Dubrovnik Pass wins European award for smart tourism and digital innovation

Dubrovnik

Dubrovnik has received European recognition for an initiative that is increasingly becoming more than a conventional tourist pass.

The city’s Dubrovnik Pass has won first prize in the Digitalisation in Smart Tourism category at the 2026 European Cultural Tourism Network (ECTN) Awards, recognising its use of digital tools and data to manage cultural tourism.

The award was presented at the ECTN’s annual conference on the Greek island of Skiathos, where Dubrovnik was represented by Julijana Antić Brautović, head of the City of Dubrovnik’s Department of Culture.

The award comes at a time when destinations across Europe are grappling with the challenge of managing growing visitor numbers while protecting historic sites and improving the experience for residents and tourists.

That makes the Dubrovnik Pass particularly relevant beyond Dubrovnik itself.

Rather than functioning simply as a ticket providing access to attractions, the system combines cultural heritage, public transport, integrated ticketing and visitor-management tools.

Among its features are real-time monitoring of visitor numbers and tools designed to forecast crowd levels. The system is intended to help distribute visitors more effectively while supporting the sustainable management of the city’s cultural heritage.

The model also generates revenue for cultural institutions and restoration projects.

A growing digital tourism model

The recognition was awarded after Dubrovnik Pass reached the final of a competition involving 72 projects from across Europe in six categories.

Nineteen projects made the final, with each presented during the conference in Skiathos, held from 23 to 26 September.

The ECTN Awards have been presented for 13 years and are organised by the European Cultural Tourism Network in partnership with Europa Nostra, the European Travel Commission and NECSTouR.

For Dubrovnik, it is the first project to receive an award from the organisation.

The timing is significant for a city whose global popularity has brought both economic opportunities and questions about how tourism can be managed sustainably.

Dubrovnik Pass places digital information at the centre of that process, allowing visitor numbers and movement to be monitored while linking access to attractions with other elements of the city’s tourism infrastructure.

Strong financial results

The system has also recorded significant financial growth in 2026.

Revenue from Dubrovnik Pass sales reached €3.49 million in August alone, 15% more than in August last year.

Between January and the end of August, a total of 389,752 Dubrovnik Passes were sold, generating €16.72 million in revenue.

That represents a 16.5% increase in revenue compared with the same period in 2025.

The figures underline the scale of the system and its growing role in Dubrovnik’s tourism economy.

The European award, meanwhile, highlights another aspect of the project: the attempt to use technology not simply to attract more visitors, but to better understand and manage those already arriving.

For destinations dealing with the pressures of cultural tourism, Dubrovnik Pass offers an example of how a traditional tourism product can evolve into a broader digital management system — combining access to heritage with transport, data and visitor-flow management.