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Eligibility Criteria
1. General Award Criteria
The key objective of the project is to select
a Destination of Excellence in Cyprus which will be in line with the
Commission’s theme of excellence for 2011, which is “Tourism and
Regeneration of Physical Sites”. More specifically, EDEN V aims to
reward those destinations which have regenerated a physical site of
their local heritage and converted it into a tourist attraction to be
used as a catalyst for wider local regeneration.
The General Award Criteria have been derived
from the Guidelines of the European Commission and are integrated into
an on-off procedure. Therefore, eligible destinations will need to
comply with these general award criteria and with a specific requirement
in order to be described as a European Destination of Excellence in the
frame of the EDEN European Programme. The specific requirement is
that the tourist offer, i.e. the regenerated physical site, should have
been run for at least two (2) years to be eligible for the application.
The general award criteria will require
that destinations:
- Are “non traditional”. The
European Commission describes this as a destination where the
visitor density ranges from “low” to “very low” in comparison to the
national average.
- Manage its own tourism
offer in such way as to ensure its social, cultural and
environmental sustainability.
- Be managed by a
partnership between the authorities responsible for the management
of the destination and all those involved in tourism in and around
the area (e.g. tourist service providers, local communities, etc.).
Public-private partnerships are admitted.
Beneficiaries
are exclusively Local Authorities and/or associations of Local
Authorities. The beneficiaries can collaborate with other local entities
(e.g. professional organizations) that cannot apply on the Programme.
2. Specific Award Criteria
The General Qualitative Criteria are
determined according to the aforementioned General Award Criteria and
the general aim of the EU preparatory action.
More specifically, each candidate area can be
defined as a “Tourism and Regeneration of Physical Site” destination
under the frame of EDEN V Programme if can include at least five (5) of
the following:
The
regeneration of the site should have been done in a way that
respects its identity/architecture/history/culture.
If the site
is classified as a Listed building then the
regeneration/rehabilitation of it should have occurred according to
the national requirements of the Department of Town Planning and
Housing.
Evidence of
the integration of the regenerated site into the local tourism
strategy.
Evidence of
the integration of environment and social concerns into the business
strategy by those in charge of the tourism offer.
The offer
should aim to raise the awareness of the local population and
visitors on the importance of the regenerated site whether
environmental, social, cultural, historical, etc. Evidence or plans
of action aimed at increasing awareness should be provided.
Organize
cultural events promoting local traditions (e.g. traditional music
concerts).
Preserve
and exhibit traditional crafts and maintaining know-how through
specialized training courses for visitors.
Preserve
strong relationships among local inhabitants, local bodies and the
local authority.
Properly
maintain local Museums with unique permanent or visiting
collections.
Encourage
modern cultural activities (club cinema, digital representation of
traditional crafts).
Constitute
a place of great hospitality for artists of any cultural interest
often inviting them for competitions/concerts/exhibitions.
Host
environment friendly accommodation units (hotels, rooms to rent,
etc.).
Apply
innovative forms of cooperation among local bodies and socioeconomic
actors (e.g. a Local Steering Committee Group always assessing and
supporting the implementation of new tourism strategies and
individual projects), and/or have created an integrated
public-private-partnership among local stakeholders.
Cooperate
effectively with Industry federations, innovation institutes,
national and regional public bodies, market research organizations,
trade associations and other relevant organizations.
Created a
network together with foreign destinations in order to exchange
experiences, visitors, etc.
Use
effective methods for communication of the destination to potential
tourists. This could include the use of new technologies to present
the tourism offer in the area, digital/improved signposting and the
setting up of information centers.
Generally, the tourism offer should ensure
that the environment and quality of life in the nominated destination is
enhanced, and the local community should be encouraged to become
involved in enhancing the quality of the visitor experience. To this
end, the National Tourism Strategy of CTO as well as any other related
policy documents should be taken into account.
1. Visitor density is defined according
to the average number of visitors in candidate destinations. The number
of the visitors must not exceed the 20.000 persons per year (for the
years 2008, 2009, and 2010. The Beneficiary must present the relative
information concerning the number of the visitors from the following
sources:
- Number of overnights that should
not exceed five (5) overnights (if there are any accommodation
facilities in the area).
- Number of visitors in museums,
exhibitions, etc (if there are not any accommodation facilities in
the area).
In case that there is not any of the
aforementioned information, the beneficiary can use the estimations of
the Head of the Local Authority.
2. In case of vote equality among the
participants, additional criteria will be taken into consideration in
order to evaluate the final outcome.
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