Brussels, 16/02/2016 (Agence Europe) - During a debate with the European Parliament Transport and Tourism Committee on Tuesday 16 February, the European Commissioner for the Internal Market and Industry, Elzbieta Bienkowska, gave her support to the idea of drafting a single information manual on European financing available to companies working in the tourism sector.
Many MEPs, such as Claudia Tapardel (S&D, Romania), were critical of the lack of European financing and funding available for companies working in the sector, as well as the absence of any mention of the tourism sector in the Juncker plan, as emphasised by István Ujhelyi (S&D, Hungary), co-head of the tourism workgroup.
The Commissioner rejected this criticism and said that the lack of distinct guidelines specifically dedicated to tourism did not mean that the tourism sector had been excluded from the plan or the European Fund for Strategic Investments (EFSI). She pointed out that a third of the EFSI went to SMEs and the same thing applied to the tourism sector.
Nonetheless, she does consider that the contributions made by the MEPs demonstrated the difficulties of access to information about the financing mentioned and Juncker Plan. The Commissioner is subsequently proposing a “centralised approach” and the drafting of a financing manual for companies working in the tourism industry in 18 months time. She provided assurances that “the money is there” but that, “what is needed is a more targeted manual”. A high-level conference on ways of obtaining investment in the tourism sector will take place on 5 April next. This will provide an opportunity for clarifying the project, she concluded.
The Commissioner said that she was opposed to the idea of setting up a European tourism agency. Overall, Bienkowska proved somewhat circumspect about the actions the Commission could take but rejected the idea of a specific legislative project on tourism, whilst expressing a preference for structuring the guidelines on the tourism strategy published in 2010. (Original version in French by Pascal Hansens)