3 cinzia de marzo-etis presentation-summer school_bilbao 02_07_15 (1)

1. The implementation of the
European Tourism Indicator System- ETIS
Bilbao, 02 July 2015
Cinzia De Marzo
European Commission, DG Internal market,
Entrepreneurship, Industry and SMEs –
Unit Tourism Policy

2. European Tourism Indicator System
ETIS
For the Sustainable Management of Destinations

3. What is the European Tourism Indicator System?
• A management system, simple to use and flexible, which help tourist
destinations to measure and monitor their sustainable tourism
performances;
• An information tool, useful for policy makers, tourist enterprises and
stakeholders, which create vision and guidelines for sustainable tourism
development;
• A framework for communications and for sharing good practices (in
near future also for benchmarking).

4. Step 1. Raise Awareness
Step 2. Create a Destination
Profile
Step 3. Form a Stakeholder
Working Group (SWG)
Step 4. Establish Roles and
Responsibilities
Step 5. Collect and Record
Data
Step 6. Analyse results
Step 7. Enable ongoing
Development and Continuous
improvement
ReturntoSWGtoagreeprioritiesand
developaplanofaction
How ETIS works:
The Seven Steps

5. How many indicators are there?
(Current list under revision)
There are 67 indicators
• 27 core
• 40 optional
Balancing the need to be
• comprehensive
• realistic
• integrated

6. How are the indicators organized?
Four categories
• Destination management
• Social and cultural impact
• Economic value
• Environmental impact

7. Using the indicators: the Data set sheet
It will become an IT software to be hosted within the
Virtual Tourism Observatory -VTO
• Target

8. ETIS on going implementation
• About 220 destinations across Europe, including non EU member
States (like Albania, Montenegro, Turkey) have been involved in the
2 testing pilot phases, during 2013 and 2014.
• The 25 June 2015 an interactive video conference, has been
organized between some destinations involved till the end of the
second pilot phase, the Commission and the ETIS pool of experts.
• (a set of core indicators (not yet approved)will be used for all destinations,
and a set of specific indicators will be added taking into account the
different type of destinations, such as coastal, rural, mountain, big cities,
islands, macro regions, accessibility ..)
• A call for expression of interest, will be launched by
September/October 2015, for selecting 6 destinations, which will
be invitated to present their experiences, during the ETIS conference
foreseen in beginning of 2016.

9. ETIS/EMAS (possible synergies)
EMAS and the EU Ecolabel could be very useful to support ETIS in the important
challenges of data accessibility (1) and verification (2, if requested). Many ETIS
indicators (most of the section D) will require a system for making the information
available for the participants. Implementing EMAS (on voluntary basis) in some of all
actors participating to the destination management and improvement scheme, would
assure a consistent, integrated and reliable reporting but also contribute to significant
performances improvement.
The move-it project report has been developed to implement EMAS in touristic
destinations, following a methodology focusing on facilitating access to the tool to SMEs
in the tourism sector by grouping them into clusters. Reactivating this tool in the
context of ETIS, could be very interesting and very helpful.
Regarding more specific aspects, some environmental performance indicators and
benchmarks of excellence developed for the BEMP (Best environmental management
practice) could be directly applicable for ETIS, in particular those who target
destinations (such as environmental management system implementation, supply chain
management, strategic destination development plans, biodiversity conservation and
management, etc.). Also, some of the ETIS indicators could be adapted to include direct
reference to EU Ecolabel and EMAS or be more in line with them.

10. ETIS next steps
• Improvements
• Drafting guidelines for the toolkit, aiming at including
clarification/information related to the process of possible integration
between ETIS and other complementary existing tools such as the
European Charter for sustainable and responsible tourism, the VTO,
EMAS/ecolabel, TOUERM (Tourism Environmental Reporting Mechanism),
Corporate Social Responsibility, or exchanges of methodologies with
UNWTO, UNEP
• The EC will continue to promote awareness campaign, looking forward to
rewarding sustainable tourist destinations
• Possible synergies with other existing tool at EU and international
level
• The EC is exploring the possibility for establishing mutual cooperation with
DG ENV, EEA, and other organizazions

11. Contact details
Unit E1. Tourism policy- ETIS team
GROW-ETIS@ec.europa.eu
The ETIS toolkit is available in all EU
languages on:
http://ec.europa.eu/growth/sector
s/tourism/offer/sustainable/indica
tors/index_en.htm
11
Thank you for
your attention!