The European Tourism Manifesto Alliance, an organisation representing more than 60 European tourism trade associations, called on EU Member States, on Wednesday 14 October, to give tourism a prominent place in their national recovery plans.
“Travel and tourism is one of the ecosystems most affected by Covid-19” (see EUROPE 12541/6) and “requires €161 billion of investment to return to pre-crisis levels” the Alliance said in a statement.
The sector, which accounts for 9.5% of EU GDP, employs 22.6 million people and has a direct impact on transport, retail trade, the agri-food industry and the economy in general, the organisation added.
Professionals are therefore counting on European governments to support the sector through the Recovery and Resilience Facility, the budgetary instrument at the heart of the EU Recovery Plan (see EUROPE 12551/11).
This instrument should finance projects with “real European added value” in six sectors of activity, including green transition and digital transformation. In order to benefit from it, Member States must submit to the Commission by next April their draft recovery plans describing the national investment programmes they envisage.
“If it is not in the plan, it is not in the budget”, warns the Alliance, which also emphasises the tourism sector’s potential to generate jobs and growth and that it is also working to begin its green and digital transition.
On the Commission side, whose lack of political will towards the tourism sector has been regularly pointed out by the European Parliament in recent months (see EUROPE 12527/12, 12556/19, 12566/12), it is currently maintained that, when arbitrating national recovery plans, the tourism sector will, in fact, have to be taken into consideration. (Original version in French by Agathe Cherki)