Sustainable Cultural Tourism development and promotion across Europe

Members Area

UN Tourism

ReInHerit Digital Hub

Sustainable Cultural Tourism is the integrated management of cultural heritage and tourism activities in conjunction with the local community, creating social, environmental and economic benefits for all stakeholders in order to achieve tangible and intangible cultural heritage conservation and sustainable tourism development. (European Commission DG EAC, OMC Report 2019).

Sustainable Tourism is tourism that takes full account of its current and future economic, social and environmental impacts, addressing the needs of visitors, the industry, the environment and host communities. (UNWTO).

Vertical Divider

ECTN joins "Active Tourism Coalition"

ECTN has joined a new Active Tourism Coalition, bringing together 20 civil society and industry organisations representing active travel. This has formally launched with a call for stronger recognition of active tourism in Europe’s future tourism policies, with significant synergies with sustainable cultural tourism.

The coalition defines active tourism as tourism centred on accessible physical activity for mobility, recreation, and leisure. This includes activities such as cycling, walking, and hiking, allowing visitors to experience destinations at a human scale while delivering low environmental impact, high social value, and strong connections to local landscapes, cultures, and communities.

Coalition members

Coalition Proposals

Culture Compass launched

with Sustainable Cultural Tourism included

The European Cultural Tourism Network (ECTN), the only pan-European network that brings the cultural and tourism sectors to work together for sustainable cultural tourism development and promotion, welcomes the Culture Compass for Europe, launched by the European Commission as a Communication to the European Parliament, the Council, the European Economic and Social Committee and the Committee of the Regions. (COM(2025) 785 final, Brussels, 12.11.2025).

This important Communication acknowledges that Europe’s cultural and creative sectors and industries are key to boost innovation and competitiveness, create jobs, promote sustainable tourism, and make our regions and cities more attractive. It also highlights that culture generates important growth spillovers in other sectors, such as cultural tourism which accounts for 40% of all European tourism. In promoting culture-led regional, territorial and local development, the Culture Compass recognises that cultural tourism also plays a crucial role in preserving and promoting Europe’s cultural heritage. Furthermore, the Communication from the Commission indicates that the EU Sustainable Tourism Strategy will further promote sustainable cultural tourism as a catalyst for heritage protection, social cohesion, environmental sustainability, and economic competitiveness across Europe.

The Culture Compass identifies 20 flagship actions for the Commission to take, in cooperation with Member States and all relevant stakeholders. One of these actions is to launch a Euro-Med initiative for culture, sport and tourism in the context of the Pact for the Mediterranean. This is of particular interest and importance to ECTN members in southern Europe. ECTN would welcome an enlargement of this action to the whole of Europe (EU member states and accession candidate countries).

The Culture Compass aims to serve as the strategic anchor for culture within the next Multiannual Financial Framework (MFF) for 2028-2035.

The Draft Joint Declaration "Europe for Culture - Culture for Europe" that accompanies the Compass has an explicit commitment on cultural tourism:

“Advancing sustainable cultural tourism, respectful of cultural heritage, landscapes and community practices, and contributing to regional and local development.”

This is very much aligned with ECTN’s mission and vision and is fully adopted by ECTN members.
ECTN would thus be pleased to contribute to the success of the Culture Compass implementation in terms of synergies with sustainable cultural tourism development and promotion.

Responding to this important Communication, Manos Vougioukas, Secretary-General of ECTN stated:

“As the only pan-European network for cultural tourism with over 40 members in 21 countries, we very much welcome and endorse this awaited Culture Compass, given that it recognises and highlights the synergies of culture, heritage and sustainable tourism. We are grateful that ECTN has been consulted by Commissioner Glenn Micallef and we have submitted feedback and responded to the targeted survey, as a stakeholder. We are pleased to see explicit references on and commitment to sustainable cultural tourism in the Culture Compass. There is a lot more that can be done at all levels and ECTN is willing and ready to contribute accordingly”.

Communication

Draft Joint Declaration

Factsheet

Working Paper

ECTN Awards 2025 results announced!

The Winners and Runners-up by Category were announced at the ECTN Awards ceremony that took place in Sibiu, Romania, on 2nd October 2025, during the 18th ECTN Conference.

INSPIRES Project

Best Practice Collection Online Survey

The INSPIRES project partnership kindly invites representatives of the tourism sector to participate in a questionnaire survey that aims to collect best practices focused on tourism resilience, sustainability and digitalisation.

The submitted best practices will be analysed, included in a Best Practices Guide, disseminated through various channels, and used as examples in our "Train the Trainers" programme - all within the framework of the INSPIRES project, funded by the Single Market Programme (SMP) of the European Union.

Contribution is essential to showcase real-world experiences and promote shared learning across the tourism sector. All information will be treated with strict confidentiality and used exclusively for the purposes stated above.

Online Questionnaire Access

INSPIRES SMP Project launched !

The INSPIRES project has been launched, led by Experience Bremerhaven with ECTN as a partner. INSPIRES promotes the twin transition of Tourism SMEs in 6 EU countries. ECTN is the partner responsible for communication and dissemination activities.

www.inspires-tourism.eu

Initiatives for Sustainable Innovative Practices, Resilience, and Empowerment in Tourism SMEs

INSPIRES fosters collaboration among Tourism SMEs in Europe, to develop digital and green transition solutions, with resilience and sustainability.

INSPIRES project presents an innovative approach to address a crucial EU priority: fostering collaboration among SMEs to develop scalable and transferable TWIN TRANSITION solutions, thereby stimulating robust economic growth in regional tourism ecosystems throughout Europe. The consortium comprises 7 partners spanning 6 EU countries, each contributing unique expertise: 2 DMOs, 3 Business Support Organisations, 1 university, 1 affiliated city, and 1 EU Network (ECTN). Together, they forge a robust alliance dedicated to bolstering resilience among tourism SMEs in the post-COVID-19 economy, empowering them to navigate crises and thrive.

Co-funded by the Single Market Programme COSME of the European Union.

House of European History receives ECTN Award !

The ECTN Board has decided to award the 'House of European History' a Special Prize as a 'Destination of Sustainable Cultural Tourism 2023' at pan-European level. This special award is introduced in the framework of a specific category on 'History and Heritage' in the ECTN Awards, 10th edition. Furthermore, it is as an acknowledgement of a study visit that took place in May 2023, in the framework of the ReInHerit (Redefining the future of cultural heritage) Coordination and Support Action (CSA) in the EU Horizon 2020 programme.

The Award ceremony took place at the House of European History in Brussels on 14 March 2024. The museum director Dr. Constanze Itzel received the award from the ECTN Secretary-General, Manos Vougioukas.

The House of European History (HEH) is a history museum and cultural institution in Brussels, Belgium, focusing on the recent history of Europe. It is an initiative by the European Parliament, opened in 2017. It meets several of ECTN Awards and ReInHerit CSA criteria, such as cultural heritage management, sustainability, quality, digitalisation, accessibility and innovation. Regarding digitalisation, HEH offers highly relevant digital facilities such as multilingual and interactive tablets with audio enhancing the visitor experience, virtual tours and online collection. With additional high standards on sustainability, accessibility and creativity in special exhibitions, HEH is also meeting smart tourism destination criteria. HEH is a most important museum in Brussels, documenting and highlighting European history.

ECTN congratulates HEH for receiving this newly introduced special award at pan-European level !

ECTN supports the UNWTO

'Tourism Opens Minds' initiative

ECTN an affiliate member of UNWTO

In the framework of the 118th session of the UNWTO Executive Council in Punta Cana, Dominican Republic, on 16-18 May 2023, the new candidatures for the UNWTO Affiliate Membership have been approved.

European Cultural Tourism Network (ECTN) is amongst 16 new entities that joined the Affiliate Membership, adding a wide range of profiles with different backgrounds.

We are looking forward to working together to build a more accessible, responsible and sustainable tourism industry.

ECTN a member of the Stakeholders Commitee for the EUROPEAN YEAR OF CULTURAL HERITAGE 2018, selected by the European Commission DG Education & Culture (EAC)

ECTN was the only member of the EYCH 2018 Stakeholders Committee with a tourism mandate