The 17th ECTN conference for smart and sustainable tourism in Dublin ends with success

The 17th annual conference of the European Cultural Tourism Network (ECTN) was completed in Dublin with a great success.

This year, the conference was dedicated to European cooperation for smart and sustainable tourism and it was supported by the Dublin City Council-European Capital of Smart Tourism 2024.

Pafos Regional Board of Tourism, Chairs the European Cultural Tourism Network (ECTN) since 2020.

Several representatives from very important bodies and organizations of the European Union have attended and addressed the conference including UN Tourism, European Travel Commission, ENAT (European Network for Accessible Tourism) Europa Nostra, Committee of the regions and others.

The ECTN conference provided the opportunity to bring together a wide range of stakeholders and experts from both the cultural and tourism sectors with 45 presentations from 19 countries.

There were discussions and presentations on the latest trends in the field of cultural heritage, smart and sustainable tourism, including innovation, digital transformation and the development of transnational cultural tourism products.

At the same time, the European Capitals of Smart Tourism, Pafos 2023 and Dublin 2024, and shortlisted city of Bremerhaven, participated in an open discussion with the public, where they mentioned their examples, challenges and the path for more initiatives towards smart tourism.

Within the framework of the conference, the 10th awards ceremony for destinations/organizations was also organized in 5 categories where 17 Pan European good practices were distinguished in the areas of Accessibility to Heritage, Intangible Cultural heritage, Digitization, Transnational thematic routes, Coastal and maritime heritage.

The European Cultural Tourism Network (ECTN) was founded in 2009, it is based in Brussels and is the only pan-European in this field.

It consists of more than 29 renowned organizations and universities from countries such as Germany, Sweden, Spain, Ireland , UK, Italy, Greece, Cyprus, Portugal, Hungary, Poland, Bulgaria, Romania, Croatia, Serbia, etc.

Pafos Regional Board of Tourism has been an active member of the Network (ECTN) since 2012, held the position of Vice President from 2016 to 2020 and the Presidency from 2020 to 2024.