Tourism authorities in Portugal have launched a campaign aimed at UK travellers that highlights the importance of focusing on responsible and sustainable tourism in 2021.
The #CantSkipTomorrow message is delivered in a YouTube video by a young child adopting the persona of “tomorrow” and calling for people to seek out new ways of travelling that are bound by a collective conscience to protect nature.
The message has been developed from Zeca Alfonso’s “Verdes são os” (“Green are the Fields”) song, which was created from a poem by Luís Vaz de Camões. It is also inspired by World Tourism Organisation global guidelines which stress that travellers’ actions – when the threat of COVID-19 has eased – will provide the industry with an opportunity to redefine itself in an even more sustainable way than before.
Last March, when the pandemic outbreak started to have serious consequences for Portugal’s tourism industry – including the popular Algarve region in the south – VisitPortugal produced a similarly positive video, #CantSkipHope, with the message:
“It’s time to stop. It’s time to take a break, for the good of the world. In the meantime, we can dream for the great days to come. We’re in this together.”
The new message looks to the future with ongoing optimism…
“Tomorrow is today. Let’s change today and we will keep visiting tomorrow. This is a call for union. For the collective conscience and the will of these destinations to protect what has been given by nature and which is the essence of their identity. This nature, which dazzles travelers, will only be maintained if each one is responsible for attracting more conscious visitors.”
In 2020, the national tourism board announced details of a three-year government-led strategy to transform Portugal into one of the world’s most sustainable destinations by 2027.
According to Luis Araujo, president of VisitPortugal and chairman of the European Tourism Commission, the new video “conveys our responsibilities, as a tourism destination, to the Portuguese, to tourists, to companies in the sector and above all to a planet that needs to regenerate.
“After launching the Sustainable 20-23 Plan, we also assumed sustainability as the focus of our promotion, in order to prepare a more resistant, more resilient and, above all, responsible future.”
In addition to encouraging visitors from the UK to “choose the purest journey and make things better for everyone”, VisitPortugal is also calling on other European destinations to promote more responsible and sustainable practices as part of a continent-wide tourism initiative.
An authoritative new study shows that the Algarve is the favoured destination for British tourists planning a European holiday this spring or summer.