There is a new route as regards wine tourism

There is a new route as regards wine tourism. Four wine regions in the North formed a partnership to establish a new enotourism route of Porto and the North. The protocol was signed yesterday evening, at the Rivoli, between the Instituto dos Vinhos do Douro e do Porto, the comissões de viticultura regional dos Vinhos Verdes, Távora-Varosa e Trás-os-Montes, and the Turismo do Porto e Norte de Portugal (TPNP).

The Mayor of Porto, Rui Moreira, hosted the event and highlighted that, as regards this partnership, Porto works as a gateway, because “Porto is not the capital of anything; Porto is Porto, and it works as an entry point of people and exit of products”. The Mayor also advanced that “this will be a facilitating and mobilising gateway” that will “promote this extraordinary valence that our region has”.

Rui Moreira also enhanced that “the key feature is union”, and that this project marks “the huge indication of maturity, civilisation, and commitment”, by the different entities that are organising this project. Certain of the importance of this route, even because “of the economic and sustainable growth perspective, Rui Moreira reinforced the need for the “Government to look at our region with equity”, that the “Government understands that we are extremely entrepreneurs here, but we also need our fair share. We do not want more than anyone else, but we do not want less either”.

Luís Pedro Martins, President of the TPNP explained the project and shared “the will to move forward with the revitalisation, the reorganisation and the deployment of a product that [TPNP] considers pivotal for the development of gastronomy and wines in this destination and that project is called ‘Rota dos Vinhos e do Enoturismo do Porto e Norte’”. He also advanced that “this route will enable the qualification of human resources, it will trigger bot academic and professional training, the creation of jobs, a boost in the local and regional economy and it will enable the implementation of the sustainability process, thus highlighting the wines in the Northern region, mainly in the catering and hotel sectors”.

The ceremony was also attended by the President of the Instituto dos Vinhos do Douro e do Porto, Gilberto Igrejas, the President of the Comissão de Viticultura da Região dos Vinhos Verdes, Manuel Pinheiro, the vice-president of the Comissão Vitivinícola Regional Távora-Varosa, José Fernandes Pereira and the *President of the Comissão Vitivinícola Regional de Trás-os-Montes, Francisco Pavão.

Also present at the ceremony were Nuno Botelho, vice-President of the Porto Tourism Association, the President of the Comissão de Coordenação de Desenvolvimento Regional do Norte (CCDR-N), António Cunha, the State Secretary for the Valorisation of the of the Countryside, Isabel Silva, the State Secretary for Tourism, Rita Marques, who prised the project and recalled that the Tourism sector could be “licking its sores”, but “we are so much more than that, we have a unified, determined, focused, ambitious and decentralised tourism”.

Also among the participants were several mayors of different regions and the general Director of Tourism of Castilla y Léon, Estrella Torrecilla, and the Director and also Coordinator of the Turismo de Portugal, Lídia Monteiro, and the Regional Director of Agricultura e Pescas do Norte, Carla Alves.