The World Centre of Excellence for Destinations (CED) announced the presentation of the official report of the System of Measures for Excellence in Destinations (SMED) to Madeira, Portugal. This event was held at the Museu Casa da Luz de Madeira in Funchal, in the presence of Conceicao Estudante, Regional Secretariat of Tourism and Transport of Madeira, Raquel Borges Franca, Regional Director of Tourism Madeira, and Cesar Castaneda, Director of Operations of the CED.

“Madeira is the seventh destination in the world, after the Douro Valley in Portugal, the City of Mexico and Riviera Maya in Mexico, the Principality of Andorra, Jeddah in Saudi Arabia, and the Eastern Townships in Quebec, Canada, to recognize the value of a measurement system like the SMED and to sign a partnership agreement with the CED. As in these destinations, the Madeiran authorities will set up a working group whose objective will be to implement the recommendations made in the official SMED report”, said Cesar Castaneda.

The SMED is an evaluation tool developed by the CED which aims to identify the different levels of performance of a tourist destination, and propose recommendations for improvement and increased competitiveness, as well as to facilitate the integration of the destination in an international network of tourist destinations of excellence.

With its headquarters located in Montreal, the CED began operations in February 2007. The CED has signed partnership agreements with Canada Economic Development for the Quebec regions, the Ministere du Tourisme du Quebec and the Ministere des Affaires Municipales et des Regions du Quebec.