Winners of the EU's 2020 European Capital of Smart Tourism

Winners of the EU's 2020 European Capital of Smart Tourism

    Gothenburg (Sweden) and Málaga (Spain) have been selected as the winners of the EU’s 2020 European Capital of Smart Tourism competition, following a European Jury meeting in Helsinki on 8 October 2019. The winners were announced and received their awards on 9 October 2019 on the occasion of the European Tourism Forum in Helsinki. Gothenburg and Málaga will be both European Capitals of Smart Tourism in 2020. They will implement their programmes of activities while inspiring other European cities to develop tourism in a smart, innovative and sustainable way. In total, 35 cities from 17 EU Member States competed, out of which 10 shortlisted cities were invited to present their candidatures in front of the European Jury.  Gothenburg and Málaga impressed the European Jury not only with their exemplary achievements across all four categories of the competition, but also with the impressive programmes of activities they intend to implement during 2020, and their capacity to act as a role model for other cities. The European Capital of Smart Tourism is an EU initiative, proposed as a preparatory action by the European Parliament and implemented by the European Commission. It promotes smart tourism in the EU, fosters innovative, sustainable and inclusive tourism development and the exchange of best practices. It recognises outstanding achievements by European cities as tourism destinations in four categories: Accessibility, Sustainability, Digitalisation as well as Cultural heritage and creativity. In addition, four cities received 2020 European Smart Tourism Awards in recognition of their achievements in one of the categories of the competition: Breda (The Netherlands) in Accessibility, Gothenburg (Sweden) in Sustainability, Ljubljana (Slovenia) in Digitalisation, Karlsruhe (Germany) in Cultural heritage and Creativity. Please find the Press Announcement here and photos from the Award Ceremony here We invite you to read more about the initiative here: www.SmartTourismCapital.eu or sign up for our newsletter. The selection of the most innovative projects, ideas and initiatives, submitted by cities to last year’s competition can be found in the Compendium of Best Practices, the go-to guide to smart tourism in the EU. Should you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact the European Capital of Smart Tourism Secretariat [email protected]