Portugal Pledges Allegiance to International Year of Sustainable Tourism for Development

Portugal has pledged to associate with the International Year of Sustainable Tourism for Development 2017. This commitment was presented to Dr. Taleb Rifai, the UNWTO Secretary-General during his official visit to Portugal.

As part of the 2017 International Year of Sustainable Tourism for Development, Portugal is promoting the revamping of historical buildings in the country and rotes through natural areas.

Mr. Rifai along with the Portuguese authorities discussed the role of tourism in progressing the sustainable tourism goals as well as contribution of tourism in job creation and financial growth in Portugal.

After meeting with Portuguese Prime Minister Antonio Costa, Dr. Rifai discussed the ways of advancing tourism development in the country along with issues of air transport and relevance of new source markets like China.

The visit included the presentation of Portugal 4.0, a project aimed at promoting modernization and entrepreneurship in the tourism sector and one of the finalists of the 2016 UNWTO Awards.