Ten European cities have just been shortlisted for the 2020 European Capital of Smart Tourism. These are:
Bratislava (Slovakia);
Breda (The Netherlands);
Bremerhaven (Germany);
Gothenburg (Sweden);
Karlsruhe (Germany);
Ljubljana (Slovenia);
Málaga (Spain);
Nice (France);
Ravenna (Italy);
and Torino (Italy).
These were selected from a total of 35 applications from across 17 EU Member States.
The European Capital of Smart Tourism was proposed as a preparatory action by the European Parliament to promote smart tourism in the EU, to foster innovative, sustainable and inclusive tourism development, to exchange best practices between all EU Member States.
The Capital of Smart Tourism will be chosen according to achievements by European cities as tourism destinations in four categories:
Accessibility;
Sustainability;
Digital skills, and
Cultural heritage and creativity.
In 2018, Helsinki and Lyon won the inaugural competition and the two cities jointly hold the titles of European Capitals of Smart Tourism in 2019.This is the second edition of the competition to award two cities as the European Capitals of Smart Tourism in 2020. The two winning cities will benefit from communication and branding support for a year, including a promotional video and a purpose-built sculpture for their city centres.
