Slate Museum, BENU Village Esch Among Winners of Luxembourg Tourism Awards

On Thursday 13 July 2023, Luxembourg's Minister for Tourism, Lex Delles, and the Minister for Culture, Sam Tanson, presented the second edition of the Luxembourg Tourism Awards.

Through this award, the General Directorate for Tourism rewards players in the sector who have particularly distinguished themselves through innovative projects and who have contributed to diversifying the tourist offer. The winners of the second edition in the different categories were as follows:

Culture: the underground route of the Slate Museum in Haut-Martelange; this new route through the slate extraction chambers is aimed at independent visitors and guided tours while raising public awareness of the heritage of the slate quarries.

Adventure: UBS Moonwalker Minett, a recent full moon night hiking experience, featuring distances of 10, 20 or 30 kilometres, DJs, artists and traditional Luxembourg dishes.

Gastronomy: Guided Hike & Like discovery hikes, which showcase craft products by artisans from the Wiltz region.

Ecotourism: BENU Village Esch, the first ecovillage in the Greater Region; it houses the post-gastronomic "Rescued-Food" restaurant BENU SLOOW, a hotel room, several upcycling workshops and the BENU shop.

Lodge ("Gîte"): Minett Trail - Kabaisercher, offering eleven unusual lodges along hiking routes in eleven municipalities (and designed by eleven architectural firms).

Camping: Iglu Huts - Camping im Park Beaufort, handmade cabins built using natural resources with a unique design and located in the heart of the Natur- & Geopark Mëllerdall (Mullerthal).

Hotel: Discovering Clervaux, an offer from the Clervaux - Excellence Group aimed at tourists who can enjoy a two-night stay on a half-board basis combined with a hiking activity in Clervaux.

Special prize for a deserving volunteer: René Risch and Josy Fisch. Since the creation of Frënn vun der Lee asbl in 1992, René Risch has been one of the volunteers supporting the development of the Slate Museum; he is still involved today in the visits. For more than 50 years, Josy Fisch has been volunteering, first in Machtum, then in Manternach; he is particularly committed to the maintenance of the 41.6 km of trails maintained by the Syndicat d'initiatives de Manternach.

Special prize for a deserving municipality: the municipality of Esch-sur-Alzette for its role as BENU Village project leader.

Special prize for the people's favourite ("Coup de cœur du public"): the underground route of the Slate Museum. 

Minister Delles noted that the Luxembourg Tourism Awards "have highlighted an array of outstanding tourism projects and attractions." He added: "I would like to salute the passion, creativity and entrepreneurial spirit of the nominees and winners of the Tourism Awards, while expressing special recognition for the volunteers, who constitute an important pillar of our tourism offer. The General Directorate for Tourism thus promotes dynamic players in the tourism sector who are distinguished by a modern and innovative offer. We thus support quality tourism that creates real added value for Luxembourg, its tourists and its inhabitants."

Minister Tanson highlighted the role played by culture in the tourism sector: "Our country can pride itself on a great cultural and heritage richness which is reflected in a very varied cultural offer which is just waiting to be discovered by both tourists and the country's inhabitants. The cultural offer for tourists within the country has developed enormously in recent years, the organisation of three European Capitals of Culture with the latest edition 'Esch2022' in the south of the country, have always been decisive in this respect and have given the country international visibility and recognition. Therefore, the Ministry of Culture will continue its support for cultural tourism players, key players in a modern and dynamic country."