Madeira Islands received the award of Europe’s Leading Destination in 2023 by the World Travel Awards. The archipelago of four islands emerged as the top favourite island destination in a competition with another 12 other European destinations shortlisted in the same category.
The World Travel Awards have been recognising merit in travel and tourism since 1993. This year, on September 29, they marked their 30th edition with a celebration held in Batumi, Georgia.
Appreciation was given to excellent airlines, destinations, and attractions from across the world through awards for the best and leading performers.
In the running for the award, the Madeira Islands were in competition with 12 other European candidates:
- Azores Islands
- Canary Islands
- Crete, Greece
- Cyclades, Aegean Islands, Greece
- Cyprus
- Guernsey, Channel Islands
- Ibiza, Spain
- Jersey, Channel Islands
- Mallorca, Spain
- Malta
- Sardinia, Italy
- Sicily, Italy
Madeira Islands have a history of receiving nominations in two categories as the archipelago has succeeded in winning nine awards in the Europe’s Leading Destination category, along with another eight wins in the category of World’s Leading Island Destination.
I’m very honoured to receive this award. This is a recognition but also a responsibility. It’s the ninth time that we’re winning this award. So, I think, this is a very good way of reinforcing the idea that we are in a very good position in the tourism industry.
Madeira Islands have been consistently present on the international stage of travel excellence, securing a total of 16 nominations in different categories since 2013, in categories such as World’s Leading Island Destination 2013, Europe’s Leading Beach Destination 2021 and World’s Leading Tourist Board 2022.
In addition to the recent award, it’s worth noting that in April of last year, European Best Destinations, as reported by SchengenVisaInfo.com, published a list of the top ten destinations in Europe that offer the best hotels, restaurants, and activities for tourists, with, Madeira Islands’ ranking third on this prestigious list.
According to data from the Regional Directorate of Statistics of Madeira, in 2022, the city marked a record year in tourism with 1.8 million total guests and overnight stays nearly doubled to 9.6 million from the previous year.
In December 2022 alone, there were 124.6 thousand guests, generating a total number of 663.1 thousand overnight stays. Both Portuguese and foreign visitors contributed to this growth, with a 63.9 per cent increase in Portuguese guests and a 43.1 per cent rise in foreign guests compared to December 2019 over the same month.
