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Euro 2024: Schedule, format, groups, venues, favourites and more—all you need to know about this footballing fiesta

<ul class="summary-list"><li>Lithuania was named the <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/why-finland-is-the-happiest-country-former-international-student-2024-3">happiest place in the world</a> for children and people under 30.</li><li>I grew up in Lithuania's capital, Vilnius, a walkable city with a vibrant culture and nightlife.</li></ul><p>Although often overlooked in favor of its larger European neighbors, Lithuania has emerged as a top destination for young <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/what-american-pays-living-in-vienna-most-liveable-city-2024-4">people seeking a higher quality of life</a>.</p><p>The Baltic gem is truly Europe's biggest hidden treasure, and the secret might be out: The World Happiness Report 2024 just dubbed it the <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/why-lithuania-world-happiest-country-for-gen-z-millennials-education-2024-6">happiest place in the world for children and people under 30</a>.</p><p>As someone who was born and raised in Lithuania's capital city, Vilnius, I can attest to the country's unique appeal and why it stands out as an ideal place for the younger generation.</p><p>For starters, Lithuania offers <a target="_blank" href="https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/article/2024/jun/04/lithuania-happiest-place-in-the-world-young-people">free university education</a> to a large portion of its population — by comparison, a university education can leave graduates in six figures of debt in places like the US.</p><p>Plus, Lithuania has some of the <a target="_blank" href="https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/web/interactive-publications/housing-2023#housing-cost">cheapest rent in Europe</a>.</p><p>Although I moved out of Vilnius 10 years ago to pursue career opportunities in London, I visit home often. My most recent visit to Lithuania lasted nearly a month and only reaffirmed my love for the country and its capital.</p><h2 id="c5ea709b-623a-490e-a6eb-e085907f2b6c">The walkable capital city is filled with beauty and culture</h2><div type="image" title="Vilnius Town Hall Square" height="1412" width="2122" msid="110945743" hostid="261" sizebytes="389520"></div><p>Vilnius is not only beautiful but also incredibly walkable and easy to navigate. It's so compact that you can easily get around on foot or by bike, which can be rented for just a few euros.</p><p>As you wander through the streets, you'll discover a diverse array of art, culture, and nature, with numerous historic monuments in the heart of the city.</p><p>One standout is Gediminas' Castle Tower, a historic fortress on top of the hill in the middle of the old town. From its vantage point, you can take in a breathtaking, panoramic skyline view of red roofs stretching as far as the eye can see. We're really proud of our red roofs in the old town — and even <a target="_blank" href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FPQUEVMcBZM">have a song about it</a>!</p><p>Streets are lined with local shops selling unique souvenirs, adding to the city's charming and inviting atmosphere.</p><p>People here are proud of their culture, and I often see local grandmas selling handmade amber jewelry. Many locals believe amber has healing powers, and it's popular to wear it around here.</p><p>The culture is rich, too. During my last visit, I stumbled upon a street festival where local bands and musicians performed live music around the city.</p><h2 id="4ac083d4-2e44-46d8-b482-5eff613b404b">It also has great food and nightlife</h2><p>Vilnius's culinary scene is vibrant, with a wide variety of dining options, from traditional Lithuanian dishes to international cuisine.</p><p>Local favorites like cepelinai (potato dumplings) and šaltibarščiai (cold beetroot soup) are not to be missed.</p><p>Lithuania's nightlife scene is also diverse, catering to a wide range of tastes and preferences. Whether you're into techno clubs or laid-back jazz bars, there's always something happening in the city after dark.</p><p>The bars, clubs, and social venues in Vilnius are always buzzing with energy.</p><p>In the summer, numerous outdoor spaces are created to host all sorts of events, further adding to the area's lively atmosphere. I miss these spaces a lot and have yet to find something like this in London, even though it's a major city.</p><h2 id="3d9e73ee-fe87-4ad0-b3d0-c8773b4c4284">Lithuania offers a unique and enriching experience that's hard to find elsewhere</h2><div type="image" title="Loreta Parapijankaite taking mirror selfie" height="968" width="1290" msid="110945637" hostid="261" sizebytes="37220"></div><p>As someone who has seen both the fast-paced life of London and the charming tranquility of Vilnius, I can confidently say that Lithuania is a place where the young can truly thrive.</p><p>I love its wonderful sense of community and frequently find myself longing for the charm and tranquility of my homeland — especially when flights from London to Vilnius sometimes get as cheap as a few pounds.</p>

I grew up in Lithuania, the happiest place in the world for people under 30. It really is Europe's biggest hidden gem. 

<ul class="summary-list"><li>Berlin's techno scene was recently added to the UNESCO intangible cultural heritage list in Germany.</li><li>The German capital is renowned for its intense, hedonistic clubbing scene.</li></ul><p>It is an almost hypnotic experience visiting a techno club in <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/club-quarantane-europe-berlin-virtual-nightclub-berghain-dancefloor-2020-8">Berlin</a>.</p><p>Hours, even days, can slip by in a shadowy rush of flashing lights, curling smoke, and trance-inducing rhythms.</p><p>It is a fierce blend of anonymity and hedonism that has undeniably shaped the city over the years since <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/photos-from-the-fall-of-the-berlin-wall-2016-11">the fall of the Berlin Wall</a> on November 9, 1989.</p><p>The impact on Berlin's identity has been so significant that it has now received official recognition, with the city's techno scene recently added to <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/unesco-world-heritage-sites-us-2019-5">UNESCO's</a> intangible cultural heritage list in Germany.</p><p>To mark that moment, Business Insider has taken a look at how techno has come to define the capital.</p><h2>Origins</h2><div type="image" title="The vault." height="595" width="793" msid="109666269" hostid="261" sizebytes="20924"></div><p>When Dimitri Hegemann first entered the space that was to become the original site of Tresor, now one of Berlin's most iconic techno clubs, he was silent.</p><p>Just the dim glow of a few cigarette lighters illuminated the cavernous vault of a former Jewish-owned bank that had remained untouched since 1945.</p><p>The year was 1991, and Berliners were still basking in a newfound freedom following the fall of the Berlin Wall.</p><p>The new era had ushered in a wave of creative energy, and people were eager for change in all aspects of society, Hegemann told Business Insider.</p><p>In the world of music, the opportunity for change presented itself in the raw, wordless beats of Detroit techno pioneers such as Jeff Mills and Juan Atkins and Berlin's dark, abandoned buildings.</p><p>"It was the beginning of this new musical epoch," Hegemann said.</p><div type="image" title="A DJ performing during the Rave the Planet in Berlin, 2023." height="683" width="1024" msid="109666271" hostid="261" sizebytes="112252"></div><p>By the end of the decade, techno had taken the capital by storm, with the city's Love Parade, a former annual techno festival, attracting <a target="_blank" href="https://www.ravetheplanet.com/en/history/">1.5 million people</a> in 1999.</p><p>And by 2017, Berlin's nighttime economy was booming, with clubs helping generate almost 1.5 billion euros (around $1.6 billion as of April 2024) in revenue for the city, a <a target="_blank" href="https://www.clubcommission.de/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2019/10/club-culture-study.pdf">Berlin Clubcommission report</a> found.</p><p>While clubs like Tresor and later Berghain bolstered the city's economy, they also provided a refuge for young people looking to express themselves and push their sensory limits after years of repression.</p><p>The clubs also acted as "incubators" for creators to foster new ideas, setting the stage for a cultural rebirth that helped transform Berlin into a young, vibrant hub of artists, students, and other creatives, Hegemann told BI.</p><p>"It changed the DNA of Berlin," he said.</p><div type="image" title="Berghain." height="2268" width="3024" msid="109666275" hostid="261" sizebytes="1038468"></div><p>Polish-born Jennifer Kucza, who has lived in Berlin for many years, told the <a target="_blank" class="editor-rtfLink" href="https://www.bbc.com/travel/article/20240322-berlin-techno-scene-gains-unesco-status">BBC</a> that the techno scene has become "a haven for those who don't necessarily see themselves being represented in the more traditional facets of the city's identity."</p><p>"Those involved in the scene have by now reached a status of somewhat of a subculture, with their belonging being reflected not only in the music but also a certain visual identity, lifestyle, and even attitude," she added.</p><p>The scene has also played its part in making Berlin one of the most LGBTQ+-friendly cities in the world.</p><p>"Thanks mainly to the queer scene, events are often places of free self-expression, which many perceive as 'safe spaces,'" <a target="_blank" href="https://www.ravetheplanet.com/en/der-weg-zum-immateriellen-kulturerbe/">Rave The Planet</a>, a nonprofit that spearheaded the campaign to get the Berlin techno scene recognized by UNESCO, noted in its application form. "Barriers related to clothing, origin, age, mindset, language, gender, sexual orientation, and income tend to fade away."</p><h2>Berlin today</h2><div type="image" title="New buildings stand behind a surviving section of the Berlin Wall with graffiti on March 27, 2024 in Berlin, Germany." height="1334" width="2000" msid="109666277" hostid="261" sizebytes="249298"></div><p>While the core of these ideas remains, gentrification and rising rents have taken their toll on the city's creative power.</p><p>Berliners enjoyed cheap rents following the fall of the Wall, as the city's population growth did not meet officials' expectations, and a housing surplus persisted for many years.</p><p>However, that trend has reversed in recent years, with Berlin registering 3.87 million residents in June 2023, according to the <a target="_blank" class="editor-rtfLink" href="https://www.berlin.de/en/news/8425887-5559700-statistics-berlins-population-continues-.en.html">city's official website</a>. That was up from around 3.6 million at the end of 2018.</p><p>As demand for property increased, rents in the capital soared, with the seven years to 2023 seeing a 44% rise in prices — and only a 30% rise in the average wage, <a target="_blank" href="https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/berlins-renters-face-more-misery-housing-crisis-deepens-2023-11-16/">Reuters</a> previously reported, citing federal and local data.</p><p>The increased demand has also brought inevitable pressure from real estate investors, which, alongside the high rental costs, has led to the closure of several beloved venues, such as Griessmuehle and Farbfernseher.</p><p>The problems facing clubs are so severe that Germans even have a word for it — "Clubsterben" — meaning "club death."</p><p>The techno scene's addition to the UNESCO cultural heritage list will hence come as a welcome boost to those fighting to preserve the city's clubbing heritage, helping venues access additional government funding and protection under planning laws.</p><p>Lutz Leichsenring, a board member at the Clubcommission, told BI that the recognition was a "milestone for Berlin techno producers, artists, club operators and event organizers."</p><p>"Our gratitude goes in particular to bands like Kraftwerk and African-American DJs and producers like Underground Resistance from Detroit, who made a significant contribution to the creation and spread of techno culture," he said.</p><p>"Our joy is hard to put into words," Rave The Planet added in a <a target="_blank" href="https://www.ravetheplanet.com/en/techno-culture-in-berlin-unesco-heritage/">statement</a> following the news. "This recognition marks a significant milestone for the entire electronic music culture and has implications far beyond the borders of Berlin."</p>

How Berlin's techno scene came to define the post-wall city and earn UNESCO cultural heritage status — with a little help from Detroit

<p class="enhanced-subtitle">The entire infrastructure of <keyword id="12143528" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="macau" source="Orion">Macau</keyword>'s success has been built on casinos. But under Beijing's regulatory crackdowns, gaming operators will have to abide by new rules — or risk losing their licenses.</p><p>At 32 square kilometers, Macau is just 5% of Singapore's size. It's about half the size of Manhattan. Yet it has more than 35,000 hotel rooms, 30 Michelin-star restaurants, and 25 UNESCO World Heritage Sites. And it clocks gaming revenues that are six times that of the Las Vegas Strip.</p><p>It's also one of the wealthiest places in the world.</p><p>Alidad Tash is an expert in gaming operation and strategy who worked for 10 years in Vegas and Macau with the Sands organization. He said Macau's gaming revenue was $36 billion in pre-pandemic 2019, while the Vegas Strip raked in just $6 billion.</p><p>"Gaming is 70-80% of Macau's GDP. It's shockingly high," said Tash, who now runs his own consultancy firm, 2NT8 Macau.</p><p>But the wealth rests in the hands of a few — and that, in turn, is at odds with the government's "common prosperity" messaging. In September, officials announced a regulatory overhaul. Gaming licenses in Macau expire in June 2022.</p><p>The timing of the announcement is in line with Beijing's regulatory crackdowns, and it means gaming operators will have to abide by new rules or risk losing their licenses. There were also hints of Chinese officials supervising the world's largest <keyword id="11994893" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="gambling" source="Orion">gambling</keyword> hub. All this caused <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2021-09-17/bets-are-off-after-casino-owners-get-hit-on-china-s-crackdown">shares</a> of casino companies, particularly American operators Sands <keyword id="11892748" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="china" source="Orion">China</keyword> and Wynn Macau, to plunge.</p><p>Getting Macau to amp up the non-gaming elements of the island will be a challenge, according to casino development strategists and hospitality consultants Insider spoke to. For one, Macau is tiny. But mainly, it's a victim of its own success for focusing on gaming as its sole cash cow.</p><div type="image" title="Macau at night with illuminated fountains and a Wynn resort in the background" height="2721" width="3628" msid="87775909" hostid="261"></div><h2><strong>More money, but not for everyone</strong></h2><p>Victoria Fuh is the vice president of Macau Meetings, Incentives and Special Events Association. Fuh told Insider that when she arrived in Macau 16 years ago, most meeting planners didn't know where Macau was. Today, it's on the list of venue options for <keyword id="6356001" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="international" source="Orion">international</keyword> conferences that rotate globally.</p><p>"Year after year, Macau adds new hotels and attractions, so it's always fresh for our clients," said Fuh.</p><p>Since 1962, Stanley Ho — the late "King of Macau" — and his family held a monopoly over Macau's gambling industry as the only licensee for casinos. When Macau broke the monopoly in 2002, five more casino operators entered: Sands China, Wynn Macau, Galaxy Entertainment, Melco Entertainment, and MGM China. Collectively, they now operate 41 casinos.</p><p>With the casinos came a lot of money. Macau is the only place in China where gambling is legal, and casinos have had a strong 20-year run.</p><p>"Macau's GDP per capita shot up from a low of $12,352 in 1992 to $71,974 in 2020," said Ben Lee, managing partner of IGamiX Management &amp; Consulting. "However, most of that wealth is concentrated in the hands of a few."</p><div type="image" title="Cityscape of Macau shows run-down buildings in various states of disarray" height="2235" width="2981" msid="87775910" hostid="261"></div><p>The government started a one-off annual cash handout to residents in 2008. In 2020, the amount allocated to residents was 15,000 patacas ($1,870).</p><p>Lee, who has lived in Macau for 16 years, told Insider the annual lump sum is "nominal."</p><p>"China sees how this creates social problems in Hong Kong and probably wants to avoid the same outcome in Macau," Lee added.</p><p>Were it not for subsidies and welfare benefits like these, Macau's Gini coefficient — which is used to measure inequality — would have been 0.4% in 2017-2018, hitting the high inequality mark, according to the 2020 Statistics and Census Bureau survey as reported by <a href="https://www.macaubusiness.com/what-gini-has-to-say/">Macau Business</a>.</p><p>And while the government <a href="https://borgenproject.org/poverty-in-macau/">reports</a> a low poverty rate — 2.3% in 2017 — the percentage is based solely on income and ignores the growing cost of living that accompanied the casino boom.</p><p>Wealth inequality isn't the only issue in Macau. For one, there's crime: According to a <a href="https://www.macaubusiness.com/special-report-con-more-crime-and-corruption/">paper </a>from the Macao Institute for Tourism Studies, since the liberalization of casino licensing in 2002, crime has "increased drastically."</p><p>There are other social problems, such as a whole generation of young people dropping out of studies to work in the gaming industry because of its financial rewards, according to Robbert van der Mass, director of APAC Hospitality Services Macau. This in turn affects small retail shops and restaurants, many of which have disappeared as they couldn't compete with salaries offered at casino resorts.</p><div type="image" title="Aerial view of Macau city" height="2300" width="3066" msid="87775912" hostid="261"></div><h2><strong>One-trick pony</strong></h2><p>Macau is well positioned for tourism: At its feet is the massive mainland market and neighboring Hong Kong, which together accounted for 90% of Macau's 39 million arrivals in pre-pandemic 2019, Macau Statistics &amp; Census Service, locally known as DSEC, shows.</p><p>In 2019, there were 60 times more tourists than locals in Macau, per DSEC figures. But the average length of stay in Macau is just 1.2 days, compared with 2.7 days in Singapore and 3.3 days in Hong Kong. That's partly due to a high number of day-trippers, which accounted for 53% of arrivals in 2019, DSEC data shows.</p><p>Macau's gaming liberalization in 2002 was meant to make the city a world center for tourism, while Hong Kong became an international financial center, said Lee. That didn't exactly happen.</p><p>"Instead, Macau became China's center for gambling," Lee said. "And despite the anti-corruption campaign [in 2012] and a series of anti-gambling edicts subsequently, casinos' non-gaming revenue never really got off to any significant volume, staying at about 5% of their gross revenue on average."</p><p>This compares with 50% in Vegas and 30% in Singapore, experts interviewed said.</p><p>However, non-gaming creates more jobs than gaming does — and it benefits small- and medium-sized suppliers more, said some of the experts.</p><p>"When casinos make money, no supplier gets rich," said Tash. "If I spend money in a hotel room, there is a lot more labor involved. Non-gaming supplies wealth for the overall community far more than gaming."</p><div type="image" title="Casino and resort in Macau lit up against night sky" height="3586" width="4782" msid="87775913" hostid="261"></div><h2><strong>Keeping Macau relevant</strong></h2><p>With its gaming licenses expiring in eight months, Macau now has a chance to reframe its gaming history.</p><p>"This isn't a renewal, it's a new open tender and anyone can bid for a new concession," said Lee. He said the government will likely offer prescriptive terms and demand clear non-gaming plans that extend beyond restaurants and retail.</p><p>"They want to see real non-gaming, such as the development of meetings and conventions, entertainment, art, and other attractions that go towards building a healthy tourism industry," Lee said of the government's approach to Macau 2.0.</p><p>A shift to more non-gaming could be beneficial for Macau tourism, said some of the tourism experts Insider spoke to. Some even see it as a chance for the city to redefine itself in line with newer travel trends.</p><p>Van der Mass of APAC Hospitality Services opened the MGM Grand Macau in 2007. He said that over the years, he has noticed a "huge shift" in Chinese travelers' behavior towards culture and experiences in food, retail, and entertainment.</p><p>"Integrated resorts are under pressure to adapt their offerings here in Asia, because these customers are increasingly exposed to leading trends in the world. To build more retail and meeting facilities without evolving these segments is no longer acceptable," said van der Mass.</p><p>Macau is facing increased competition for Asian customers as the gaming industry develops elsewhere in countries such as Japan, South Korea, and the Philippines, he said.</p><p>The demographics of gaming travelers are also changing. "Younger travelers are inclined towards gaming online, and the pandemic only drives more of this behavior. I think we'll see a transition in Asia towards more non-gaming," said Ian Wilson, who worked six years at Marina Bay Sands in Singapore and now runs Wilson Innovation Lab.</p><h2><strong>Attempts at moving beyond gaming</strong></h2><p>Casino operators in Macau appear to be heeding the push for more non-gaming.</p><p>Sands runs two casino resorts in Macau: The Venetian and The Parisian. The Venetian is the largest casino floor in Asia. Sands also tries to attract leisure visitors with attractions like Venice's canals and a replica of the Eiffel Tower. It's now remodeling the former Sands Cotai Central into a new resort called The Londoner, which will include replicas of London landmarks like the Houses of Parliament, Big Ben, and London-themed suites by David Beckham at one of the four hotel towers.</p><div type="image" title="Exterior shot of London-inspired resort in Macau" height="1462" width="1950" msid="87775916" hostid="261"></div><p>The project, opening in phases this year, has 351,000 square feet of gaming space and 369,000 square feet of meeting space. That's in addition to a 1,700-seat theater and enough retail space to fit 130 stores and 40 restaurants.</p><p>While the move does reflect a diversification out of gaming, it does not address another missing element in the island's development: Macau's Euro-Asia history and heritage. </p><p>"Gaming has overshadowed the development of other potential attractions and eclipsed some of the original character of Macau, such as its Euro-Asian heritage, in both tangible and intangible forms," said Leonardo Dioko, a professor at Macao Institute for Tourism Studies and a director of a tourism research center in Macau.</p><h2><strong>A thinly veiled power play</strong></h2><p>Some skeptics believe the regulatory overhaul is a thinly veiled power play for China to gain more control over the yuan's outflow and to strong-arm Macau — and the casinos — into adopting a digital currency, which is traceable.</p><p>"It's no coincidence that the target date for the implementation of the PRC digital yuan is 2024. China just wants to make sure that Macau is ready for the conversion when China wants it to be," said Ben Hirasawa, founder of BH21, a firm that advises hospitality and real-estate clients on project development in Asia.</p><p>While the review's timing may be opportune for China, it's a setback for Macau tourism, which has been battered by the pandemic. In the first nine months of 2021, Macau had six million arrivals, a fraction of its 39 million visitors in 2019, according to DSEC.</p><p>"Although there have been times throughout the year where we can see a glimmer of hope and travel recovering, it swiftly changes when there is an outbreak somewhere close by or locally," said Janet McNab, who heads Sheraton Grand and St Regis in Macau.</p><p>Ultimately, what's at stake is the entire infrastructure upon which Macau's success, unequal though it is, has been built. What's also in question is whether the niche it carved out for itself 20 years ago as Asia's gambling haven will still exist.</p><p>"Macau kind of exists for gaming," Wilson said. "But with gaming options continuing to increase around the world, Chinese nationals might even rather gamble in Vietnam, Cambodia, Singapore, or the Philippines, where they won't have quite the same level of scrutiny as they would in Macau."</p>

Casinos made Macau one of the wealthiest places in the world — but they also brought heightened inequality and crime. Now, China is cracking down.

You Searched For "Euro 2024 venues" and got 4 results

Euro 2024: Schedule, format, groups, venues, favourites and more—all you need to know about this footballing fiesta

Kunal Kambli

I grew up in Lithuania, the happiest place in the world for people under 30. It really is Europe's biggest hidden gem.

Loreta Parapijankaite

How Berlin's techno scene came to define the post-wall city and earn UNESCO cultural heritage status — with a little help from Detroit

Nathan Rennolds

Casinos made Macau one of the wealthiest places in the world — but they also brought heightened inequality and crime. Now, China is cracking down.

Raini Hamdi

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