03 June 2016
Portugal wins Sustainable Tourism European award
The Dark Sky Alqueva Reserve, in the Alentejo, was one of the award-winning destinations as attributed by the European Commission in the European Tourism Indicators System (ETIS), as a zone free from light pollution allowing unique “night sky” observation opportunities.
Over 100 destinations took part in the ETIS pilot phase to help build a unified European approach to measuring and monitoring how well sustainable and accessible tourism is managed.
The panel ranked 10 destinations, using a scale from 1 to 3 stars for sustainability, accessibility and social impact awards in three categories – overall winners, responsible management of the destination and sustainable economic development. The Visit South Sardinia and the Barcelona Province won the main sustainability awards and the Dark Sky Alqueva was one of the four award winners in the social impact category (ETIS Social and Cultural Impact Achiever award).
For more information visit http://ec.europa.eu/