Every year, the Commission awards european cities during 2 competitions: The European Capital of Smart Tourism, and the European Destinations of Excellence (EDEN). The winner of the 2022 editions are: Bordeaux (France), Middelfart (Danemark) and Valencia (Spain)
Cities play a key role in the transition to a neutral carbon Europe, as such, several european initiative to awards bests practices in the field of sustainability.
On the one hand, every year since 2007 the EDEN initiative awards the title of European Destination of Excellence to sustainable tourism pioneers. Cities in EU Member States and COSME countries that account between 25,000 and 100,000 inhabitants are eligible to this competition. The winners then integrates the EDEN network, a platform that gathers all awarded cities.
Danish city Middelfart is the winner of the 2022 edition, the city is known for its People’s Climate Festival that can gather up to 10,000 participants. This annual event brings together all kind of stakeholders, from politicians to citizen, to discuss and find solutions about global climate challenge.
A report on all best practices that were listed in the 2022 application has been made available here, don’t hesitate to have a look to find inspiration !
The EDEN initiative has also published the list of shortlisted cities for the 2023 edition: The cities of Grevena (Greece), Kranj (Slovenia), Larnaka (Cyprus), and Trikala (Greece). Find out more about these cities here.
On the other hand, the European Capital of Smart Tourism is financed under the COSME programme and recognises cities in four specific categories: accessibility, sustainability, digitalisation, as well as cultural heritage and creativity. You can find out more on Bordeaux and Valencia, which were awarded for the 2022.
7 cities are now shortlisted for the 2023 edition : Aarhus (Denmark), Gijón (Spain), Pafos (Cyprus), Porto (Portugal) San Sebastián (Spain), Seville (Spain), Zagreb (Croatia)
The initiative has a podcast named the EU Smart Tourism Podcast, which you can listen to on Spotify
