European Commission Announces New Competitions for 2025 – European Capital and Green Pioneer of Smart Tourism

European Commission Announces New Competitions for 2025 – European Capital and Green Pioneer of Smart Tourism

Today, the European Commission launches the 2025 edition of the European Capital of Smart Tourism and the European Green Pioneer of Smart Tourism competitions. Tourism destinations across Europe are invited to submit their innovative practices of smart and sustainable tourism to become leading examples in European tourism.

As the EU’s third largest eco-system, tourism plays a crucial role in economic growth and job creation. The Smart Tourism initiative recognises cities implementing new digital tools and practices such as equal opportunity and access to visitors, sustainable development and support to creative industries and local talent. With these competitions, the European Commission promotes and awards the future of smart and sustainable tourism in Europe.

To compete for the 2025 titles, cities are asked to demonstrate their innovative tourism practices and submit their applications using an online form. Applications will first be evaluated by a panel of independent experts. In the second step, shortlisted cities will be asked to present their city’s candidature in front of the European Jury. The European Jury will select two winners, the ‘European Capital of Smart Tourism 2025’ and the ‘European Green Pioneer of Smart Tourism 2025’, which will be announced in November 2024. 

Both competitions are open to cities across both the EU, as well as the non-EU countries that take part in the Single Market Programme (SMP)^[1] – former COSME Programme.

European Capital of Smart Tourism 2025 – Smart gets you further

The European Capital of Smart Tourism competition has a proven track record of success. The 2025 European Capital of Smart Tourism is the sixth edition of the competition. Dublin was selected as the 2024 Smart Capital. Previous winners include Pafos and Seville as 2023 Capitals, Bordeaux and València as the 2022 Capitals, Gothenburg and Málaga as the 2020 Capitals, while Helsinki and Lyon won the inaugural competition and jointly held the 2019 titles. Since 2024, there is only one winner of the European Capital of Smart Tourism competition due to a change in competition rules, whereas previous editions featured two winners annually.

The European Capital of Smart Tourism 2025 will benefit from communication and branding support throughout 2025 which will tell the story of the outstanding smart and innovative practices that made it stand out and win. This will include the production of a promotional video, a large hashtag sculpture to install in a prominent location, diverse promotional activities and visibility at EU level and internationally. The winner will also have the chance to join a growing and active network of smart destinations that were shortlisted in the five previous editions of the competition, exchange best practices and learn from one another.

The European Capital of Smart Tourism competition is open to cities with a population of over 100.000. For more information, please refer to the European Capital of Smart Tourism Guide for Applicants.

European Green Pioneer of Smart Tourism 2025 – Green leads the way

The European Green Pioneer of Smart Tourism is the successor of the European Destinations of Excellence (EDEN) competition which was first introduced by the European Commission in 2007 to reward non-traditional, emerging sustainable tourism destinations in Europe.

The competition is founded upon the principle of promoting the development of sustainable tourism in smaller destinations which brings value to the economy, the planet, and the people. Being the European Green Pioneer of Smart Tourism 2025 will allow the winning city to serve as an inspiration to other tourism destinations across Europe, enhance their city’s profile as a quality travel destination, attracting visitors and generating economic growth in a sustainable way.

The Green Pioneer competition is open to cities with a population between 25.000 – 100.000. For additional information, please refer to the European Green Pioneer of Smart Tourism Guide for Applicants.