The Azores led the World’s Top 10 Sustainable Destinations as the Best of the Atlantic.  The award was given recently at ITB Berlin. The Azores and the Oeste Region (as best of Europe) were selected to the top ten from 100 sustainable destinations.  An international jury picked 32 finalists before naming two regions in Portugal to the World’s Top 10 Sustainable Destinations 2018 list.

The Azores are the closet point in Europe to North America. The islands were created by volcanic activity hundreds of millions of years ago, building an environment that is both unexpected and varied. From the 7,700-foot peak of Pico Island  to the blue and green lakes at Sete Cidades on São Miguel, the Azores offers a lush and sculptured landscape. The National Geographic Center for Sustainable Destinations named the Azores Islands as the world’s second most appealing islands destination in it fourth annual Destination Scorecard survey. 

The volcanic genesis of the Azores is unmistakable. Thousands of years of vegetation cannot hide the deep craters, some of which are filled with deep lakes today. Geysers and sulfur springs are common. 

The Award Winners provide best practice experience for destination managers to involve their local communities in tourism, and to avoid too much tourism problems as we have seen in Barcelona, Venice, and many other fragile iconic places.