Portuguese win top honours at World Travel Awards

The World Travel Awards, referred to by the Wall Street Journal as ‘the Oscars of the travel industry,’ were announced at a gala recently in Slovakia, which was attended by guests from 19 European nations.

‘Turismo de Portugal,’ the Portuguese tourist authority, was honoured as the best tourist board in Europe, ‘Quinta do Lago,’ located in the Algarve, received the award for the leading golf resort in Portugal and in a heavily contested category, the ‘Praia D’El Rey Marriott Resort’ was named the leading resort in Portugal – for the second year in a row.

The resort, situated about an hour north of Lisbon on the Silver Coast, has had a successful year, crowned by the prestigious award. It has become a popular year-round destination for the world’s sporting elite, including guests such as football’s super-hero, Cristiano Ronaldo. It is also the current training home for Portugal’s national football team as they prepare for the World Cup 2010.

“We are thrilled to win this prestigious award,” said Jorge Almeida, director of the resort. “It’s a recognition of how we have grown over the last 10 years to become one of Portugal’s best known resorts, with over 250,000 visitors a year.”

The World Travel Awards were launched in 1993, and acknowledge excellence in the travel and tourism industry. Travel professionals representing 167,000 tourism organizations, travel agencies and transport operators in over 160 countries around the world cast their votes.

Thanks to www.euroweeklynews.com for the above quotes, for more information on this article please visit their website.

www.worldtravelawards.com