Two European cities that demonstrate innovation, creativity and excellence in four categories – accessibility, sustainability, digitalisation, cultural heritage and creativity – will be awarded the title of European Capital of Smart Tourism 2019.
Winners will receive expert communication and branding support for a year, a marketing video, a purpose-built sculpture for their city centre, and tailor-made promotional actions.
In addition, four European cities will receive thematic European Smart Tourism Awards for their outstanding achievements. The competition is open to cities in the EU with a population of over 100,000.Tourism is the EU’s third largest socio-economic activity – it represents almost 10% of EU GDP and supports 25 million jobs. By rewarding exemplary practices of smart tourism, the European Union said it seeks to encourage innovation at the level of tourism destinations, culturally diverse and inclusive tourism offers and highlight the multi-faceted contribution of tourism to sustainable development.
The awarded achievements will be presented in a special exhibition on the occasion of a prestigious Award Ceremony in Brussels on 7 November 2018, organised on the European Tourism Day.
Details on how to apply and terms and conditions can be found at http://www.SmartTourismCapital.eu. The deadline for applications is 30 June 2018 at 16:00 CET. Finalists will be announced mid-August 2018 and winners in the second half of September.
Source: PR Newswire, April 2018