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researchers and cultural institutions around the continent who are continually striving to create pioneering museums and develop projects relevant to the preservation and promotion of European cultural heritage.
It is an award given by experts with a proven European background to a museum or an institution which displays outstanding museological expertise.
www. arte-coa. pt
Algarve Voted Best Golf Destination by Today’ s Golfer Readers
Readers of the UK’ s leading golf magazine, Today’ s Golfer, have selected the Algarve as one of their preferred golfing destinations in a recent poll.
Portugal’ s southernmost sunshine region secured 32 % of the vote in the Best Value Destination in Continental Europe category, ahead of Turkey( 19 %) and the Costa Brava( 11 %).
The Oceânico Old Course in Vilamoura and the Dona Filipa Hotel & San Lorenzo Golf Resort in Vale do Lobo scooped the respective Best Golf Course in Portugal and Best Hotel / Resort in Portugal awards, respectively.
” We are very proud that the Algarve has, once again, been recognised as a quality golfing destination, and even more so coming from a prominent publication in the United Kingdom, which continues to be our main tourist-generating market,” remarked António Pina, chairman of the Algarve Tourist Board.
Of equal significance is the fact that the Algarve is the chosen venue for this year’ s International Golf Travel Market( IGTM), an event that brings together the cream of the golf tourism industry at a different golf destination every year. IGTM 2012 will take place from 12-15 November in Vilamoura, home to some of the world’ s finest golf courses.
www. todaysgolfer. co. uk
World Travel Oscar Winners Announced
the crème de la crème of the world’ s top players as household names such as American Express, Starwood, Lufthansa, Abercrombie & Kent, Royal Caribbean and Europcar received their respective and much-deserved awards.
Portugal enjoyed its share of the spotlight when the country’ s popular national carrier, TAP Portugal, scooped the World’ s Leading Airline to South America + Africa awards, a moment only matched by Vila Joya’ s reception of both the World’ s and Europe’ s Leading Boutique Resort award.
The ceremony also included the best of Portugal awards which went to the Bairro Alto Hotel as Portugal’ s Leading Boutique Hotel; Lisbon Marriott as Portugal’ s Leading Conference Hotel; Pine Cliff’ s Resort as Portugal’ s Leading Family Resort; Praia d’ El Rey as Portugal’ s Leading Golf Resort; Pestana Palace as Portugal’ s Leading Hotel; Hilton Vilamoura as Portugal’ s Leading Resort and Hotel Quinta do Lago as Portugal’ s Leading Spa Resort.
Established 19 years ago, the organisers of the World Travel Awards are committed to raising the standards of customer service and overall business performance throughout the international tourism industry. The 2011 WTA nominations featured more than 5,000 companies in 1,000 categories across 162 countries, with the winners being selected by more than 210,000 industry professionals and consumers worldwide.
www. worldtravelawards. com
The Sunday Times listed within their 100 best destinations for 2012, The Secret North. They stated Northern Portugal was a superb destination to visit. Please see our review of Carmo’ s Boutique Hotel on pages 34-37.
The World Travel Awards( WTA) reached their glittering climax during a lavish gala and prize-giving ceremony held on Wednesday the 11th of January at the Katara Cultural Village in Doha, Qatar.
Dubbed the travel industry’ s Oscars, the Hollywood-style event celebrated
76 | Summer 2012 | www. portugal-life. net |