European Commission Vice-President Gunter Verheugen awarded twenty localities with the title of “best local intangible heritage destination in Europe” on the occasion of the 7th European Tourism Forum held in Bordeaux (France) on September 18th. EDEN, launched in 2006, promotes the specific characteristics of European destinations and offers particular support to those where a competitive tourism is developed as to ensure social, cultural and environmental sustainability of tourism.

This year’s EDEN awards were held in Bordeaux as part of the European Tourism Forum, which was organised by the European Commission in collaboration with the French Presidency of the European Union, offering a discussion forum for authorities, European stakeholders and delegations from Member States. It also included an informal ministerial meeting of EU tourism ministers.

The number of countries participating in EDEN doubled in the second edition of EDEN 2007-2008 (18 Member States and 2 Candidate Countries) under the theme ‘tourism and local intangible heritage'. Specific local intangible heritage such as local cuisine, handicrafts, local arts or village life were rewarded in this occasion.

The twenty awarded European destinations of excellence in 2008, chosen by national juries are:

• Austria: Steirisches Vulkanland
• Belgium: At
• Bulgaria: Belogradchik.
• Croatia: Đurđevac, the Rosster town
• Cyprus: Agros
• Estonia: Viljandi
• Finland: Wild Taiga
• France: The tourist wine route of the Jura
• Greece: Prefecture of Grevena
• Hungary: Hortobágy
• Ireland: Carlingford and the Cooley Peninsula
• Italy: Comune di Carinaldo
• Latvia: Latgalian potters, masters of clay
• Lithuania: Plateliai
• Luxembourg: Echternach
• Malta: Kercem, hamlet of Santa Lucija
• Romania: Horezu depression
• Slovenia: The Soča valley
• Spain: Sierra de las Nieves
• Turkey: Edirne

This twenty winning destinations will be linked with each other on a special website, which aims at attracting visitors both from overseas and within Europe. Each winner was handed over a special commemorative award as well.

“If Europe wants to retain its reputation as the foremost tourism destination in the world, it has to build on its strength and to demonstrate that its tourism regions are excellent”, stressed Commission Vice-President Günter Verheugen, responsible for enterprise and industry policy said, adding that, “we should keep in mind that tourism is an increasingly important sector for our economy, with lots of new jobs being created in particular in small- and medium-sized enterprises. My sincere congratulations to the winners 2008.”

The European Commission will be giving additional exposure to the winning destinations in order to highlight the destinations' traditions, customs, ideas, tastes, arts and crafts. For example, the representatives of all the winning destinations have been invited to participate in the European Day of Tourism, which will be organized in the framework of the Open Days event on October 7th 2008 in Brussels. The winners will also officially sign a declaration setting up the Network of EDEN destinations.

EDEN "European Destinations of Excellence"

The European Commission launched in 2006 the pilot project EDEN "European Destinations of Excellence". The broad aim of this initiative is twofold:

• To draw attention to the value, diversity and shared characteristics of European tourist destinations.
• To promote destinations where the economic growth objective is pursued in such a way as to ensure the social, cultural and environmental sustainability of tourism.

The European Destinations of Excellence awards promote venues where commercial success goes hand in hand with social, cultural and environmental sustainability. It offers an opportunity to create a platform for the exchange of good practices at European level, while rewarding sustainable forms of tourism and successful business models.