15 most influential figures in Portugal tourism announced

The Leaders in Tourism awards were handed out at a ceremony held at NOVA SBE in Carcavelos near Lisbon on Thursday in the presence of the Minister of the Economy and Sea, António Costa Silva.

This year’s chosen winners were: Adrian Bridge, CEO The Fladgate Partnership, Ana Jacinto, the General Secretary of the AHRESP – Association of Hotels, Restaurants and Similar of Portugal, António Trindade, President of PortoBay Hotels, Artur Abreu, CEO of the Abreu Group, Bernardo Corrêa de Barros, President of Turismo de Cascais, Cristina Siza Vieira, of the Hotel Association of Portugal, Jorge Rebelo De Almeida, President of Grupo Vila Galé, Luís Araújo President of Turismo de Portugal, Manuel Proença, President of Hoti Hotéis, Nazir Din, President of the Executive Commission of SANA Hotels, Pedro Costa Ferreira, President of APAVT (Portuguese Association of Travel Agents),Dionísio Pestana Grupo Pestana, Rita Marques, Secretary of State for Tourism, Commerce and Services, and Thierry Ligonniére, CEO of ANA Aeroportos.
The awards were organised by the newspaper TNews based on parameters such as influence and leadership with the winners elected by a jury.
Candidates were chosen based on the following criteria: work done to promote the industry in associations, capacity to create wealth, capacity to invest or attract investment to Portugal, innovation and technology, media presence, job creation, training sector professionals, promoting tourism in national and international markets, participation or incentivising sustainability programmes, contribution to territorial development, capacity to influence polices in the sector, and participation in or incentivising social programmes.
The jury comprised professionals in the areas of Communication, Marketing and Events, Innovation and Investment, and Training and Human Resources.
Ana Carrilho (journalist at Rádio Renascença), Ana Paula Pais (director at Escolas do Turismo de Portugal), Carina Monteiro (journalist at TNews), Conceição Antunes (journalist at Expresso), Eduardo Abreu (partner at Neoturis), Gonçalo Garcia (head of Hospitality da Cushman & Wakefield), Mafalda Patuleia (director of the Tourism Department at Universidade Lusófona), Nuno Almeida (founder of Viability), Pedro de Mello Breyner (executive board member at Portugal Ventures), Pedro Rodrigues (Managing Director at Desafio Global), Rita Serrabulho (founder and partner of AMP Associates), Roberto Antunes (Executive director of NEST), Rute Simão (journalist Dinheiro Vivo), Marta Sousa Pires (Senior Business Development Manager at Nova SBE Westmont Institute of Tourism and Hospitality) and Teresa Barros (founder and CEO da Xpose Consulting).
A special award, the Young Leadership Award was given to António Marto, President of the Fórum Turismo Association which was the only category which had online voting.
The Leader of Excellence Award was attributed by the team of TNews to André Jordan whose business and intellectual legacy continues to be a source of inspiration for tourism professionals.