(10 October 2019) – Yesterday evening, at the 2019 European Tourism Forum in Helsinki, the Commission and the Finnish Presidency of the Council announced that Gothenburgand Málaga will be the 2020 European Capitals of Smart Tourism.
The two winners were chosen out of a total of 35 cities from 17 EU Member States, based on their performance in developing tourism sustainably by protecting the city’s natural resources and cultural heritage, reducing seasonality, including the local community; ensuring accessibility to all visitors, using digital technologies to enhance the tourism experience and helping local businesses grow.
Throughout 2020, Gothenburg and Malaga will be given EU-wide visibility and will be provided with support to promote smart tourism in other European cities.
In addition, four cities were given a 2020 European Smart Tourism Award for their outstanding achievements in each of the competition’s individual categories: accessibility (Breda, The Netherlands), sustainability (Gothenburg, Sweden), in digitalisation (Ljubljana, Slovenia), and cultural heritage & creativity (Karlsruhe, Germany).