EDEN Sustainable Tourism Award
The Challenge
The EDEN Award is a bi-annual European Award recognising “destinations of excellence” for sustainable tourism.
The initiative is based on national competitions that take place every other year and result in the selection of a tourist ‘destination of excellence’ for each participating country.
Bua Marketing had previously worked with the Strandhill Community Development Association on the Strandhill Moments destination marketing campaign in 2018 to promote the North Western coastal peninsula to domestic and international customer segments.
Strandhill Community Development Association saw the EDEN Award as an opportunity to leverage the success of this campaign and the thriving, eco-conscious activity of its community.
Spot-lit: Putting Literary Tourism On The Map
The Solution
Bua coordinated Strandhill’s successful application and presentation for the Fáilte Ireland coordinated EU Sustainable Tourism in November 2019.
The prestigious award recognised Strandhill Community Development Association as the best emerging destination that promotes sustainable tourism by using Health & Well-Being assets that are characteristic of their region to grow visitor numbers.
Bua worked with the community on the initial pitch and subsequent judges presentation.
The Impact
Strandhill emerged as the winning destination in November 2019.
The immediate impact was that the EDEN Award generated huge international and domestic publicity for Strandhill as a sustainable tourism destination including articles in the National Geographic, Irish Times, Irish Independent and a forthcoming RTE Nationwide piece.
Since then Strandhill has benefitted from a new media bank of photography and will also work with a destination consultant to determine how Strandhill can evolve as a health and wellbeing destination.
26 national press mentions for Strandhill winning the EDEN Award
Photoshoot of the Destination by Failte Ireland
A Certificate of Achievement
Sense of purpose for the Strandhill Community
Bua continues to work on destination marketing campaigns for Strandhill.
What They Said
‘Bua Marketing was instrumental in Strandhill winning the EDEN Award. Aoife coordinated the application and presentation from start to the winning finish. The tourist industry and wider community in Strandhill have benefited hugely from winning the EDEN Award. Strandhill is a village striving to decrease its impact on climate change by adopting sustainable principles. We look forward to working with Bua on future campaigns.’
– David McCoy, Strandhill Community Development Association