The Azores have been nominated for “Europe’s Leading Island Destination 2016’ by the prestigious World Travel Awards (WTA), regarded as the “Tourism Oscar”. The Azores are competing with Madeira named ‘Europe’s Leading Island Destination’ in 2013, 2014 and 2015.
The winners are determined by an online vote cast by hundreds of travel professionals and consumers around the world. To place your vote go to www.worldtravelawards.com/vote. Voting open to the public ends July 17, 2016.
The other nominees are the Balearic Islands, Canary Islands, Crete (Greece), Cyprus, Guernsey (Channel Islands), Malta and Sardinia. Winning WTA finalists will be announced at the Grand Final Gala Ceremony to be held at the end of the year, date to be announced. In 2016, World Travel Awards will celebrate its 23rd anniversary year.
In 2014 Madeira was named “Best European Destination’ to celebrate New Year’s. In 2014, the he Azores were listed one of the most sustainable green destinations in the world and the leading 2014 European green tourism destination by Quality Coast.
Established in 1993, the World Travel Awards honors and rewards excellence across all sectors of the tourism industry offering one of the most prestigious and comprehensive awards program in travel and tourism, recognized worldwide as the hallmark of industry excellence. Awards are given both on a world level and international region level in a wide range of categories. Categories include hotel, airline, travel agency, and car-hire company. The Wall Street Journal has heralded WTA as “the Oscar’s of the travel industry.”
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The Azores (population 250,000) is a region of Portugal composed of nine islands. The archipelago discovered by Portuguese explorers in the 15th century, became an Autonomous Region of Portugal in 1976. The government of the Autonomous Region of the Azores includes the Legislative Assembly, composed of 57 elected deputies, elected by universal suffrage for a four-year term; the Regional Government and Presidency, with parliamentary legitimacy, composed of a President, a Vice-President and seven Regional Secretaries responsible for the Regional Government executive operations. The Autonomous Region of the Azores is represented in the Council of Ministers of the Central Government by a representative appointed by the President of Portugal. According to the latest US census over 1.3 million individuals of Portuguese descent live in the United States, the majority with roots in the Azores. It is estimated that over 20,000 US citizens live in Portugal.
