On Wednesday 12 May, the ambassadors of the Member States to the European Union (Coreper I) approved a draft conclusion of the Portuguese Presidency of the EU Council on the future of tourism in Europe for the next decade (see EUROPE 12712/6). This text will be adopted on 27 May by the Competitiveness Council.
With the tourism and travel sector - hit hard by the Covid-19 pandemic - accounting for almost 10% of EU GDP and 11.7 million jobs, the draft conclusions stress the importance of rethinking tourism services to make them more environmentally friendly, innovative and resilient.
To this end, Member States are asked to commit to ensuring “adequate economic and financial tools” to enable the successful recovery of this crisis-ridden sector and the achievement of environmental objectives.
Still on the subject of funding, the draft conclusions also invite the Commission to present, by September 2021 at the latest, an overview of the envelopes available in the European budget 2021-2027, as well as the resources available under the Next Generation EU Recovery Plan. This wish was partly met by the presentation, on the same day, of a guide to European funding for tourism. This document brings together information on EU funds available to people and businesses working in the tourism sector (https://bit.ly/3oaIObO ).
The Commission is also called upon to design, together with the relevant stakeholders, a European Tourism Agenda 2030-2050, based on shared priorities and action plans.
In addition to tourism services adapted to environmental requirements, the draft conclusions also point to the need to introduce the notion of “respect for natural, social and cultural values and the well-being of local communities, particularly those in less developed areas”.
See the draft EU Council conclusions: https://bit.ly/3hgls38 (Original version in French by Thomas Mangin)