Portugal presents sustainable tourism strategies at Expo’s Travel & Connectivity Week
Governments and thought leaders gathered today at Expo 2020’s Travel & Connectivity Business Forum to re-examine how the global population explores planet Earth and all that it has to offer — from leveraging technology to creating tourist ‘ambassadors’ of sustainability. Portugal was represented at this debate by Luís Araújo, President of Turismo de Portugal and the European Travel Commission (ETC), who explained how the country aims to achieve “a better tourism for a better planet”.
Throughout the session, experts shared tried and tested approaches and plans on balancing physical travel and environmental and social impact. One common thread, was that community integration and cross-sectoral collaboration is imperative in order to make travel and tourism more sustainable.
On behalf of Portugal, Luís Araújo said:
“We believe in tourism as a force for good in our country and for the wellbeing of our people. We launched a plan that would reduce our carbon footprint, where all activity would need to meet the new demands of preserving the social and cultural authenticity of our communities, protecting biodiversity, and increasing business profits… and it has to focus on the entire 17 Sustainable Development Goals”.
Portugal, which aims for 90 per cent of its activity from hotels, restaurants, car rental and travel agencies, to have waste management, energy and water efficiency measures in place, is now seeking to redefine the standards of tourism and travel. For example, legislation is being adapted so that hotels seeking five-star ratings would need to have implemented sustainability principles just as much as luxury services and features.
Take a look at what Luís Araújo had to say on Portugal’s sustainability strategy amid the COVID-19 pandemic:
Expo 2020’s Travel and Connectivity Week, which runs until 15 January, is addressing essential issues such as how to balance the impact of the expansion of our digital world with our physical reality, and changing direction to redesign mobility for more connected, inclusive societies.