Turismo de Portugal launches Network of Regional Sustainability Observatories

Turismo de Portugal (TP) launched a Network of Regional Sustainability Observatories, to promote the monitoring of this aspect of tourist activity in the country, it was advanced in a released statement.

The network, which according to TP "makes Portugal the first country with sustainability observatories in all tourist regions", reinforces its mission "to position itself as one of the most competitive and sustainable tourist destinations in the world”.

"Obtaining in-depth knowledge of the impacts of tourist activity on the territory and greater efficiency in the planning and management of destinations is one of the strategic objectives of Turismo de Portugal", highlighted the entity.

Thus, for Turismo de Portugal, the establishment of the network of observatories aims to "promote the collaboration of destinations in monitoring sustainability, support the development of good management practices at regional and local level, as well as boost co-creation actions and initiatives of dissemination”.

Turismo de Portugal recalled that this work began in January 2018, when it was recognized within the international network of the WTO (INSTO), the Alentejo Sustainable Tourism Observatory (ASTO).

In January 2020, two more were recognized by the World Tourism Organization (WTO): "the Azores Tourism Observatory and the Algarve Regional Observatory for Sustainable Tourism (AlgSTO) and, more recently, the Center Observatory", thus becoming four the number of national structures to be part of INSTO.

"By the end of the year, membership requests from the most recent observatories created – North, Lisbon and Madeira regions, will also be submitted to the WTO", he said.

INSTO is a network of tourism observatories that aims to monitor the economic, environmental and social impact of tourism at the destination level.