Blue Flag

1. Check eligibility: Confirm your site is a beach, marina, or sustainable tourism boat in a country with an active Blue Flag national operator. Visit blueflag.global to find your national office.

1. Contact your national operator: Each participating country has a designated national operator (typically an environmental NGO or government body) that manages the application process, timelines, and fees locally.

1. Review the criteria: Download the current Blue Flag criteria document covering the four categories — water quality, environmental management and education, safety and services, and accessibility. Identify any gaps your site needs to address.

1. Prepare your documentation: Gather evidence of compliance for each criterion, including water quality test results (from accredited laboratories), records of environmental education activities, safety equipment inventories, and accessibility provisions.

1. Submit your application: Complete the national application form and submit all supporting documentation to your national operator before the annual deadline (typically in autumn/winter for the following season).

1. National jury review: A national jury reviews your application and may conduct a site inspection to verify compliance. They forward successful applications to the international jury for final approval.

1. International jury decision: The Foundation for Environmental Education's international jury makes the final award decision, announced each spring ahead of the beach season.

1. Display the flag and maintain standards: If awarded, fly the Blue Flag at your site, maintain all required facilities and activities throughout the season, and prepare to reapply the following year.

Blue Flag evaluates sites against four core categories of criteria, each containing a mix of imperative (mandatory) and guideline criteria. Imperative criteria must all be met; guideline criteria represent best practice targets.

Water Quality is the most fundamental category. Beaches must comply with the EU Bathing Water Directive or equivalent national standards, with water tested regularly by accredited laboratories throughout the season. Marinas must demonstrate proper management of waste water and bilge water. No industrial, sewage, or other discharges may affect the site.

Environmental Management and Education requires sites to have an environmental management committee, display environmental information panels covering local biodiversity and ecosystems, and actively offer environmental education activities to visitors. Sites must also have a waste management plan, recycling facilities, and demonstrate efforts to protect natural vegetation and wildlife.

Safety and Services covers the provision of trained lifeguards (for beaches), first aid equipment, emergency response plans, and clear signage. Facilities such as toilets, drinking water, and waste bins must be maintained to a high standard. No dogs or other animals are permitted in designated bathing areas.

Accessibility requires that the site and its facilities are accessible to people with disabilities and mobility impairments, including accessible pathways, toilets, and information materials where feasible.

Criteria are reviewed and updated periodically by FEE to reflect evolving environmental standards and best practices.

Blue Flag is one of the most widely recognised environmental ecolabels in the world, with a particularly dominant position in European coastal tourism. Originally launched in France in 1987 and expanded internationally through the Foundation for Environmental Education, the programme now operates in over 50 countries across Europe, Africa, the Americas, Asia-Pacific, and the Caribbean. As of recent seasons, more than 4,000 beaches, marinas, and sustainable tourism boats carry the Blue Flag award annually, with Spain, Greece, and Turkey consistently holding the largest numbers of awarded beaches.

The award carries strong consumer recognition, particularly among European tourists, where it functions as a trusted quality signal for beach holidays. Surveys have consistently shown that a significant proportion of European beachgoers actively look for the Blue Flag when choosing a destination. This consumer pull gives the award genuine commercial value for coastal tourism operators, municipalities, and national tourism boards, making it one of the few ecolabels with measurable impact on visitor behaviour and destination marketing.

Competing programmes such as the Green Key (also operated by FEE), the UK's Seaside Award, and the Quality Coast Award occupy adjacent spaces but none match Blue Flag's global brand recognition in the coastal and marine sector. The programme's relevance continues to grow as climate change intensifies scrutiny of coastal water quality and sustainable tourism practices. The expansion into sustainable tourism boats is a relatively recent development, reflecting the programme's evolution beyond static beach and marina sites to address broader marine tourism impacts.

Blue Flag was created in France in 1987 as part of the European Year of the Environment, initially focusing on beaches and marinas in France. The programme was developed by the Foundation for Environmental Education (FEE), a non-governmental organisation dedicated to education for sustainable development. In its first year, 244 beaches and 16 marinas in France received the award. The programme expanded across Europe through the late 1980s and 1990s, with FEE's national member organisations in each country taking on the role of national operators.

International expansion beyond Europe began in the late 1990s and accelerated through the 2000s, with South Africa becoming the first non-European country to join in 2001, followed by Morocco, New Zealand, Canada, and Caribbean nations. The programme introduced the sustainable tourism boats category in 2008, extending its reach to vessel operators offering marine tourism experiences. Today, Blue Flag operates in over 50 countries and is widely regarded as the gold standard ecolabel for coastal and marine recreational sites. FEE periodically revises the criteria to reflect updated environmental standards, including alignment with the UN Sustainable Development Goals, which has been a central part of the programme's positioning since the adoption of the 2030 Agenda.