The Regional Secretary for Energy, Environment and Tourism highlighted today the importance of the Strategic Tourism Laboratory as a public debate initiative that will collect the Region's contributions to the Tourism Strategy 2017, with the participation of the Azores in the national debate.
 
"Initiatives like this Laboratory are very important in the careful planning that takes into account trends and involves all players - public and private entities - in a broad debate that aims to ensure the future of the tourism sector from the present moment," said Marta Guerreiro. She spoke in Ponta Delgada at the opening of the Strategic Tourism Laboratory, an initiative promoted in coordination with Tourism of Portugal.
 
Marta Guerreiro said the revision of POTRAA - Tourism Management Plan of the Autonomous Region of the Azores in "conjunction with local public authorities, industry partners and areas linked to tourism, such as the environment, agriculture and the sea."
 
In addition to this Plan, she also highlighted PEMTA - Strategic and Marketing Plan of the Azores Tourism as "a fundamental tool for the approach to be made in the sector in coming years to maintain environmental and tourism policies that may be reconciled with practices that safeguard the Azorean identity."
 
Assessing the sector's situation in 2016, the Secretary for Tourism conveyed her satisfaction with the 1.4 million overnight stays registered between January and October, representing an increase of 22% over the same period of 2015. In this context, she also highlighted the revenue of traditional hotel accommodation, registering a growth of 31.4% in the same period of time that corresponds to 65 million Euros by October 2016.
 
The data on this sector also demonstrate that residents in Portugal accounted for about 564,300 overnight stays while foreigners reached 843,900 overnight stays in the Azores, corresponding to an increase of 19.6% and 23.1% over the same period of time. The US and Spanish markets were the most relevant, with a growth of about 58% and 50%.
 
In light of initiatives such as this Laboratory, the Regional Secretary assured the commitment to hold an "intensive dialogue with all industry players," thus continuing the proximity policy that began last December on the islands of Pico and Faial.