The major changes that Azorean tourism has undergone in recent years have projected the Azores archipelago internationally with a stronger image as a nature-based tourism destination. The excellence of our natural resources and landscapes, both on land and at sea, has achieved the visibility sought by the sustainability policies put in place throughout our recent history, while simultaneously reinforcing internally the central role of the tourism sector in the regional economy, as a transversal activity whose growth has positively influenced Azorean society, by generating employment and creating wealth.

This new tourist dynamic strengthens our identity as a tourist region strongly based on nature, while also reinforcing the need to continue safeguarding a correct sustainability strategy that does not endanger the destination's attractiveness nor the ambition to keep growing, within our geographic and dimensional constraints.

These concerns are mainly reflected regarding the tourist offer and entail an increased responsibility for everyone to ensure that it remains unique and special, as only then will it be able to attract environmentally demanding tourists. Within a context of nine islands with different potentials and realities, it is the responsibility of the Regional Directorate for Tourism to ensure the qualification of the regional offer, in terms of products, infrastructures and the Archipelago's own tourism planning, supporting the sector so that we may continue our path as a sustainable destination.