Applications now open for the Destination of Sustainable Cultural Tourism Awards 2025
For the eighth year in a row, ETC continues its partnership with the European Cultural Tourism Network (ECTN), Europa Nostra and the Network of European Regions for Competitive and Sustainable Tourism (NECSTouR) to encourage the development of sustainable cultural tourism practices in European destinations.
The theme of this year’s edition of Destination of Sustainable Cultural Tourism Awards is “Visitor Experiences and Authenticity for Sustainable, Smart and Resilient Cultural Tourism Destinations”.
Applications are open to all tourist destinations across Europe, national, regional and local authorities, tourism boards and associations, destination management organisations, museums, interpretation centres, cultural routes, festivals and cultural NGOs.
The candidates are invited to showcase results concerning sustainable cultural tourism, under one of the following five categories:
- Resilience in sustainable cultural tourism destinations, including natural heritage, green transition, and climate action.
- Wine and gastronomy tourism based on eno-culinary heritage preservation, including authentic experiences.
- Digitalisation in smart tourism cultural heritage and creativity aspects, enhancing visitor experiences.
- Transnational thematic tourism products involving culture and heritage, including European Cultural Routes and European Heritage Label networks, cross-border and multi-destination tourism initiatives involving at least 2 countries.
- Cultural tourism services for all, visitors and residents alike, including authenticity and sustainable cultural tourism for the younger generation.
The winners will be announced at the Awards Ceremony, which will take place during the 18th International Conference for Cultural Tourism. The event will be organized by ECTN on 1st-4th October 2025 in Sibiu (Romania).
More information about the requirements can be found at: Call for Entries.
The deadline for applications is 15th May 2025 and the applicants must submit their application by filling in the form on the online platform .
