Tourism in the Azores continues to require “hard work, commitment and dedication” as “its success is not only achieved with the launch of a website or of a promotional campaign, but also with continuous work,” alerted the Regional Secretary for the Economy in Ponta Delgada on Thursday.

The Government official spoke during the public presentation of the new website of Tourism in the Azores (www.visitazores.com) and considered that this “is another step in the strategy that the Government has been implementing, but does not replace all the work that has to be done,” which should also involve “all agents in the sector, the Government is responsible for the promotion work, but there are also areas, such as the case of sales and negotiations, which should be entrusted to privates as they do it better.”

For the Regional Secretary for the Economy, the recent tourism indicators “should not lead to an irresponsible optimism” because “the challenge of raising the reputation of the Azores as tourist destination continues to be necessary and require a permanent work.”

Thus, for Vasco Cordeiro the latest figures correspond to “some positive signs, but one must be aware that we are developing a work that has not been completed yet so we should also draw a lesson from what is working well as well as from what should be done in the future.”

For example, stated the Regional Secretary, “we have grown in the national market and we have achieved very interesting results in the German, Italian and Spanish markets. It is necessary to enhance the existing potentialities to attract more tourists, which is carried out with this type of tools, as well to address to our target group: an active tourism with Nature-based activities that promotes Azorean companies.”

The new website of Tourism in the Azores was developed by the company LBI – Media Lab, one of the leading global companies in the creation of websites in the tourism sector.

This investment integrates an application of one million Euros for the promotion of the Region which not only includes the construction of the website in the amount of 185 thousand Euros, but also the content and the respective maintenance for the next 3 years, involving the participation, in addition to the responsible company, various regional companies, particularly in the areas of translation and production.