The Spanish coastal town Baiona in Galicia, and Pafos region (Cyprus) are the winners of the QualityCoast 2013 Gold Awards for sustainable tourism. The Portuguese archipelago of the Azores remains Europe’s best overall “green” tourism destination, like in 2012, when they won QualityCoast Gold.

The Awards were presented at European Maritime Day which is being celebrated today in Gozo, another QualityCoast 2012 Gold winner. In 2012, Gozo won the Gold Coast Quality Award for the quality and variety of its unique coastal features, the second time it had won.

The organisers said that the annual event is held in a destination that was awarded a Gold Award the previous year. The event is organised by the Ministry for Gozo and EUCC.

There will be a day tour around the island visiting sites of importance and the major attractions of Gozo. The presentation ceremony is being held this evening at 6pm in the Citadella in the Culture & Arts room, Victoria.

The Portuguese town of Cascais and the German island Norderney are the winners of QualityCoast Silver. All municipalities of the Portuguese West region (including Peniche, Torres Vedras, Obidos, Nazaré) received QualityCoast Bronze. The QualityCoast Nature Award was presented to the Marine National Parks of Kosterhavet (Sweden) and Ytre Hvaler (Norway).

1000 destinations assessed world wide Candidate destinations have been assessed by an international team making use of more than 100 indicators covering all aspects of sustainability: nature; environment; local identity & culture; tourism & business; host community & safety. The annual QualityCoast Award series is an initiative of the European Coastal & Marine Union (EUCC), that is assessing sustainability aspects of 1000 tourism destinations worldwide.

The award are a recognition for the destinations’ efforts to sustain the attractiveness of their tourism in the future. Not only visible, tangible aspects are measured, such as natural heritage, but also policy and management plans that take sustainable development principles into account. Representatives of award winning destinations are attending the ceremony and they are speakers at European Maritime Day conference in Valetta, Malta, 21-22 May.

The Azores is leading the European green tourism hit list since May 2012. The Azores have profited from its policy to make its local and regional products in a traditional way, especially wine, cheese, fruits, tea and tuna.

Azores tuna is captured with traditional poles and lines, in a dolphin friendly manner; it is among the most sustainable canned tuna in the world market.

Furthermore, the region has managed to turn the economic drawback due to the international ban on commercial whaling into an opportunity by developing whale watching.

The Azores regional authority aims at exploring and optimizing renewable energy, in particular wind, geothermic and biomass. Currently 28% of the energy originates from renewable resources, targeted at 75% in 2018.

About QualityCoast QualityCoast is the largest independent international certification programme for sustainable tourism destinations. Since 2007, more than 140 tourism destinations in 23 countries have been selected for a QualityCoast Award: coastal towns, resorts and islands. It is supported by the European Commission.

The islands of Gozo and Comino were placed jointly in third place among 100 coastal destinations around Europe chosen as the best sustainable tourism destinations.

The Quality Coast Awards aim to promote coastal destinations offering panoramic views and natural landscapes, along with other factors such as uniqueness, local, natural and cultural heritage and a clean marine environment.

The Quality Coast Awards are considered highly prestigious and aim to guide tourism operators in their choice of sustainable destinations to offer tourists who choose these types of destinations. In the process of selecting these destinations, the EUCC (Coastal & Marine Union), which is the main operator of Quality Coast Awards, carried out extensive evaluation exercises which were conducted by an independent jury.

Photograph – Azores, Europe’s best overall “green” tourism destination.

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