its 10-year strategy to 2027 and the campaigns that it has developed in terms of leveraging tourism products nationwide and with an increasing focus on sustaining tourism throughout the year and not just at peak seasonal periods. The Minister also revealed that in 2017 55,000 Argentinians visited Portugal.