1. European Energy Forum (EEEF) : The EEF provides an opportunity for its members to gain a better understanding of energy and energy related issues, through frank and informal discussions on the immensely varied issues present within the world of energy today.

Intergroups can be formed by Members from any political group and any committee, with a view to holding informal exchanges of views on particular subjects and promoting contact between Members and civil society. Intergroups are not Parliament bodies and therefore may not express Parliament's opinion.

The Tourism Europe Forum (TEF) will aim to foster a dialogue between the European Parliament and the tourism industry. It will provide a forum for an open and informal discussion of the policy issues affecting tourism in Europe. The Forum will NOT lobby.

In order to raise awareness about the recent launch of the European Travel Advocacy Coalition (ETAC), over 150 e-mails were sent to MEPs having joined the European Parliament Tourism Intergroup as well as to MEPs members of the EP Transport and Tourism Committee and last but not least to European Commission civil servants involved in Tourism. We also proceeded to having a translation of the English ETAC presentation into French, Spanish and Italian.

We are most grateful for the courteous replies of the following persons:

The purpose of the European Parliamentary Tourism Forum under the acronym TEF would be to facilitate the exchange of information between the European Parliament and stakeholders interested in tourism. The TEF would be a non-profit and independent organisation supported by a wide range of MEPs from different political groups through a Steering Committee.

Main Purposes

Written by: Paul Temporal  based at Said Business School, University of Oxford, prior to which he lived in Asia for over twenty years. He has written several best-selling books on branding including his latest on “Branding for the Public Sector”.

Digital innovation is key for competitiveness of tourism industry but the European tourism. SMEs are lagging behind in using the potential offered by modern technologies. The Commission has implemented several initiatives to support adaptation of tourism businesses to the ICT developments and boost digitalisation of tourism in general.

Competitiveness in the provision of tourism services is complex and requires the harmonization of a diverse set of inter-dependent industries and the public sector. Understanding the nature of constraints confronting the tourism industry itself, therefore, requires a rigorous assessment of the role of each value chain component in the overall tourism experience, the linkages to other agents, and the performance of the service providers, industries and institutions.

1. Streamlining the regulatory framework for tourism at European, national, regional and local level

A public consultation on the regulatory and administrative framework affecting tourism was carried out in 2014. The consultation and subsequent stakeholder meetings showed that there is a need to look into and possibly streamline the regulatory and administrative framework relevant for those aspects that have been identified by the tourism industry, in particular on consumer proetction and taxation.

Proposed actions under this point:

The overall goal is to marshal the industry behind essential policy objectives for tourism, transport, aviation and investment in Europe

 ETAC’s Policy Goals for Tourism