Portugal also claimed other top awards, including the World’s Leading Tourist Board, while Lisbon was presented with the trophy for World’s Leading City Break Destination.
Portugal claimed a total of six prizes, with the national tourist board also walking away with the award for best tourism website.
Sintra Parks was elected the leading conservation company, Madeira was meanwhile unveiled as the best island destination, and the Pine Cliffs Resort in Albufeira was awarded the prize of World’s Best Luxury Leisure Resort.
The chairman of the Portuguese Confederation of Tourism (CTP), Francisco Calheiros, said on Monday that Portugal’s performance at the World Travel Awards (WTA) was “recognition of the dedication and professionalism of the thousands of people who work in the tourism industry in the country.”
He said that people were the industry’s most important asset and they were decisive in the excellent situation Portugal’s tourism is currently enjoying “because a destination’s experience and authenticity depended directly on how the visitors interacted with their hosts.”
Portugal won the Best Tourist Destination at the WTA on 10 December, making it the first European country to win this award by fending off competitors such as Brazil, Greece, Maldives, the USA, Morocco, Vietnam and Spain.
Portugal’s secretary of state of tourism said in a communiqué that in Europe “only the cities of London and Paris” had won this prize, whereas Dubai had won it six times.
At the end of the WTA 2017, which was held in Phu Quoc in Vietnam, the city of Lisbon won the ‘Best City Break’ destination for the first time because of its attractiveness and excellent choice of short stays.
Sintra Parks, a state-owned company that does not benefit financially in any which way from the budget, won the Best Company in the World in Conservation for the fifth time, for the recovery and restoration work in the parks it manages.