On these difficult days which all of us are facing it is very important to receive good news! With great honor we announce that the Dark Sky® Association just received the ACQ5 Country Awards 2020, as “Portugal – Best Practice Operator of the Year, Astrotourism, 2020”. This international award recognises the path and Dark Sky®’s ability to create, implement and develop astrotourism destinations in Portugal. It also recognises how sustainability and responsibility can be applied to the development of destinations.
The Dark Sky® concept and brand make it possible to combine the desire to have a tourist destination with economic benefits for the territory in a more harmonious way, always taking into account the sustainability and responsibility that contribute to short-term benefits, but above all, with a medium and long term vision. What we do today has an impact on the future, so, any destination, territory, or region, must always balance their resources and strategies with a medium and long term vision.
The concept started to be developed in 2007 and materialised in Dark Sky® Alqueva – the first Starlight Tourism Destination in the world – which also has been recognised since 2013 with several awards, from which we highlight the 2019 edition of World Travel Awards, as the Europe’s Responsible Tourism Award 2019, and already in 2020 the Corporate Travel Awards, as Europe’s Leading Tourist Destination 2020.
Since the end of last year, Dark Sky® Alqueva has been making improvements, diversifying the offer of activities and increasing the network of local partners, which will soon be visible on our website. But the Dark Sky® concept has also grown nationally as a result of regional partnerships, thus originating the birth of Dark Sky Aldeias do Xisto in partnership with ADXTUR, and Dark Sky Vale do Tua in partnership with ADRVT, thus forming the Network Dark Sky® PORTUGAL and positioning our country as a bet for a leading international destination in Astrotourism.
About the ACQ5 Country Awards:
Since 2006, ACQ AWARDS have been celebrating achievement, innovation and brilliance in their annual awards. Anybody can make that claim, but ACQ really is different. We boast a legitimately independent nomination process, most importantly, our award winners, are chosen by the industry itself.
We rely on reader insight and experience to provide nominations and we relish hearing about new experts and burgeoning markets. Every year, we seek their assistance in recognising industry leaders, eminent individuals, exemplary teams and distinguished businesses, which we believe represent the benchmark of achievement and best practice in a variety of fields – and every year, our readers help as we strive to recognise an ever-widening spectrum of services, markets, industries and organisations that serve our global market place.
The ACQ Country Awards set out to recognise the jurisdictional achievements of those who are responding most successfully to the demands being placed on them in the new post-recession business environment.
Hosted by ACQ magazine & the ACQ5 news portal, the Awards are divided into COMPANY, PRACTICE AREA, INDIVIDUAL and FIRM-WIDE categories within the public & private sectors.
Our poll was not only designed to reflect actual performance in any particular area of expertise, it was also aimed to reflect direct market share based on a number of criteria. Voters were encouraged to base their decisions on addressing professionalism: experience, value for money & responsiveness in order for ACQ to derive a numerical rating from 1 – 5. In that sense, this poll should be considered a reflection of how professionals view any practice, individual or related sector supplier in terms of overall quality of service.Only nominees receiving an average 4-star rating or above achieved a short-list status. All Award Winners for the ACQ5 Awards are hereby released in the annual ACQ5 Awards 2020 publication.
