Tourism
European Destinations of Excellence (EDEN)
On this page:
The European Commission is running the EDEN preparatory action since 2006.
EDEN is the acronym for "European Destinations of Excellence, a project promoting sustainable tourism development models across the European Union.
The project is based on national competitions that take place every year and result in the selection of a tourist “destination of excellence” for each participating country.
The aims of the preparatory action :
- enhancing visibility of the emerging European tourist destinations of excellence, especially the lesser known;
- creating awareness of Europe's tourist diversity and quality;
- promoting all European countries and regions;
- helping de-congestion, combat seasonality, rebalance the tourist flows towards the non-traditional destinations;
- awarding sustainable forms of tourism;
- creating a platform for the exchange of good practices at European level;
- promoting network between awarded destinations which could persuade other destinations to adopt sustainable tourism development mode.
So far, four editions have been launched, each one with a specific theme:
- Best Emerging European Rural Destinations of Excellence (2007)
- Tourism and local intangible heritage' (2008)
- Tourism and protected areas' (2009)
- Aquatic Tourism (2010)
The EDEN dedicated Website (in 23 languages) :
The new EDEN video (2011) :
- EDEN 2011 on YouTube (for mobile devices not supporting flash)
EDEN on FaceBook :
