Gothenburg and Málaga selected as 2020 European Capitals of Smart Tourism

Brussels (ots) - EU announces the two 2020 European Capitals of
Smart Tourism and four awards to European cities for their excellence
as tourism destinations in accessibility, sustainability,
digitalisation and cultural heritage & creativity

Gothenburg (Sweden) and Málaga (Spain) have been selected as the
winners of the EU's 2020 European Capital of Smart Tourism
(https://smarttourismcapital.eu/) competition, following a European
Jury meeting in Helsinki on 8 October. The winners were announced and
received their awards on 9 October on the occasion of the European
Tourism Forum in Helsinki.

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.

The two European Capitals of Smart Tourism will benefit from
communication and branding support during 2020. This will include: a
promotional video, a purpose-built sculpture for their city centres,
as well as bespoke promotional actions.

Commenting on the winners, EU Commissioner El?bieta Bie?kowska,
responsible for Internal Market, Industry, Entrepreneurship and SMEs,
said: "I congratulate Gothenburg and Málaga for the outstanding
solutions that they put in place to make tourism in their cities
smart. Our objective is to promote smart tourism in the EU by
fostering innovative, sustainable and inclusive tourism development
in order to respond to new challenges in a fast-changing sector.
Through the European Capital of Smart Tourism initiative, we seek to
establish a framework for the exchange of good practices and
networking between European cities and create opportunities for
cooperation. The European Commission will support the two 2020
European Capitals of Smart Tourism to showcasing their outstanding
initiatives and inspire other European cities to develop tourism in a
smarter and more sustainable way".

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.

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Notes to Editors:

(1) Smart tourism responds to new challenges and demands in a
fast-changing sector, including the expectation of digital
information, products and services; equal opportunities and access
for all visitors; sustainable development of the local area; and
support to creative industries and local talent.

(2) The 2020 European Capital of Smart Tourism competition was open
to submissions from 26 February 2019 to 10 May 2019. Terms and
conditions are available at www.SmartTourismCapital.eu

(3) In the first stage of the competition, a panel of independent
experts evaluated the applications. As the result of the evaluation,
a shortlist of 10 finalist cities was established. All finalist
cities demonstrated excellence across the four competition categories
combined.

(4) In the second stage, representatives of the 10 finalist cities
presented their candidatures and the programme of activities planned
for 2020 in front of the European Jury. The European Jury met on 8
October 2019 in Helsinki and selected two cities to hold the title of
the European Capitals of Smart Tourism in 2020.

(5) Helsinki and Lyon won the inaugural competition and jointly hold
the titles of 2019 European Capitals of Smart Tourism.

(6) A selection of the most innovative projects, ideas and
initiatives, submitted by cities competing for 2019 European Capital
of Smart Tourism can be found in the Compendium of Best Practices
(https://smarttourismcapital.eu/best-practices/), the go-to guide to
smart tourism in the EU.

For further press information, contact:
European Capital of Smart Tourism Secretariat:
Antigoni Avgeropoulou, info@SmartTourismCapital.eu,
+49 (0) 30 70 01 86 390

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