Since 1993, the World Travel Awards have honored excellence in travel and tourism. On September 29, this year, they had a celebration in Batumi, Georgia, to commemorate their 30th edition.
Awards for the top and leading performers were granted to outstanding airlines, locations, and attractions from all over the world, according to EU Helpers.
The Madeira Islands competed against 12 more European applicants for the honor:
the Azores
Island Canaries
Greece's Crete
Greece's Cyclades, Aegean Islands
Cyprus
the Channel Islands, Guernsey
Spain's Ibiza
Channel Islands: Jersey
Spain's Mallorca
Malta
Italy's Sardinia
Italy's Sicily
Since the archipelago has won nine awards in the category of Europe's Leading Destination and an additional eight wins in the category of World's Leading Island Destination, the Madeira Islands have a history of being nominated in two categories.
With a total of 16 nominations in various categories since 2013, including World's Leading Island Destination 2013, Europe's Leading Beach Destination 2021, and World's Leading Tourist Board 2022, the Madeira Islands have consistently been a presence on the global stage of travel excellence.
Along with the most recent recognition, it's important to remember that in April of last year, European Best Destinations, as reported by EU Helpers, published a list of the top ten tourist destinations in Europe, with the Madeira Islands coming in third.
The city had 1.8 million visitors overall in 2022, and overnight stays increased by than double to 9.6 million from the previous year, according to figures from the Regional Directorate of Statistics of Madeira.
There were 124.6 thousand visitors in December 2022 alone, resulting in 663.1 thousand overnight stays overall. tourists from Portugal and outside both contributed to this surge, with Portuguese tourists up 63.9% and overseas visitors up 43.1% from December 2019 to the same month.