European Best Destinations

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2 Brussels, 5 th February Since 2009, European Best Destinations, has been promoting culture and tourism in Europe to millions of travellers but also to tourism professionals and the media. Thanks to a partnership with more than 300 tourism offices in Europe and the EDEN Network created by the European Commission, thanks to your trust and cooperation, European Best Destinations is, for the seventh year in a row, the most visited website dedicated to travel in Europe. Travellers increasingly vote for these competitions and consult these rankings. They come from USA, UK, Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Ireland,...all of them looking for the best destinations for their holidays in Europe. We would like to thank all the participants, the directors of Tourist Offices, Community Managers, Communication Managers and Press Officers, as well as the media, bloggers, radio, television, influencers and the more than 5,5 million travellers who follow us. Our competitions for the European Best Destinations of the year, European Best Christmas Markets, European Best Beaches, Most Romantic destinations, and European Best Ski Resorts have become the most important tourism competitions in Europe; they bring together millions of travellers who support and discover the most beautiful destinations in Europe. They also have an impact in "real life" with significant growth of tourists for our rewarded destinations with + 16% in growth of tourism for Porto rewarded in 2017, + 13% for Bordeaux rewarded in 2015, + 25% for Zadar rewarded in 2016, +41% for Zagreb, European Best Christmas Market , +11% for Wroclaw awarded the title of European Best Destination 2018 as well as tens of millions of media coverage. Like every year the competition was fierce with only 21 days of online votes from 15 th January to 5 th February to determine the ranking of the trendiest destinations in Europe that will be promoted throughout the year to millions of travellers and will be able to display the title "European Best Destinations". 20 must-see destinations in competition to win the prestigious title: Athens, Berlin, Braga, Bratislava, Brussels, Budapest, Cavtat, Dinant, Florence, Geneva, Kotor, London, Malaga, Metz, Monte-Isola (sustainable destination), Paris, Poznan, Riga, Sainte-Maxime, Vienna.

3 HERE ARE SOME IMPORTANT FIGURES: The tenth edition of this competition is a record year with more than half a million of votes (515,375 votes) from 153 countries and more than 145,000 shares of the voting page on social networks. The city which ranks first has won with a total of 62,128 votes, 23% of votes from its own country and 77% of votes from the rest of the world. For the first time since the creation of this event, a sustainable destination has been ranked among the 3 best destinations to visit in Europe, showing an important interest in environmental issues and the desire to visit sustainable destinations. Supporting the candidacy of Metz, the international designer Philippe Starck explained that it is the most creative and dynamic city in France. He will open his first own hotel in this destination in Braga, the number one city in Portugal with the best quality of life (the third one in Europe) is the city that received the most votes (78%) outside its own country; it is Brazilian and UK travellers favourite destination. Metz IS the French destination with the most votes in ten years of competition (even more than Bordeaux awarded in 2015). The first five destinations could have won the title of European Best Destination this year since they got more votes than Bordeaux or Wroclaw rewarded in previous years. Monte Isola is the Italian destination with the highest number of votes in the last 10 years. Poznan is the Polish destination with the most votes in ten years of competition (even more than Wroclaw awarded in 2018). The first traveller of this 2019 edition voted for Geneva, the last traveller voted this February 5 at noon for Sainte-Maxime % of voters came directly from social networks with a massive increase of votes from Instagram users. This social network allows destinations that were still under the radar a few years ago (such as Dinant, Cavtat, Monte Isola) to attract travellers seduced by pictures they saw on Instagram. Traditional media (print, online media, radio, television) brought more voters to this competition (16.4%) than the social networks altogether. The most shared press article is that of Luís J. Santos for Publico with over 2,865 shares on social network.

4 The 15 most voted destinations will be promoted to millions of travellers as the trendiest destinations to visit in 2019; they will feature on European Best Destinations, the most visited website dedicated to tourism in Europe reaching an audience of more than 5,5 million travellers. Tourism growth in the awarded destinations is on average +15% (+13% for Bordeaux in 2015, +17% for Porto in 2017, +25% for Zadar in 2016). The growth in media coverage for rewarded destinations is on average over 81% (estimated at 10 million euros of media coverage (Cision estimate)). The 20 destinations in the competition were mentioned over three weeks in more than 800 press articles (822 so far) throughout the world and spread out far and wide over the social networks. For the 3rd year in a row, a sustainable tourism destination (this year the amazing «Monte Isola» in Italy), has been included in the competition in partnership with the EDEN network created by the European Commission to promote sustainable tourism. Monte Isola is the famous artist Christo s choice for his Floating Piers artistic installation. Monte Isola collected more than 56,000 votes for a population of 1,900 inhabitants. This demonstrates that David can be stronger than Goliath and that sustainable destinations can be among the most attractive in Europe. Who will replace awarded destinations such as Porto, Bordeaux, Lisbon, Zadar? Discover the 15 trendiest destinations in Europe selected by travellers. They will be promoted throughout the year to millions of travellers on all our networks as well as THE destination winning the European Best Destinations 2019 competition.

5 +145k SHARES

6 15. FLORENCE, ITALY On the 15th position, with 10,068 votes, Florence was voted among the 15 best destinations to visit in Europe!

7 On 14. the RIGA, 15th LATVIA position, with 2,084 votes, Chamonix-Mont-Blanc was voted among On the 14th the 15 position, best ski with resorts 12,024 in Europe! votes, Riga was voted among the 15 best destinations to visit in Europe!

8 13. KOTOR, MONTENEGO On the 13th position, with 14,882 votes, Kotor was voted among the 15 best destinations to visit in Europe!

9 12. ATHENS, GREECE On the 12th position, with 16,024 votes, Athens was voted among the 15 best destinations to visit in Europe!

10 11. DINANT, BELGIUM On the 11th position, with 17,122 votes, Dinant was voted among the 15 best destinations to visit in Europe!

11 10. SAINTE-MAXIME, FRANCE On the 10th position, with 20,458 votes, Sainte-Maxime was voted among the 10 best destinations to visit in Europe!

12 9. BRATISLAVA, SLOVAKIA On the 9th position, with 24,749 votes, Bratislava was voted among the 10 best destinations to visit in Europe!

13 8. CAVTAT, CROATIA On the 8th position, with 26,943 votes, Cavtat was voted among the 10 best destinations to visit in Europe!

14 7. GENEVA, SWITZERLAND On the 7th position, with 31,112 votes, Geneva was voted among the 10 best destinations to visit in Europe!

15 6. MALAGA, SPAIN On the 6th position, with 36,485 votes, Malaga was voted among the 10 best destinations to visit in Europe!

16 5. POZNAN, POLAND On the 5th position, with 43,057 votes, Poznan was voted among the 5 best destinations to visit in Europe!

17 4. METZ, FRANCE On the 4th position, with 52,569 votes, Metz was voted among the 5 best destinations to visit in Europe! Copyright De RossHelen / Shutterstock

18 3. MONTE ISOLA, ITALY On the 3rd position, with 56,024 votes, Monte Isola was voted among the 3 best destinations to visit in Europe!

19 2. BRAGA, PORTUGAL On the 2nd position, with 59,092 votes, Braga was voted among the 2 best destinations to visit in Europe!

20 1. BUDAPEST, HUNGARY On the 1st position, with 62,128 votes, Budapest elected European Best Destination 2019! CONGRATULATIONS!

21 RESULTS 1. Budapest 2. Braga Monte Isola 4. Metz 5. Poznan 6. Malaga 7. Geneva 8. Cavtat Bratislava 10. Sainte-Maxime Dinant Athens 13. Kotor 14. Riga Florence 16. Paris Berlin 18. Vienna 19. London 20. Brussels

22 BENEFITS The 2019 best destination will be authorized to use the title and affix the "European Best Destination logo on all its communications, adverts, website and photos; it will also have the right to authorize its own public and private partners to use the logo. The destinations in the Top 15 can also use the logo by indicating that they have been chosen as one of the best destinations in Europe; we will share their news, photos and videos throughout the year via our website to + 5,5 million travellers and via our social networks. USE OF LOGO EUROPEAN BEST DESTINATIONS Porto, Bordeaux, Zadar, Wroclaw (European Best Destination 2015/2016/2017/2018 winners) Strasbourg, Tallinn and Zagreb (European Best Christmas Markets winners), Alpe d Huez & Val Thorens (European Best Ski Resorts winners) have integrated the logo into their website, videos, paper communications (city maps, brochures, flags ) and communicated it to tourism professionals (hotels, airport, airlines) who all proudly feature the logo on their websites. As an awarded destination of this top 15 you can already download your logo on:

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24 SUBSTANTIAL MEDIA COVERAGE The election of the European Best destinations receives substantial coverage right across all the various media in Europe. The main national newspapers, specialist press, blogs, specialized sites, television and social networks etc ensure that the winning city and the other top destinations are fully covered (822 press articles for the competition European Best Destination 2019 and + 70 million media coverage for our the destinations promoted since 2009). This election generates a great deal of interest for various reasons. First of all it gives European travellers a voice by casting their vote. Secondly, it is organized by an independent organization. THE AWARD "EUROPEAN BEST DESTINATION" ESTIMATED AT 10 MILLION EUROS ACCORDING TO AN INDEPENDENT STUDY OF THE MULTINATIONAL "CISION" (IN TERMS OF MEDIA COVERAGE).

25 THEY ARE TALKING ABOUT US Mr Rui Moreira, the Mayor of Porto: "Such a media coverage is of considerable value and demonstrates that it is possible to mobilize the communication and people about good causes. People usually mobilize about protests or negative causes. In this case, we have proved that we can mobilize the media and a whole city about a positive cause which benefits everyone by leading tens of thousands of people to vote online in a European election, at low cost." ITW of Nicolas Martin, Executive Director Bordeaux Tourism: The year was exceptional in terms of tourism growth with an increase of 10.7% in international arrivals in Bordeaux Merignac Airport (source GDS / Forward Keys) or of 12.26% in hotels progression of Revenue per room (RevPar) for all categories (source MKG). Most nationalities are increasing, especially this year European travellers (British, Spanish, German, Swiss, Belgian, Italian...). It is undeniable that the fact of being elected European Best Destination 2015 has contributed to this result, press fallouts after winning this title have been global and massive.

26 OUR ACTIONS European Best Destinations is a European organization based in Brussels and developed to promote culture and tourism in Europe. In partnership with the participating tourism offices and the EDEN Network we promote a better understanding of the wealth, diversity and quality of European destinations. Speaking to an audience of e-citizens, European Best Destinations plays an important role in promoting Europe as the number one destination in the world. It has become the meeting place for tourism offices and world travellers, a main gateway to the discovery of Europe. Since 2009 EBD has been working with major tourism offices in Europe to reward and highlight the most visited destinations via its website and social networks (+5,5 million visitors and thousands of followers on Facebook, Twitter, Google+ Pinterest and 70,000,000 euros of media coverage).

27 We carry out the main tourism competitions in Europe and have been working with the European Commission for the promotion of sustainable tourism for 5 years. 80 EDEN-labelled destinations are promoted on the EBD website and we manage their communications.

28 DOWNLOAD THE OFFICIAL LOGOS AND SPREAD THE WORD!

29 CONGRATULATIONS! Our warmest congratulations to the winner and all the participating destinations that will be promoted throughout the year to millions of travellers on all our networks. We thank you for your hard work throughout the year to make your destination one of the Best Destinations in Europe and we already invite you to the 2020 edition of this competition with amazing destinations as Trieste, Rijeka, Rome, Maastricht, Graz, Manchester if you want so submit your candidacy for 2020, please contact us: CONTACT US Phone: