The European Commission announced this Thursday, September 16, the seven cities shortlisted for the contest European Capital of Smart Tourism 2022 and two of them are Spanish: Palm Y Valencia.
The Balearic capital and the Turia capital will compete to win the title along with five other European destinations: Bordeaux (France), Copenhagen (Denmark), Dublin (Ireland), Florence (Italy) and Ljubljana (Slovenia).
The European Capital of Smart Tourism is an initiative of the European Union, currently financed by the COSME Program, which aims to “the promotion of smart tourism in the EU; promote innovative, sustainable and inclusive tourism development; and disseminating and facilitating the exchange of good practices”.
This competition recognizes the outstanding achievements of cities as tourist destinations in four categories: accessibility, sustainability, digitization, as well as cultural heritage and creativity.
In this third edition of the competition (open to EU countries as well as non-EU countries participating in the COSME Programme), the finalist cities were selected from a total of 30 applications from 16 countries.
Valencia, how beautiful you are!
THE WINNERS OF 2019 AND 2020
In 2019, Helsinki and Lyon won the inaugural contest and jointly held the title of European Capitals of Smart Tourism while in 2020, Gothenburg and Malaga were selected as winners.
The two winning cities of this edition will receive the support of experts in communication and brand development throughout 2022: "This will include the production of a promotional video, a large sculpture with a hashtag that will be installed in a prominent place and various promotional and visibility activities at the EU level," they point out in an official press release.
Palma Cathedral.
REQUIREMENTS TO PARTICIPATE AND SELECTION PROCESS
The first phase of the contest consists of the evaluation of the applications by an independent group of experts , which studies each one of them, making sure that all the finalist cities demonstrate their excellence in the four required categories.
In the second phase, the representatives of the seven finalist cities will present their candidatures and the program of activities planned for 2022 before the European Jury , which will meet in the coming weeks and select two cities that will become European Capitals of Smart Tourism in 2022.
Winning cities will be announced next november And we hope there will be a Spanish presence among them!
SUBSCRIBE HERE to our newsletter and receive all the news from Condé Nast Traveler #YoSoyTraveler