António Pina, the recently elected president of the Algarve Tourism Board, told the Algarve Observer that he thought it would be proof of intellectual honesty that the person to receive the prize should be the one in charge of the previous team, Hélder Martins, who then handed it over to him. He added that the organisation was yesterday awarded first prize in the category in which the different tourist boards in the country were competing, something that distinguishes the “good work of the previous management” and represents “public recognition of the organisation on the part of a jury of 15 people”.

For the fourth year running, the event, called “Prémios Publituris 2006”, chose the professionals and companies which made the greatest impact on tourism in Portugal and abroad, and the Algarve played a leading role in this.

The Algarve was also awarded prizes in three other categories: “Best golf course”, with the Victoria Golf Club in Vilamoura; “Best rural tourism”, with the Monte Velho Resort in Carrapateira, in the municipality of Aljezur; and “Best Agency Madeira”, the prize being awarded to Portimar.

The jury, which was made up of figures from different associations, and academics, politicians and businesspeople linked to the sector, gives the whole process a high level of credibility and transparency.

In the first phase, the newspaper Publituris nominates five companies or people in each of the 28 categories in the competition; then readers vote on the internet; finally the jury selects a winner from the three candidates with most votes in each category.


source: Algarve Observer