The World Travel Awards. Heard of them? Well, they basically do exactly what they claim to: giving awards to a whole bunch of travel-related stuff, from car hire companies to in-flight magazines, based on votes from the public as well as travel industry pros. The Europe 2022 edition was held at a ceremony in Majorca at the start of this month, and the winners include a clutch of destinations that the award’s voters think should be on your radar for the coming year’s travels.
Taking the title of ‘Europe's Leading Destination’ was Portugal. Sure, it’s a pretty safe bet, with its beaches, incredible food and one of the world’s coolest neighbourhoods.
But that wasn’t the only WTA that went to Portugal this year – the country almost swept the board when it came to the prestigious destination prizes. ‘Europe’s Leading Beach Destination’ went to the Algarve, ‘Leading City Destination’ was won by Porto and ‘Leading Adventure Tourism Destination’ was topped by the Azores. Portuguese capital Lisbon, meanwhile, was crowned both ‘Leading City Break Destination’ and ‘Leading Seaside Metropolitan Destination’. Not bad, eh?
To be fair, Portugal didn’t completely dominate the WTA’s destination rankings for 2022. Non-Portugal winners included:
Italy – ‘Europe's Leading Cultural Destination’
Athens, Greece – ‘Europe's Leading Cultural City Destination’
Majorca, Spain – ‘Europe's Leading Island Destination’
Attica, Greece – ‘Europe's Leading Sustainable Tourism Destination’
But, let’s be honest, it probs looks like your next trip should be to Portugal.
Did you see? This is Lisbon’s best pastel de nata right now.
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