Garden of EDEN

EDEN stands for the European Destinations of Excellence, a project promoting sustainable tourism development across the European Union. The project is based on national competitions which take place each year and result in the selection of a tourist “destination of excellence” for each participating country.

Grosses Walsertal Biosphere Park won this highly accomplished award for 2009.

Through the selection of destinations, EDEN effectively achieves the objective of drawing attention to the values, diversity and common features of European tourist destinations. It enhances the visibility of emerging European destinations, creates a platform for sharing good practices across Europe, and promotes networking between awarded destinations.

The key feature of the selected destinations is their commitment to social, cultural and environmental sustainability. The recipients of the award are emerging, little known European destinations located in the 27 Member States and candidate countries. The EDEN project helps to spread the sustainable practices used in the chosen destinations across the Union and to turn these places into year-round venues.