The European Court of Auditors published a report on Tuesday 14 December recommending a new European tourism strategy.
The Court of Auditors’ report points out that tourism-related projects financed by the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) had produced mixed results. While in some cases, the report states, the projects had a positive impact, in others the projects were delayed or over budget, reducing their impact.
According to the report, while the EU has reviewed its tourism priorities as part of wider policy strategies, none of these have been translated into an action plan to support its implementation.
In addition, the report also states that no EU Member State has used the common indicators to measure the success of ERDF-funded projects for the period 2014-2020.
In 2019, the pre-pandemic reference period, 37% of international tourist arrivals were to the EU. In the same year, the sector accounted for some 9.9% of the EU’s gross domestic product.
See the Court of Auditors’ report: https://bit.ly/3J22l8y (Original version in French by Thomas Mangin)