Brussels, 27/09/2011 (Agence Europe) - On 27 September, the European Commission and Parliament celebrated the European Day for Tourism. Industry Commissioner Antonio Tajani and Carlo Fidanza (EPP, Italy) recalled on that occasion how thriving the tourism sector in Europe is, despite the global economic recession. They also underlined the importance of putting to good use the specific tourism competence conferred on the EU by the Lisbon Treaty, in order to provide added value to national initiatives, to support the tourism sector in Europe. Commissioner Tajani said tourism policy is a fundamental instrument to ensure growth and competitiveness and it is important to develop tourism in order to come out of crisis. Presenting the report adopted the same day in Parliament plenary session, Fidanza said it was important to “strengthen the competitiveness of our companies and enhance Europe's role as a unique and appealing destination through a strong diversification of its offer”.
For the Day of Tourism, the Commission organised a conference on the theme of industrial heritage, differentiating the European tourist offer. Participants discussed ways to make industrial heritage a key factor in the sustainable development of tourism, thus contributing to the creation of new jobs and the safeguarding of a large part of Europe's history. The conference was held in parallel to the EDEN prize awarding ceremony to reward several European destinations for excellence. The Parliament, for its part, adopted the Commission's report on Europe, the world's No 1 tourist destination a new political framework for tourism. The report comes within the continuity of work accomplished by the Commission for developing an appropriate European tourism policy, the rapporteur states. Alongside the creation of a European quality tourism label which fixes minimum quality criteria, and a European charter for tourism, with a common base for passengers' rights, the Parliament recommends gradually standardising the systems for classification of hotels in the EU and the reduced rate of VAT applied to tourist products. It also recommends that the Commission supervise methods for spatial planning, particularly in coastal areas and encouraging the use of environmentally-friendly modes of transport. By 2012, the Parliament invites the Commission to present an integrated strategy along the lines of the 2010 communication to encourage tourism geared to culture, history, religion and nature, while stimulating new offers in the field of sport, industrial heritage and farm tourism. Finally, better training for professionals to promote mobility could attenuate the difficulties linked to the seasonal nature of the tourism profession. (IL/transl.jl)