European Commission awarded Ljubljana an important environmental prize, which only confirms the right direction into development of sustainable tourism.

This award places Ljubljana to the top of all sustainable destinations in Europe, and at the same time rewards the cooperation of different players and collaboration towards achieving the same goal.
Ljubljana was awarded in the category Environment and Accessibility as a foundation for sustainable and responsible Development, stressing accessibility for people with special needs. »Green possibilities« of public traffic convinced them, above all the popular bicycle-sharing system BicikeLJ and electric vehicles Kavalir, free transportation for citizens and guests in the pedestrian areas, were pointed out. The European Commission also accentuated numerous parks and recreational green areas and complimented green vision of tourism development and the Slovenia Green project, which was created by the Slovenian Tourist Board and the Association for Sustainable Tourism GoodPlace. The project has shown strengths as well as weaknesses. Immediately after the results were published, Ljubljana Tourism started collaborating with partners and successfully tackled the shortcomings: green upstream supply chains and certified sustainable accommodations. Also, the European Commission recognised our active troubleshooting approach. Applicants for the European Commission’s award were destinations which participated in the process of pilot stages according to the ETIS criteria 2013-2015, concluded the assessment procedure and send in the feedback, which were priceless for the European Commission. So, they decided to award destinations that have been most successful in sustainable changes and affordable tourism. Beside Ljubljana, destinations from Spain, Italy, Croatia, France, the Netherlands, Portugal and Montenegro were awarded. Let us remind you that the European Commission created the ETIS system (European Tourism Indicators System – ETIS for Sustainable Management at Destination Level) as a wholesome system encompassing all three pillars of sustainable tourism: environmental, social and economic. Its purpose is to help destinations follow, manage, measure and accelerate sustainable measures – therefore, it is easy to use and appropriate for all kind of destinations. The system is used to follow the measures of sustainable development and improve them according to different stages.