ETC and Eurail Launch Award to Recognise Best Rail Tourism Campaigns

The European Travel Commission (ETC) and Eurail have launched a joint award competition for the Best European Rail Tourism Campaign 2021, as part of the European Year of Rail (EYR) initiative that kicked off on January 1.

The award will be given to the marketing campaigns that best promote rail travel as a sustainable tourism model throughout the EU.

The competition joins a variety of creative activities that will put rail firmly in the spotlight throughout 2021 EYR, to encourage the use of rail by citizens, travelers and businesses and to contribute to the EU Green Deal goal of becoming climate-neutral by 2050.

“The 2021 European Year of Rail is a unique chance to put rail travel back in the limelight. Train travel connects Europeans and allows our foreign guests to get off the beaten track and to know the real face of Europe. We are encouraging all tourism and rail stakeholders in Europe to ‘Hop On’ and get creative with new promotional initiatives throughout the EYR 2021,” ETC Executive Director Eduardo Santander said.

The awards are open to national tourism and destination marketing organisations, rail providers and other entities with significant operations in the European tourism sector. The winners will be announced in November 2021.

The following actions are examples of possible promotional activities:

• Content and email marketing
• Native advertising and social media
• Referral and influencer marketing
• Programmatic display
• Online Travel Agencies (OTAs).

The winners will be selected by an independent jury of experts from the fields of rail and tourism, and will receive the title of Best Rail Tourism Campaign 2021 as well as an accredited digital seal, certificate, and plaque.

For those interested in participating, a dedicated landing page on ETC’s corporate website has been developed with further information on how to get involved. The website is available here.