Santa Lucia one of twenty winners of European Destinations of Excellence (EDEN)
- One of ‘Best Emerging European Rural Destinations’ – Nadur
- European Destinations of Excellence Trophy for Santa Lucija
- Nadur awarded by the European Commission
- Nadur awarded Best Emerging Rural Destination on Friday
- National juries set up for the 2009 European Young Journalist Award
- Food tasting at Nadur on Saturday
- MHRA application for UNWTO membership successful
- European Young Journalist Award ‘Enlarge your vision’
- Eurobarometer shows upbeat prospects for tourism in 2010
- HSBC Malta among world’s best internet banks – Global Finance
- The European Night of Museums – Heritage Malta
- Gozo under spotlight at European Parliament Civil Forum – Gozo as an Ecological Island
- Vodafone wins Best Report Award in CR Reporting Awards
- European emergency number 112 now works in all EU countries
- MEP seeks clarity on financial use of derivatives in Eurozone
Last Thursday the 18th of September Santa Lucia, Hamlet of Kercem, was awarded the European Destination of Excellence. They represented Malta for the second edtion of EDEN 20072008.
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 in Bordeaux. The European Destinations of Excellence awards promote venues where commercial success goes hand in hand with social, cultural and environmental sustainability.
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 today.
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 organised in the framework of the Open Days event on the 7th of October 2008 in Brussels. The winners will also officially sign a declaration setting up the Network of EDEN destinations.
This year’s EDEN awards were held in Bordeaux as part of the European Tourism Forum, which is being organised by the European Commission in collaboration with the French Presidency of the European Union and offers a discussion forum for authorities, European stakeholders and delegations from Member States. It also included an informal ministerial meeting of EU tourism ministers.
Throughout the two-day gathering, participants discussed the issue of the competitiveness of Europe’s tourism offer in view of the evolving world and specifically emerging markets’ tourism demand trends, and the requirements of sustainability and quality of tourism employment in the EU.
The full list of winners is shown below:
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Then,we are told that we need to build more (the modern word being SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT)! Hondoq, Ramla and TA’ Cenc are being promoted as these “new so called Sustainable developments”
When tourists visit GOZO they do not want to see another Malta,a concrete JUNGLE!
What irritates me is how a few developers manage to get what they want at the expense of the rest.
Tourists love Gozo for what it is.
Well done Santa Lucia
Gozo deserves to be in the list of winners and I’m glad they chose it. Santa Lucija is a quaint and picturesque village and it deserves to be on the list.
Congratulations to everyone in Santa Lucija who has worked so hard in recent years to bring the spirit of their village to visitors.
The welcoming folks of Santa Lucija provide historic music, folkloric dancing, home made food and fine local wines that combine to create an all-embracing ambience.
No surprise that it’s been named a “European Destination of Excellence.” Santa Lucija is a tourist magnet. Prosit!