Turismo de Portugal Joins GSTC

Turismo de Portugal is the official Portuguese Tourism Board, responsible for the promotion, development and sustainability of tourist activity in the country. It thus unites in one single body all the institutional powers relating to the development of tourism, in all areas ranging from supply to demand, including a network of 12 tourism schools certified by UNWTO. Turismo de Portugal also has a network of tourism teams in 21 countries promoting Portugal as a tourist destination.

In 2017, the Portuguese Government approved the 2027 Tourism Strategy, managed by Turismo de Portugal, to embed sustainability into the national tourism policy. Resulting from a national debate, the ambitious initiative has outlined several crucial goals and targets to be reached across the three dimensions of sustainability in order to position Portugal as one of the world’s most competitive and sustainable tourism destinations in the world.

Aligned with this Strategy, Turismo de Portugal is launching Tourism Sustainability Plan 2020-2023 that covers many relevant issues as circular economy, plastic elimination and climate change, Clean & Safe Label 2.0, professional training in sustainability, Sustainable Tourism Observatories, innovation labs and tourist projects for cultural and nature valorisation.

“We warmly welcome Turismo de Portugal as a new important member of GSTC. Portugal has consistently engaged in pursuing a strategy of sustainable development of its tourism and it is recognized as an authentic and responsible destination,” says Luigi Cabrini, Chairman of the GSTC.

“We are very happy to join GSTC in this challenging moment for tourism all around the world and also in Portugal where it represents 15% of GDP. Turismo de Portugal is committed to building strong partnerships in order to achieve a responsible and sustainable recovery of tourism activity. We strongly believe that Tourism is a force for Good, based on a commitment with sustainability and with the regeneration of our destinations. We will do our job!” says Luis Araújo, President of Turismo de Portugal.

GSTC encourages destinations pursuing sustainability practices in development and management of tourism, to join as GSTC members and apply the GSTC Destination Criteria, which eventually can lead to achieving certification by a GSTC-Accredited Certification Body.