CHALLENGES FOR THE EUROPEAN TOURISM INDUSTRY

The main challenges are:

• Security and Safety - environmental, political, and social security; safety of food and accommodation; and socio-cultural sustainability threats;
• Economic Competitiveness - seasonality, regulatory and administrative burdens; tourism related taxation; difficulty of finding and keeping skilled staff;
• Technological – keeping up to date with IT developments caused by the globalisation of information and advances in technology (IT tools for booking holidays, social media providing advice on tourism services, etc.);
• Markets and Competition - growing demand for customised experiences, new products, growing competition from other EU destinations.

Back in June 2010, the European Commission adopted the Communication, ‘Europe the world’s No.1 destination- a new political framework for tourism in Europe’. This communication set out a new strategy and action plan for EU tourism.

Four priorities for action were identified:

1. To stimulate competitiveness in the European tourism sector;
2. To promote the development of sustainable, responsible, and high-quality tourism;
3. To consolidate Europe's image as a collection of sustainable, high-quality destinations;
4. To maximise the potential of EU financial policies for developing tourism.

 1. Stimulate competitiveness in the European tourism sector

 Promoting diversification of the supply of tourist services

ACTION 1 AND 2: (1) Develop a coherent strategy for diversifying the promotion of tourist services and capitalise on Europe's common heritage, particularly by creating a European heritage label, alongside actions such as European Heritage Days or the European Union Prize for Cultural Heritage; (2) Encourage the integration into tourism strategies of 'natural' heritage.

Developing innovation in the tourism industry

ACTION 3: The Commission will launch an 'ICT and tourism' platform for stakeholders to facilitate the adaptation of the tourism sector and its businesses to market developments in new information technologies and improve their competitiveness by making the maximum use of possible synergies between the two sectors.

ACTION 4: Commission communication on electronic commerce in the internal market: Publication of a Communication on E-commerce, setting out lessons learnt and possible next steps.

Improving professional skills

ACTION 5: In order to support training in the tourism sector, the Commission will endeavour to promote the opportunities offered by various EU programmes such as Leonardo or the Competitiveness and Innovation Framework Programme (CIP) with its 'Erasmus for young entrepreneurs' and 'E-skills for innovation' strands.

Encouraging an extension of the tourist season

ACTION 6: Provide a voluntary tourism exchange mechanism between Member States, enabling in particular certain key groups such as young or elderly people, people with reduced mobility and low-income families to travel, particularly during the low season.

ACTION 7: Develop a voluntary online information exchange mechanism to improve the coordination of school holidays in the Member States, without prejudice to their cultural traditions.

Consolidating the socioeconomic knowledge base for tourism

ACTION 8: In its annual communication, 'Consumer Markets Scoreboard', the Commission will monitor the market by measuring European consumer satisfaction with various tourism services (transport, hire, accommodation, travel, package tours).

ACTION 9: In the short term, the Commission will develop a pilot project aimed at networking research institutes, universities, public and private monitoring units, regional and national authorities and national tourism offices.

ACTION 10: In the medium term, based on the results of the pilot project, the Commission will promote the implementation of a 'virtual tourism observatory' to support and coordinate research activities by the various national research institutes and provide socioeconomic data on tourism at European level.

2. Promote the development of sustainable, responsible and high-quality tourism

ACTION 11: Develop, on the basis of NECSTouR or EDEN, a system of indicators for the sustainable management of destinations. Based on this system, the Commission will develop a label for promoting tourist destinations.

ACTION 13: Develop a European 'Qualité Tourisme' brand, based on existing national experience, to increase consumer security and confidence in tourism products and reward rigorous efforts by tourism professionals whose aim is quality of tourism service for customer satisfaction.

ACTION 15: Propose a charter for sustainable and responsible tourism and establish a European prize for tourism businesses and destinations respecting the values set out in the charter.

ACTION 16: Propose a strategy for sustainable coastal and marine tourism.

ACTION 17: Establish or strengthen cooperation between the European Union and the main emerging countries (China, Russia, India, Brazil) and Mediterranean countries to promote sustainable and responsible tourism development models and the exchange of best practice.

3. Consolidate the image and profile of Europe as a collection of sustainable and high-quality tourist destinations

ACTION 18: Create a true 'Europe brand' in cooperation with the Member States to complement promotional efforts at national and regional level and enable European destinations to distinguish themselves from other international destinations.

ACTION 19: Promote the visiteurope.com website in order to increase the attractiveness of Europe as a collection of sustainable and high-quality tourist destinations, particularly among emerging countries.

ACTION 20: Encourage joint promotional actions at major international events or large-scale tourism fairs and exhibitions.

ACTION 21: Strengthen European Union participation in international bodies, particularly within the context of the World Tourism Organisation, the OECD, T20 and Euro-Med.

4. Maximise the potential of EU policies and financial instruments for developing tourism

To date, the Commission has successfully implemented the majority of the actions set out in the Communication, focusing on the following priorities:

• increasing tourism demand, from within the EU and beyond;
• improving the range of tourism products and services on offer;
• enhancing tourism quality, sustainability, accessibility, skills, and ICT use;
• enhancing the socio-economic knowledge base of the sector;
• promoting Europe as a unique destination;
• mainstreaming tourism in other EU tourism policies.