The President of the Government defended today that despite the positive indicators registered in tourism, it is necessary that public and private entities guarantee an attitude of rigour and nonconformity, which is crucial to ensure the sustainability of the sector.
 
"This rigour and nonconformity are key factors to the success and sustainability of this sector," said Vasco Cordeiro. The President of the Government spoke at the presentation of the Strategic and Marketing Plan for the Azores Tourism, a document prepared by IPDT - Tourism Institute.
 
"We cannot and we must not give in to the temptation of being dazzled by statistics, believing that the sector will walk on its own," the President of the Government warned, pointing out that this plan, after a process of dialogue and consensus, defines the strategy to be followed in this area.
 
According to Vasco Cordeiro, from now on, there is work that must be carried out by public authorities, starting with the Government of the Azores, but also by private entities in order to follow these guidelines.
 
"On the part of public entities, there is a series of changes that must be introduced, for example, to the support mechanisms for tourist initiatives, which should be aligned and improved in accordance with this strategy," stressed the President of government. In this regard, he called for the importance of falling into the "mistake of looking at the goals and forgetting the path we have to follow to achieve these goals."
 
In his speech, Vasco Cordeiro also assured that the Regional Government cannot support everyone and everything "just on the pretext that it is a tourism initiative," noting that "there are options that have to be taken, but there cannot be discretionary and random options. They must be guided by the implementation of this strategy. "
 
The President of the Government spoke before many tourism operators and entrepreneurs, considering that any private entity may, of course, "follow its path." However, it cannot on the mobilisation of public resources to sustain a strategy that is inconsistent with the Strategic and Marketing Plan.
 
Vasco Cordeiro also left a warning, recalling that there is still work to do in terms of the qualification of products and services and that the environmental, economic and social sustainability of the Azores Tourism is everyone's responsibility.
 
In this context, the President of the Government stressed that, after considering that this situation can more demanding on workers, it is now "important that the matters regulating this relation be properly addressed and duly respected, given that some indicators are improving."
 
"This plan will be worth what we want and do to make it worth. It is not because we have a detailed document that the Azores Tourism will better or worse indicators tomorrow. It will have better indicators if we all assume this strategy and act accordingly, said Vasco Cordeiro.
 
 The Strategic and Marketing Plan for the Azores Tourism is primarily aimed at the definition of a set of strategies to achieve three major outcomes:  qualification and sustainable development of tourism, preservation of the environment and the development of tourism as a tool for the revitalisation of regional economy in the archipelago.