Lahti - Päijät-Häme Region: A Forerunner in Smart Tourism

Lahti – Päijät-Häme Region is setting an example in sustainable and innovative tourism. Known for its world-class expertise in sustainability and active outdoor tourism, Lahti – Päijät-Häme Region offers unique experiences through its pristine nature, vibrant cultural heritage, and innovative tourism services. As one of the finalists for the European Capital of Smart Tourism 2025 award, the City of Lahti showcases not only its achievements but also the strengths of the entire Lahti – Päijät-Häme Region. The groundbreaking work done in Lahti – Päijät-Häme Region serves as a model for sustainable tourism development, benefiting communities across Europe and beyond.

The City of Lahti is shortlisted as a finalist for the European Capital of SMART Tourism in 2025. Being the European Green Capital 2021 and an international and sustainable city for tourism, events and sports, Lahti offers a unique platform for the development of European smart tourism.

The city of Lahti in Finland would be the northernmost European city selected as the European Capital of Smart Tourism. Development of smart tourism in Lahti takes into account all four seasons of the year; spring, summer, autumn and the cold winter. Lahti is ready to share its smart tourism know how with all stakeholders internationally, nationally and locally.

Lahti’s strength in the competition is the city´s international recognition as a pioneer in sustainable development. In the competition, Lahti profiles as a destination where the city and the local tourism sector companies are committed to operate sustainably and develop services with the smallest possible carbon footprint. The strength of the Lahti region is also the know-how to develop smart tourism in an innovative way in the year-round Lakeland UNESCO nature.

The city of Lahti has applied for the 2025 competition and has been selected among the seven finalist cities together with Brussels (Belgium), Genoa (Italy), Konya (Turkey), Lviv (Ukraine), Porto (Portugal) and Turin (Italy). In total, 21 cities from 10 different countries participated in the competition. The finalists will present their best smart tourism practices and plans for the capital year in Brussels on the 26th November to the jury, whose members are representatives of various EU institutions from the European Commission, the European Parliament, the European Committee of the Regions and EU member states.

The winner will be chosen on the 27th of November. The winning city will be awarded with an extensive tourism and regional marketing package, as well as the possibility to participate in international travel trade sales events.

The competition is run by the European Commission.
The European Capital of Smart Tourism title is awarded annually to a city that serves as an example to others and is internationally progressive in the field of sustainability, innovation, quality of life and the integration of smart strategies. The competition takes place since 2018. Dublin was chosen as the winning city for 2024, and previous years’ winners are Seville and Pafos (2023), Valencia and Bordeaux (2022), Málaga and Gothenburg (2020) and Helsinki and Lyon (2019).