Discover Your Heritage
Azores Roots is a pioneering initiative born as a university project within the Master's in Tourism Destination Development at the University of the Azores (UAc). Our foundational vision is to support and empower the Azorean community.
We are dedicated to delivering tangible value to the Azores by strategically leveraging technology and communications. Our core mission is to act as an essential intermediary, bridging the gap between existing local records, resources, and tourists of Azorean descent. By facilitating these meaningful connections, we help individuals explore their heritage while contributing to the sustainable development of the Azores.
What the project does
At its core, Azores Root is an AI-powered platform that turns genealogical curiosity into actionable research. Descendants can enter what little they know about an ancestor — a name, an island, a rough date — and our assistant, Raiz, guides them toward the parish and civil records where that history actually lives, helps them organize what they find into a digital family tree, and, when the moment comes, designs a journey built around the places and names that matter to their own family, not a generic itinerary.
Why it matters
No existing platform does this. Genealogy tools stop at the archive door; travel platforms start after the research is already done. Azores Root is the first system built specifically to carry someone from "I think my great-grandmother was from São Miguel" to standing in the church where she was baptized — combining AI-assisted research, verified archival sourcing, and purposeful travel design in a single, continuous experience, built for and informed by the Azores itself.
About the founder
Azores Root is led by Cristian Ferreira, a tourism specialist and entrepreneur originally from Argentina, now based in the Azores. His path into tourism technology began in 2012 in Florianópolis, Brazil, where a chance encounter with a hostel's outdated online presence turned into a two-year project rebuilding its digital identity — and a career. In the years that followed, he worked across Argentina and Brazil helping hospitality and tourism ventures take ownership of their digital presence, led community-based tourism initiatives, and built a conviction that the best tourism is created with communities, not for them. He moved to the Azores in 2020, and the islands have been home ever since.
Contact
info@azoresroots.com
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