The island of Gozo’s green credentials has been given a boost after it was named best of the Mediterranean at a sustainable tourism awards ceremony held in Berlin.
Gozo picked up the Green Destinations award during the ITB fair in Berlin, whereby it beat the Croatian town of Mali Lošinj to the Mediterranean award. In order to be eligible for the award, all of the destinations must first be assessed as sustainable by Green Destinations, a non-profit organisation focused on sustainable tourism, according to criteria established by the Global Sustainable Tourism Council.
Afterwards, the highest-rated winners qualify for the NGO’s annual top 100 shortlist and then whittled down to 32 finalists across 10 categories. Gozo’s clean waters, heritage sites and the eco-Gozo 2020 strategy launched a decade ago were all cited by Green Destinations, which also claimed that “most of the local food and dishes in Gozo are 100% organic”. The Minister of Gozo, Justyne Caruana, welcomed the award and said it would continue to raise Gozo’s profile internationally. She noted that 2017 had been a record year for the island’s tourism sector, with a 13% increase in tourists visiting the island, more than in the previous year.
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