European Tourism Policy Lines of action

1. European Tourism PolicyLines of action Cinzia De Marzo Unit F1 – Tourism Policy Development Bruxelles, 03 July 2012

2. Overview • Facts, figures and challenges • Legal and policy context • Actions and state of play • Questions

3. Facts & figures on tourism • > a cross-cutting sector • > involves a big diversity of services and professions • > mainly dominated by SMEs • Socio-economic importance of tourism: • 5% of the EU GDP • 5.2% of the total labour force • 9.7 million jobs But with the related sectors: • 10% of the EU GDP • 12% of the total labour force • 24 million jobs

4. The challenges of European tourism Increasing competition vis-à-vis new, emerging destinations, Insufficient socio-economic data, Economic, social and environmental sustainability of tourism, Seasonality of demand and quality of tourism jobs , Diversification of the tourism offer, Making holidays available to all, Lack of transparency and coherence in quality evaluation of tourism services, Cooperation in promotional efforts at EU level, Lack of visual identity, Coordination of policies, Mobilising financial instruments.

5. Legal context – Tourism in the Lisbon Treaty • Article 6 of TFEU: the Union shall have competence to carry out actions to support, coordinate or supplement the actions of the Member States, in various areas, one of which is tourism • Article 195 of TFEU: in Tourism the EU can complement Member States’ actions to promote competitiveness by • encouraging the creation of favourable environment • promoting cooperation between Member states, particularly in exchanging good practices

6. Policy Framework - 2010 Tourism Communication The Commission’s 2010 Communication “Europe, the world’s No 1 tourist destination – a new political framework for tourism in Europe” (COM 2010 (352)final) Implementation through 4 strategic priority groups of actions: • Increasing the tourism demand • Enhancing the tourism offer • Cross-cutting measures • Mainstream tourism

7. Increasing the tourism demand • Calypso – Tourism for all! • 50.000 Tourists initiative • Promotional Activities • EDEN • Sustainable and cultural tourism

8. Calypso – Tourism for all! A voluntary programme for faciliting low-season transnational tourism exchanges between the Member States, through the developmnent of social tourism; 4 target groups: • Pensioners (>65) • Youth (18-30years) • Disabled people • Families facing difficult social circumstances Web platform will be operational from July 2013 the call for proposal 2012 is open till 11th July

9. 50.000 Tourists initiative > To encourage low-season tourism flows between South America and Europe, between October 2012 and October 2013. > Making use of available spare airline and accommodation capacityto extend the seasonal spread. With the participation of: • Member States (IT, ES, FR, PL, GR, LT, MT, RO, SK) • Major industry stakeholders (major airlines, ETOA, ECTAA, TUI, El Corte Ingles, etc) • South American countries (Brazil, Chile, Argentina, Colombia)

10. Promotion & visibility Enhance the visibility and profile of Europe as a set of sustainable an high-quality destinations. • Cooperation agreement with ETC • Communication campaign in the BRIC countries • Revamping the EC Europa website • European Tourism Day 27 September (seasonality; coastal and maritime tourism) • European Tourism Forum (promotion of Europe, facilitation of tourism flows from 3rd countries-Cyprus 25-26 October) • Pavia Crossroads of Europe 6-10 June 2012 (including conference)

11. EDEN > Implemented since 2007 Promote sustainable tourism development of small emerging destinations across the EU. > Based on national competitions that take place every year and result in the selection of a tourist “destination of excellence” for each participating country. >Currently more than 100 EDEN destinations  Largest network of tourism destinations at global level. > 2013topic: accessibility > The network is composed of almost 100 destinations and can grow till 500 with the runners up

12. Enhancing the tourism offer • Diversification of the tourism offer - cultural routes • European Tourism Label for Quality Systems • European System of Indicators for Sustainable Tourism • ICT & Tourism initiative • Skills

13. Cultural Routes To capitalise on Europe's common cultural and natural heritage. The development of Transnational Thematic Tourism products through parallel initiatives aimed at: > cooperating with the Council of Europe for the "European Cultural Routes“ > supporting the creation of new transnational products, their development and promotion Calls for proposals launched every year. The new call has just been released with special emphasis on cultural and industrial tourism (deadline on 28 September '12).

14. European Tourism Label for Quality Systems A voluntary EU umbrella label which recognises existing and future public and private quality labels at transnational, national and regional level. • Preparatory works with the stakeholders since late 2010. • Open conference 25 June 2012 > announcement of legislative act • Public consultation running since 13 April 2012 (12 weeks) • Impact Assessment Study launched mid-May 2012 (4months) • Proposal for a legislative act foreseen by the end of the year.

15. European Tourism System of Indicators for Sustainable management at destination level A set of sustainability indicators, which help to implement and monitor the sustainability performance of destinations. • Study on the feasibility of the system launched January 2012. Contractor: University of Surrey - UK • To be completed by Feb 2013. • 10 Pilot destinations around Europe to be used • Recommendations will be delivered to the stakeholders • The result of the study should help define the final set of indicators, to be used as a toolkit, which will be presented at the conference in February 2013 in Brussels.

16. The ICT and Tourism initiative To improve the competitiveness and efficiency of the tourism industry (especially SMEs) through the use and promotion of new ICT technologies. 3 pillars: • Policy component (High Level Group) • Technological component (ICT platform) • Operational component (Tourism support business portal)

17. Skills Better skills for a more competitive industry, by: • Creating a “hospitality” section in EURES (EU Job Mobility Portal) (short term); • Mainstreaming tourism skills in other EU policies (e.g. employment, regional development etc…) (medium term) ; • Tourism Skills Competence Framework (long term) to bridge training and competence gaps.

18. Cross-cutting measures • Virtual Tourism Observatory • Tourism Accessibility • European Charter For Sustainable and Responsible Tourism

19. Virtual Tourism Observatory A good knowledge baseat European level to support evidence-based policy making. 3 key elements: • Statistical dossier: offering up-to-date and reliable tourism statistics; • Section dedicated to the analysis of the new trends, early warning system; • Policy section of best practices and research material Feasibility study to precise the need of the actors – to be concluded by end of 2012.

20. Accessibility > Mainstreaming accessibility in tourism by: • quantifying the economic impact of the demand • evaluating existing supply and gaps • developing required skills • raising awareness and rewarding efforts > Series of calls - first call for tenders published • to collect comprehensive and EU-wide data on the economic impact of travellers with special access needs. • the demand, travel behaviour, and patterns of travellers with special access needs in Europe evaluation of the projects undergoing

21. European Charter for Sustainable and Responsible Tourism • A very first draft: set of general principles to follow + lines of action – subject to changes. • Targeted at public administrations, destinations, businesses and tourists. • Targeted consultation finished 20 April 2012. • About 100 replies received - results are being analysed. • The final form of delivery still to be decided. • Adoption foreseen by end of 2012/early 2013.

22. Mainstreaming Tourism > Study on the impacts of EU Policies and their legislative and non-legislative measures on tourism, including a practical guide to the EU financial instruments. • To be finalised in July 2012 > Joint management of / participation in initiatives of other DGs (MARE, ENV, HOME)

23. Thank you - Questions? • Project webpage • http://ec.europa.eu/enterprise/sectors/tourism.en.htm • Email contact: entr-tourism@ec.europa.eu