The tourist boards of countries in the European Union (EU) who have ‚Blue Flag Awards‚ will be highly promoting their beaches this summer to attract more holidaymakers.

Spain currently has the highest number of Blue Flag beaches, with 495. Followed by Greece (mainland) and the Greek islands have 425 Blue Flag beaches.

Blue Flag Awards take into account the following criteria when rating beaches worldwide:
‚ Cleanliness
‚ Safety and services
‚ Amenities
‚ Environmental standards
‚ Water quality

In total there are 2633 awarded beaches and 620 awarded marinas worldwide.

Great beaches as well as accommodation, flights, budgets to name but a few are some of the factors holidaymakers consider when deciding upon which destination to travel to whilst booking beach holidays.