Colmar, the beauty of a secluded French town
644,414 travelers from 179 countries have spoken . The eleventh edition of the vote Best In Europe of European Best Destinations has closed its call with a record participation. And a main protagonist: Colmar, the town of 'Beauty and the Beast' that dazzled our readers last year, now returns to expand its charme French to the world
Like every year, the Brussels-based organization dedicated to European tourism promotion gives voice to all travelers who want to participate, to choose the destinations that, we believe, will shine for the next 365 days. The impact that this vote has on the winning destination is real: Porto, the city that won Best in Europe in 2017, grew by 17% after its victory; either Budapest, number 1 of the Best in Europe last year which boasts of having grown by 18%. But today is the day France that can get chest of having positioned in the number 1 of the list of "the best of Europe" to one of its charming towns, Colmar.
Colmar, the town that inspired the story of 'Beauty and the Beast'
From January 15 to today, February 5, 644,414 travelers from 179 countries voted their favorites . Colmar took 17.8% of the votes from his own country and 82.2% of voters from foreign countries, which highlights the good eyes that the world tourist has on this little corner of Alsace . Located in the heart of the Upper Rhine Valley, between Basel and Strasbourg, the French jewel gathered a total of 179,723 votes.
AND SPAIN? THIS IS THE REST OF THE RANKING
Only one Spanish destination has managed to sneak into the TOP 15 of the 'Best in Europe': Minorca reaches number 15 with 3,424 votes . And beware, because the great voters of our Balearic island have been travelers of Brazilian nationality.
The English, for their part, have chosen to vote for Colmar, Cork (there always has to be your own representative) and Cascais . For their part, the Americans have preferred to give more votes to the big winner (Colmar) followed by Athens and Vienna.
The important thing about this type of ranking is to take stock of how the preferences of the traveler vs. economic trends of each country . A few months ago we talked about how the development of important hotel and catering businesses was putting Georgia (Europe) on the map. In this European Best Destinations data report, he confirms that the small European country is in fashion: almost 1 traveler out of 6 have voted for Tbilisi , which reaches the top 15 for the first time.
Colmar: every corner is worthy of a photograph
If we talk about the Asian voter, they have opted for France (his classic love that makes, for example, Tokyo full of Parisian patisseries), and among his most voted destinations are Colmar, Paris and Cork, Rome, Madrid, Menorca, Athens, Sibiu, Rijeka, Rochefort Océan, Namur, Cascais and Bydgoszcz.
But even if the Asian vote is very powerful by volume, if we were to remove it from the final count, Colmar would have also won the competition (since 82% of the voters have been from outside the Asian borders). More curiosities about Colmar: 4 of the smallest countries in the world voted it as favorite (the Vatican, Monaco and Nauru). 22,147 travelers from the three largest countries in the world (Russia, Canada and the United States) also voted Colmar as their favorite destination.
The Portuguese case surprises: Cascais gets more votes than Lisbon (with a total of 34,263 votes). And it is that the charm of the coast, with its palaces and its museums... dazzles us.
More curiosities: Sibiu is the destination in Romania that has received the most votes since the creation of this award 11 years ago yes And now, you know what you have to do: cross off the list and continue traveling.