Brussels, 30/06/2011 (Agence Europe) - Commissioner Vice-President Antonio Tajani took the floor at the EP conference entitled “the Study of European Cultural Routes' Impact on SME's Innovation and Competitiveness”, on 28 June. He spoke of gradually transforming the 29 major European cultural and religious routes (including Via Francigena and Santiago de Compostela) into an authentic “tourist product” in order to promote innovation and competitiveness of SMEs in the tourist sector and other upstream sectors. By their identical and symbolic, cultural and humanist, cosmopolitan and transnational nature, such routes are emblematic in that they provide common features and potential allowing implementation of three areas of European tourism policy for sustainable, socially responsible, competitive and quality tourism, the vice-president said. European tourism SMEs and those in related sectors could work together and be the main beneficiaries of development of this “tourist product” and of its diffusion within and outside EU borders. Along these lines, Tajani announced joint action by the Commission and Council of Europe for facing the persisting development challenges. These challenges may be summarised as follows: - strengthened coordination and cooperation between associations for cultural routes and local authorities at the interregional and cross-border level to face up to international competition; - development of a single marketing strategy to promote the wealth and local diversity of the various itineraries as part of the “European itinerary” concept under a single label (the conference on the “crossroads of Europe” relating to cultural routes to be held next April in Pavia, will be a major event in this respect, Tajani said); - development of stakeholder training and competence with the adjustment of existing programmes (Leonardo and Erasmus for young entrepreneurs) and activation of an ad hoc Masters specialisation on European cultural itineraries; - creation of an entity able to oversee tourist activity on the socio-economic level (a virtual observatory of European tourism is to be set up in 2012); - the development of SME business networks in the tourist sector in order to allow cultural route SMEs to establish contacts and work together in order to reduce costs, exchange knowledge and experience, etc, taking advantage of the single market. (F.G./transl.jl)