2009 – Tourism and protected areas

The EDEN award 2009 focused on promoting sustainable tourism in protected areas. Eligible destinations are those protected areas and/or the areas bordering them where an economically viable tourism product has been developed using the protected area as an asset, all the while respecting its protected environment and meeting the needs of local residents and visitors.

The call for proposals was launched by the Commission in March, with 22 countries replying. They have had until May 2009 to select a winning destination from among the candidate destinations. Each destination had to respect the following general award criteria:

  1. be “non traditional” (the visitor density rating from “low” to “very low” in comparison with the national average)
  2. be based on an area that is part of the Natura 2000 Network or otherwise designated as a “protected area” by national or regional legislation
  3. manage its own tourism offer in such a way as to ensure its social, cultural and environmental sustainability, with the management being a partnership between the authorities responsible for managing the protected area and all those involved in tourism in and around the area (e.g. tourist service providers, local communities)

Twenty-two destinations of excellence have been officially awarded at the occasion of the European Tourism Forum on 8th October 2009.

You can already discover them by visiting their websites:

National websites have been developed to promote the EDEN process.


Cyprus  

 

Last update: 17/11/2010 | Top