Since the rise of the Covid-19 pandemic, the tourism industry has faced many challenges. From dropping tourist numbers to safety measures in hotels and other tourist hotspots and everything in between, these last few years haven’t exactly been easy on tourism in general. That’s one of the reasons for the European Commission to choose the tourism industry as the first industrial ecosystem to be reviewed and to be given a transition pathway following the 2021 Updated Industrial Strategy.
It wasn’t an easy process though. Since June 2021, more than 30 meetings and workshops took place, creating an extensive dialogue between the different stakeholders within the tourism industry. How should tourism evolve in the future? How to make sure all parties, including the civil society, benefit from tourism without suffering its possibly negative consequences? These questions and many more were put on the table and on 8 February, the Commission finally presented the result: a transition pathway urging the tourism ecosystem to implement measures in no less than 27 areas.
“I am very pleased that we can present to you today the result of months of cooperation among all stakeholders. By working hand-in-hand we have come up with a common vision for EU tourism and agreed upon the ways to achieve it. This pathway will set the agenda for European tourism for the decade to come. Today I would like to invite all stakeholders to join the co-implementation process”, said Thierry Breton, Commissioner for Internal Market, at the opening of the event.
The 27 measures
- Fair measures for short-term rentals.
- Regulatory support for multimodal travelling.
- Improving statistics and indicators for tourism.
- Comprehensive tourism strategies development or update.
- Collaborative governance of tourist destinations.
- Sustainable mobility.
- Circularity of tourism services.
- Green transition of tourism companies and SMEs.
- Data-driven tourism services.
- Improving the availability of online information on tourism offer.
- Easily accessible best practices, peer learning and networking for SMEs.
- Research and innovation projects and pilots on circular and climate friendly tourism.
- Promoting the use of the PEF and OEF methodology and the development of sectorial category rules for the tourism ecosystem.
- Technical implementation for tourism data space.
- R&I for digital tools and services in tourism.
- Support for digitalization of tourism SMEs and destinations.
- Seamless cross-border travelling.
- Coordinated management and updated information on travelling.
- Awareness raising on skills needs for twin transition in tourism.
- Awareness raising on changes in tourism demand and the opportunities of twin transition for tourism.
- Educational organizations to engage in developing and renewing tourism education.
- Pact for skills in tourism.
- One-stop-shop for learning opportunities for tourism SMEs.
- Fairness and equality in tourism jobs.
- Enhancing accessible tourism services.
- Tourism services for visitors and residents alike.
- Support visibility of funding opportunities for tourism actors.
An active involvement of all players in the sector will be key for the success of the green and digital transition. That is why the Commission launched an on-line survey, inviting the EU tourism community to share information about their individual and collective commitments and to express interest in working together on the implementation of the transition. The Commission will be working with the interested stakeholders to steer, support and follow up the progress of the transition.
