Tourism

Porto hosts national congress of travel and tourism agencies in 2023

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The 48th Congresso Nacional da Associação Portuguesa das Agências de Viagens e Turismo (APAVT) will take place in 2023 in Porto. It is the third time that the municipality hosts this event after a 22-year gap.

The announcement was made by the president of the association, Pedro Costa Ferreira, during the gala dinner of the 47th congress of the association, which took place in Ponta Delgada, São Miguel (Azores), hosted by Porto City Hall. Representing the Municipality, on behalf of the councillor for Tourism and Internationalization, Catarina Santos Cunha, was her adjoint, Luís Archer, and the director of the Municipal Department of Tourism, Fátima Santos.

The testimony was passed during the ceremony, where a local artist prepared a canvas with the symbols of both regions, giving colour and harmony to the dinner in the perfect symbiosis between Azores and Porto.

The return of the magna tourism meeting to the city, 22 years after, deserves all the support from the Municipality. “The city of Porto will receive the 48th APAVT congress with great satisfaction and responsibility”, said Luís archer, quoted by Lusa, underlining that it will be “the third time that the municipality hosts this event”.

The adjoint councillor for Tourism and Internationalization recalled that, “over the years, APAVT knew to reinvent itself and knew how to contribute to the admirable success of tourism in Portugal and also, to take millions of Portuguese to all corners of the world”. “It is, therefore, with a great sense of responsibility that we receive this passage of testimony that APAVT and the city of Ponta Delgada passed us”, he added.

Opportunity to promote the city

The president of the Entidade Regional de Turismo do Porto e Norte also welcomed the choice. “This direction, together with its associates – one of them the Municipality of Porto – did everything to have this congress again in a region that deserves it, that has worked to deserve it and has grown”, said Luís Pedro Martins.

The main national tourism debate forum brings together, every year, the main professionals from the various sectors of tourism activity. This is the moment they benefit from the opportunity to discuss subjects of relevance for the national tourism, inviting experts in the area to align new strategies.

Holding the APAVT congress is an opportunity for the various entities to promote their products, create new partnerships and synergies to leverage the business, and it is also known as an important engine in increasing the flow of post -congress Portuguese tourists.