Portugal retained Europe’s Leading Destination award at the 2026 World Travel Awards, while Lisbon won two honors in a regional program decided by industry and consumer voting.
Lisbon received the titles of Europe’s Leading City Destination and Europe’s Leading Cruise Destination. Portugal’s destination win was its second in a row. Montenegro’s Hyatt Regency Kotor Bay Resort hosted the award ceremony Oct. 17.
The distinctions are based on ballots rather than rankings of visitor arrivals or tourism spending. World Travel Awards accepts online votes from travel and tourism executives and consumer travel buyers. Under its rules, a verified travel professional’s vote carries twice the weight of a standard vote.
Montenegro won Europe’s Leading Nature Destination, while Kotor took Europe’s Leading Emerging Tourism Destination. Athens received the city break award. The Algarve was named Europe’s Leading Beach Destination, the Azores Islands won Europe’s Leading Regional Adventure Tourism Destination, and Porto took Europe’s Leading Cultural City Destination. Armenia received the heritage destination award, and Spain won the adventure tourism destination category.
In aviation, Turkish Airlines received Europe’s Leading Airline, Volotea won Europe’s Leading Low-Cost Airline and Zurich Airport took Europe’s Leading Airport. The Port of Copenhagen won Europe’s Leading Cruise Port, a separate category from Lisbon’s cruise destination award.
The hotel awards included Europe’s Leading New Hotel for The Chancery Rosewood and Europe’s Leading New Resort for AMOH, a Luxury Collection Resort. Avali, Mar-Bella Collection, won Europe’s Leading New Boutique Hotel, while Fingal Hotel took Europe’s Leading Boutique Hotel.
World Travel Awards described the gathering as the 20th anniversary edition of its Europe Gala Ceremony. It was the organization’s first event in Montenegro in its 33-year history. The Europe results are part of a regional program whose winners feed into the world-level awards.
The 2026 Grand Final is scheduled for Dec. 12 in Tanzania. World Travel Awards says event dates and destinations are subject to change.
