EP TOURISM REPORT AND REFERENCES TO STAKEHOLDERS

This Report was made public on 22/09/2015 and was submitted by Isabella De Monte, Rapporteur EP Committee on Transport and Tourism

References to tourist stakeholders

• Considers that designating a European Year of Tourism would help to promote the diversity of European tourism and raise the profile of the various stakeholders active in the tourism sector; calls on the Commission to consider such an initiative;
• Takes the view that public and private stakeholders should strengthen their efforts to develop new transnational European tourism products, while taking full account of the role of macro-regional strategies in their development;
• Calls on all stakeholders to take further the discussion of how the EU can promote agreed quality standards for tourism services;
• Calls on the Commission to continue to promote sustainable, responsible and eco-friendly tourism in cooperation with strategic partners such as the ETC and other stakeholders;
• Calls on the Commission to continue to foster collaboration between public and private travel and tourism stakeholders in order to facilitate research on, and the adoption of, digital solutions by European companies; highlights, in particular, the need for better coordination between public tourism administrations at the national, regional and local levels, tour operators, the hospitality sector and digital businesses;
• Stresses that Europe must retain its position as the world’s number one tourist destination; welcomes the organisation of events and communication campaigns that promote Europe as a tourist destination, in particular in third-country markets, and calls on all stakeholders jointly to promote Europe not only as a tourist destination but also as a destination of excellence that offers a range of national destinations, cultures and tourism services, without distorting competition between them.

 Comments

There is a perception in the tourism field that stakeholder involvement is difficult or impossible to accomplish. But without stakeholder involvement, the term sustainable development would just be a marketing slogan or, at best, a topic for theoretical debate.

The intangible part of the tourism product is the over all experience for all stakeholders, not just the visitors. This is where the social component of tourism and, more notably, sustainable tourism is most prevalent.

Including the interests of stakeholders will help to reduce conflict. Including the interests of the stakeholders cannot keep conflict between stakeholders from occurring, but it can provide the parties a mechanism to discuss their disagreements in a constructive manner. Stakeholders need to be made aware of the other interests in the community so that they can understand the reasoning behind tourism policies and developments.

When time constraints limit stakeholder involvement, being able to predict an individual’s or group’s level of support will allow for better planning and crises management.

Including stakeholders in the tourism development process calls for a new approach. It is important to incorporate stakeholders and their interests. Stakeholder involvement must be included in any successful sustainable tourism development plan. If stakeholder involvement is to be included, mechanisms are needed to identify and measure participation.