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Benidorm wins the 'Green Pioneer of Smart Tourism 2025' award in Brussels

 

• The city has today defended its candidacy before the European Commission, beating the other six finalists to receive this recognition.
• The mayor says that this award “confirms the commitment to sustainability and smart tourism that now serves as inspiration for other cities around the world”  

The destination Benidorm has been awarded the 'European Green Pioneer of Smart Tourism 2025' distinction this Wednesday, an award sponsored by the European Commission that has recognised the city's exceptional commitment to shaping the future of sustainable and innovative tourism. Benidorm has been selected as the winning city after defending its candidacy against the other six European cities that had been selected as finalists: Aveiro (Portugal), Jurmala (Latvia), Liepãja (Latvia), Nea Propontida (Greece), Panevézys (Lithuania) and Sliven (Bulgaria).

The Mayor of Benidorm, Toni Pérez, who together with the manager of Visit Benidorm, Leire Bilbao, participated in the Benidorm delegation that travelled to Brussels to defend the city's candidacy, has expressed his "enormous satisfaction" and has stated that the award of this recognition as 'Green Pioneer' "endorses the commitment we began in 2015 in favour of sustainability and smart tourism, and which, since then, has been a model, example and inspiration in our daily government action and also for other cities in the world".

Pérez has indicated that all this work had the objective of "making sustainability the recognisable seal of this great tourist industry and of this great leading destination that is Benidorm", after which he has valued that "being the 'European Green Pioneer of Smart Tourism' for this year 2025 is a desire, a project with a lot of work behind it, not always valued by everyone, but which when faced with such complex competitions as this one, stands out from other proposals in Europe and in the world".

According to the mayor, “the green and blue Benidorm that we projected at the time is perfectly aligned with what is now being demanded by an increasingly competitive tourism sector, where sustainability sets the standard and where Benidorm has so much to offer the world.” He also highlighted that “throughout 2025, coinciding precisely with the 700th anniversary of the creation of our city with the Carta Pobla, Benidorm will be able to display this seal as the only reference destination as a green pioneer for smart tourism, an achievement that comes after so much time of work and so much effort.”

Likewise, Toni Pérez has pointed out that the task now will be “to continue implementing those public policies that, together with the private sector, in that very recognisable environment of the Visit Benidorm Foundation, we are developing and that are undoubtedly increasing the reputational recognition of our city as a great destination in Europe and the world. To take care of Benidorm, make it greener, renaturalise it and be able to offer as a destination what is now not only being demanded, but also rewarded, all over the world,” he added.

Under the umbrella of Smart Tourism, the European Commission launched two competitions, the European Capital and the Green Pioneer of Smart Tourism, with the aim of promoting smart tourism in the European Union, strengthening and connecting destinations and facilitating the exchange of good practices.

As already announced, initially there should have been four finalist cities for the Green Pioneer of Smart Tourism award, but the candidates impressed the panel of experts and hence the European Commission decided to extend the list of finalists to seven, as some candidates had obtained the same score during the evaluation process.

Benidorm has presented to a European jury appointed by the European Commission itself all its potential as a sustainable, accessible and friendly tourist destination for people and the environment. In this presentation, the town has explained why the destination should win this award and position itself as a pioneer in tourism sustainability committed to the objectives of the European Green Pact, receiving expert support in communication and branding at the European Union level throughout the next year.

The 'European Green Pioneer for Smart Tourism' award is the successor to the 'European Destinations of Excellence' competition that the European Commission launched in 2007 to reward emerging and non-traditional sustainable tourist destinations in Europe. The Italian town of Grosseto was selected as the European Green Pioneer for Smart Tourism 2024.