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| The Azores come second in the world top of sustainable tourism.
That is the conclusion of the "National Geographic Traveler" magazine in the latest edition of November / December, after examining 111 destinations, and hearing a panel of 522 experts in sustainable tourism. (1) The Azores scored 84 points on a 0 to 100 scale, being classifiied as "Wonderful place. Built environment in good shape".(2)
Being known that such ratings in large circulation magazines are always the result of commercial interests, at first glance, surprisingly for the first time, a major American tourism magazine, values correctly the Azores.
But a quick look at the other destinations rated at the top is enough to conclude that these experts do not understand much about the Azores. Beginning with the Faroe Islands, ranked first, where the sustainability is not enough to even allow trees to grow. This is confirmed by almost all of the other 10 places at the Top, which make the list look rather like the top of the harshest places. It is impossible to be just ignorance from National Geographic to associate the Azores with all those summerless islands whose cold weather has nothing to do with any of the Azorean climates. No wonder what was the reason these "experts" found to explain why the Azores are still relatively intact: "Not a beach destination or otherwise susceptible to mass tourism; indeed, its capricious climate probably impedes the flow of tourists"(2).
Kangaroo Island, was probably ranked seventh because the climate is even more windy than the rest of the coast of southern Australia, which means that only kangaroos can live there. In the Azores, which incidentally for the "experts" are a uniform mass, you can see landscapes that resemble the most varied sites. For instance in the tiny Azores island of Santa Maria, which would be visible on the other side of the airplane, only a few miles separate these two photos (3), evoking the red earth of Australia and the ocean blues of the beaches around Esperance, in southwestern Australia. The tranquility of the waters and the vineyards rising directly above, evoke the Mediterranean. Actually nowhere in the world but in some Azores shores do vineyards grow in contact with the surf of the ocean waves. The result of exceptionally constant and mild climate (4), e.g. the exact opposite of what is described by the National Geographic "experts".
Notes
1 - In the top 12, besides windy Kangaroo Island, the only other island with mild climate is Molokai, Hawaii:
http://www.nationalgeographic.com/traveler/features/islandsrated0711/islands.html
Incidentally guess where can you also find an island evoking the north coast of Molokai? Right, Sao Jorge Island, Azores...
2- The reason found by the "experts" to explain the hospitality of the Azorean people is not less hillarious : "Locals are very sophisticated as most have lived overseas".
http://www.nationalgeographic.com/traveler/features/islandsrated0711/islands_europe.html#2
Indeed many descendants of Azoreans set their feet on the Azores for the first time after being "repatriated" from United States prisons, with the shameful consent of the Portuguese "authorities". But there are not as many yet, in spite of the fact that the American experts in the destruction of sustainability continue to work to solve the problem that the Azores so far were not decisevely destroyed. And unfortunately these are REAL experts.
The american experts are working overtime just like the local experts, who are about to destroy the landscape seen in this aerial photo, with a highway. Even if the construction did not yet start, the explosion of oil price is coming too late to save this landscape.
http://www.trekearth.com/gallery/photo773519.htm
(3) Red Earth: http://www.trekearth.com/gallery/photo769583.htm and ocean vineyards.
(4) - The littoral of the Azores boasts one of the mildest climates of the world, measured as minimal sum of heating and cooling degrees. Documented here: http://www.trekearth.com/themes.php?thid=4973
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