European Commission Enterprise and Industry Directorate-General An agenda for a sustainable and competitive European tourism Dia Mundial del Turismo Jerez de la Frontera September 2007 Michela Lafranconi Tourism Unit

Role of Tourism  Limited competences, but the Commission is anyway active in the tourism field  Horizontal issue: Several Directives and policies influence/are influenced by tourism Inter-service dialogue

Europe as a tourist destination

The “weight” of tourism in Europe  4% of the Community GDP  4% of the total labour force But with the related sectors:  11% of the Community GDP  12% of the total labour force

Challenges facing tourism Youths & Seniors Tourist trends & preferences Competition from other continents Sustainability

Dialogue and partnership amongst tourism stakeholders a wide variety of stakeholders a wide variety of policy measures Partnerships are necessary at every level of the decision-making process

Tourism Policy Objectives The golden rules:  clear and realistic goals  best use of available resources  building on on-going actions  offering added value  complementary to MS policies

A renewed European Tourism Policy  Aims: to improve competitiveness and create more and better jobs Instruments  co-ordination  co-operation  supporting actions Areas  mainstreaming tourism  promoting sustainability  enhancing visibility

Tourism Policy areas: Mainstreaming measures affecting tourism  Better regulation  Improved use of available European financial instruments  Policy-coordination

A “Maritime Policy” for the EU  7 June 2006: the European Commission adopts a Green Paper on a Future Maritime Policy for the European Union  consultation process: expired June 2007:

Tourism Policy areas: Enhancing the visibility of tourism  Tourism Advisory Committee  Improving the Visibility of tourism through Stakeholder Participation  Collecting Data  Dissemination of Best Practices  Promotion of European Destinations

Tourism Policy areas: Promoting Sustainable and Competitive European Tourism  TSG Report: Feb `07  Public Consultation  Communication on an Agenda for a Sustainable and Competitive European Tourism (Oct `07)  ETF 2007

TSG – Tourism Sustainability Group  Group of experts coming from Destinations Industry Civil society Member States International Organisations

TSG report: European tourism and sustainable development  Tourism – a special relationship with sustainable development  Aims for the sustainability of European tourism  Response to tourism sustainability so far  Renewing the drive towards more sustainable European tourism

TSG report: Pre-requisites for tourism sustainability a) Ensuring that the right conditions for a successful development of the tourism industry and Europe as tourist destination are in place b) Anticipating and keeping abreast of different types of changes of most relevance to tourism, like climate change, technological development, demographic changes and new market trends

TSG report: Key challenges for the sustainability of European tourism 1. Reducing the seasonality of demand 2. Addressing the impact of tourism transport 3. Improving the quality of tourism jobs 4. Maintaining and enhancing community prosperity and quality of life, in the face of change

TSG report: Key challenges for the sustainability of European tourism 5. Minimising resource use and production of waste 6. Conserving and giving value to natural and cultural heritage 7. Making holidays available to all 8. Using tourism as a tool in global sustainable development

TSG report: Responsibilities for action  European Commission  Member States governments (national or regional government)  Local authorities and /or Destination Management Organisations  Tourism businesses  Other bodies  Tourists

TSG report: Recommended initiatives at the European level 1 Reporting by Member States 2 Knowledge networks 3 Communication 4 Implementation model for sustainable destination management 5 Pilot projects 6 Research projects 7 Coordination of education and training 8 Voluntary certification and benchmarking

Public consultation  More than 200 replies  Very good response to the TSG recommendations  High number of contributions from Spain and Italy

The forthcoming Agenda for a Sustainable and Competitive European Tourism  The European Commission fulfils a long-term commitment  Official launch and endorsement of a medium-long term Agenda  A voluntary process is ongoing and it should be strengthened

The forthcoming Agenda for a Sustainable and Competitive European Tourism  Conceptual framework for stakeholders: pre-requisites must be met objectives and principles for a competitive and sustainable tourism challenges to be tackled

The forthcoming Agenda for a Sustainable and Competitive European Tourism  Coherent action sustainable management of destinations integration of sustainability concerns by businesses sustainability awareness by tourists

Moving forward together: the role of stakeholders  Call to Stakeholders: recognise their responsibilities, seize the opportunity of the sustainability challenge, share their knowledge, communicate the negative and positive results, bring these issues into their daily discussions, “translate” the messages for small and micro businesses

Moving forward together: the role of the Commission  Mobilising actors to produce and share knowledge  Promoting destinations of excellence  Mobilising the EU financial instruments  Mainstreaming sustainability and competitiveness in Commission policies

Some practical actions  Study on Impact of Cultural and Sporting Events  Accessibility in Tourism  Involvement in Social Tourism: * January 2006 Conference: Accessibility * February 2007 Conference: Youths and Seniors * June 2007 Workshop: Youths and Seniors  tourism/index_en.htm

Learning Areas Handbook  Specific action to promote economic and social stability  Involves stakeholders (top down/bottom up) in learning & innovation process through cooperation and networking  Aimed at improving SME performance and human potential at destination level  Accompanied by CD Rom

The European Tourist Destinations Portal

European Destinations of Excellence  Pilot project  Budget of 1 million Euros  Best Emerging Rural Destination in 2006/7  Project Open to All Member States and Candidate Countries  Networking Possible

The Way Forward  Building up or strengthening partnerships/alliances  EU commitment  Active involvement of all stakeholders