The Government of the Azores, through the Regional Directorate for the Environment, promotes the 3rd Forum on the European Charter for Sustainable Tourism in the Lands of Priolo (ECST), during which it will present the Action Plan for the period 2017-2021. The event takes places Tuesday, December 13, at the Furnas Monitoring and Research at 4 PM.
 
During this year, we developed a process for the revision and redefinition of the Sustainable Tourism Development Strategy in the Priolo Lands, implemented since 2012, which included several moments of public participation through various entities and entrepreneurs.
 
As a result of this process, the Government established a series of actions to be developed over the next five years that will be presented to all participants of this Forum.
 
This Action Plan includes the contributions and actions of the Regional Directorate for the Environment, as promoter, as well as of the partner organisations: the Regional Directorates for Tourism and Forest Resources, Nordeste Town Hall, the Portuguese Society for the Study of Birds, the Azores Tourism Association, the Nordeste Local Development Association and the Azores Microbial Observatory. 
 
The public presentation and discussion of this Action Plan concludes the renewal process of the European Charter for Sustainable Tourism award. The respective documents must be submitted to the EUROPARC Federation by the end of the year and the award will be renewed in the second half of 2017.
 
This award acknowledges the efforts of the territory and institutions in the development of tourism in order to provide a quality experience in protected areas, thus safeguarding their natural and cultural values and improving the quality of life of communities located within them.
 
There are currently over 157 award-winning destinations in 19 countries; this is an internationally recognised award.
 
Registration is open to all interested parties and can be made at the email address [email protected].