Awards are given to exceptional achievements of destinations that participated in a two year pilot project of European system of indicators for tourism ETIS. Visit South Sardinia is overall winner in sustainability thanks to their innovative approach that combines indicators of sustainability under EU and UN standards, while Barcelona Province won the main award for accessibility for its access to tourism campaign “Tourism for All”.
In pilot phase of ETIS project more than 100 destinations participated in order to help develop a standardized Europan approach in evaluation and control of achievements in management of a sustainable and accessible tourism. Jury awarded 10 destinations ranking them from one to three stars for sustainability, accessibility and social impact in categories – overall winners, responsible management of destinations and sustainable economic development. Podgorica received one star for long-term commitment to sustainable tourism.
“ETIS intends to create clear standards which will help us define what it really means to measure sustainable tourism. The winning destinations made the tourism work for local communities, as well as for visitors, by generating financial and cultural benefits while at the same time minimizing social and ecological impact”, said Luigi Cabrini, president of the Global council for sustainable tourism in UNWTO (United Nations World Tourist Organization).
