1. European Tourism Policy
line of actions
Cinzia De Marzo
DGENTR
Unit E1 – Tourism Policy
Bruxelles, 14 November 2012

2. Overview
• Facts and figures
• Tourism Contribution to Europe 2020 Strategy
• Challenges for European Tourism
• Legal basis in the Lisbon Treaty
• Tourism policy and concrete actions

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. Tourism Contribution to the Europe 2020
Strategy for Growth and Jobs
Tourism has a vast impact on the EU efforts to support
growth and job creation
> 3rd largest socio-economic sector
> resilient to financial and economic uncertainty
> provides a great possibility for employment in the EU, especially
for young people
> key to fostering territorial cohesion within the EU, particularly in
terms of encouraging the economic and social integration
> can help regional and local authorities tackle the challenges
linked to industrial, suburban and rural decline
> can represent a concrete way to reshape and bring new life to
areas experiencing social exclusion, immigration, urban sprawl

5. 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.

6. Legal basis
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

7. Tourism Policy
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 along 4 axes for action:
•Stimulate competitiveness in the European tourism
sector (smart growth)
•Promote the development of sustainable, responsible and
high quality tourism (sustainable and inclusive growth)
•Consolidate the image and profile of Europe as home to
sustainable and high-quality destinations (smart growth)
•Maximise the potential of EU policies and financial
instruments (smart growth)

8. Calypso – Tourism for all!
A voluntary initiative for facilitating low-season
transnational tourism exchanges between the
Member States, through the development 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 2012 call for proposal on facilitating
transnational low season tourism exchanges was
already closed on 11th July '12. Two projects were
selected in 2012.

9. 50.000 Tourists initiative
• Encouraging low-season tourism flows between South America
and Europe, between October 2012 and October 2013.
Making use of available spare airline and accommodation capacity
to 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)

10. Promotion & visibility
Enhancing the visibility and profile of Europe as a
set of sustainable and high-quality destinations.
• Joint Statement for cooperation with European Travel Commission-
ETC
• The Commission has signed the 1st October 2012 an ad hoc grant
agreement with the ETC and the 6st November '12. it was launched i
by the ETC in London, an 18 month programme 'Destination Europe
2020', addressed mainly to USA, Canada, Brazil and China, to promote
the visibility of Europe and define a long-term strategy for Destination
Europe in major long haul markets. http://www.etc-corporate.org/
• Communication campaign in the BRIC countries + Argentina and
Chile
• European Tourism Day (seasonality; coastal and maritime tourism) –
Brussels, 27 September '12
• European Tourism Forum (promotion of Europe, facilitation of
tourism flows) - Cyprus 25-26 October '12
• Conference and Festival on Cultural Routes “Crossroads of Europe”
- Pavia 6-10 June 2012

11. EDEN
> Implemented since 2007 to promote
sustainable tourism and development
models 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
 2013 topic for the selection of the EDEN destination:
accessible tourism
> EDEN network - composed of 100 destinations and can
grow till 200 with the runners up

12. Diversification of tourism offer
To capitalize on Europe's common cultural
and natural heritage.
>"European Cultural Routes“ - cooperation with the
Council of Europe
> Supporting the creation of new transnational
products and their promotion
Regular calls for proposals
2 calls in 2012 (already closed, focused on cultural
and industrial heritage and enhancing
competitiveness and sustainability)

13. European Tourism Label for Quality
Schemes
A voluntary EU umbrella label which recognises
existing and future public and private quality schemes
at transnational, national and regional level.
• Preparatory works with the stakeholders since late 2010.
• Open conference 25 June 2012 > announcement of legislative act
• Open public consultation between 13 April – 13 July 2012 and 152
replies were received
• Impact Assessment Study it was published on our web site the
17thOctober'12:
http://ec.europa.eu/enterprise/newsroom/cf/_getdocument.cfm?
doc_id=7655
• Proposal for a legislative act foreseen by the end of the year.
• Scrutiny by the European Parliament and the Council in ordinary
legislative procedure by early 2013.

14. 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 already tested in
September and October '12
• 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 in
Brussels at the conference on 22nd February 2013.

15. The ICT and Tourism initiative
Improving 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)

16. 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.

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

18. Virtual Tourism Observatory
A good knowledge base at 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.

19. 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 call for tenders published, deadline 13th
November '12
• 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
• award for the excellence of best practices on accessible tourism.

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

21. Mainstream Tourism
Study on the impacts of EU Policies and their
legislative and on-legislative measures on tourism,
including a practical guide to the EU financial
instruments.
Published the 15th October '15 on Tourism website at:
http://ec.europa.eu/enterprise/newsroom/cf/itemdetail.cfm?
item_id=6227 .
Cooperation with other DGs (MARE, ENV, HOME,
etc)-Strategy for coastal and marine tourism

22. Thank you for your attention!
• Project webpage
• http://ec.europa.eu/enterprise/sectors/tourism.en.htm
• Email contact:
entr-tourism@ec.europa.eu