The development of the tourism sector is not only dependent on the work developed by public companies or by businesspeople, but also on the way how the entire community acts towards its preservation and sustainability.
This statement by the Regional Secretary for the Economy was made at the opening session of the seminar on “Tourism and Sustainability,” organised by the Portuguese Association for Regional Development.
Vasco Cordeiro considered that tourism is a sector “in which there should be a profound agreement between all, in order to assure that sustainability is a common goal,” adding that the community should also regard “this challenge as its own.”
The Regional Secretary for the Economy presented the Azores as “an example,” for the reason that “tourism has been developing, without bringing liabilities to other activities, such as agriculture, but rather boosting its effects, mainly in terms of landscape preservation,” which will also contribute to the enhancement of the agricultural sector”.
The goal of tourism sustainability should “become an everyday challenge,” resulting from this concern: “tourism sustainability in the Azores is not limited only to the preservation of nature and its environmental richness; it also includes the social and economic point of view,” said the Secretary.
Hence, the Government has been developing different measures to acquire a better knowledge of this sector, mentioning the case of the Tourism Observatory of the Azores; this has been achieved through the regulation of the sector, with the approval of the Tourism Management Plan for the Autonomous Region of the Azores, through the encouragement of an agreement between the interested parties and through the promotion and support of the Azores Tourism Association, explained the Secretary.
For Vasco Cordeiro, the Government should “promote sustained growth of this activity at an environmental, social and economic level, thus assuring that it will not compromise itself.”