On Friday 18 March, the Member States Tourism Ministers held an informal meeting in Dijon. On this occasion, the competent ministers focused on the importance of tourism for European citizens in the EU and on how to make the European Union the leading destination for sustainable tourism (see EUROPE 12913/19).
“The two main themes have been widely debated and, on these two dossiers, we have a very large consensus”, explained the Commissioner for the Internal Market, Thierry Breton.
“Expectations have changed. Above all, we must position ourselves as the leading destination for sustainable tourism, and that means investing in renovating infrastructures and developing training”, explained the French Minister Delegate for Tourism, Jean-Baptiste Lemoyne.
In addition, the discussions also focused on the first ‘Transition Pathway for Tourism’, which identifies 27 main areas of work. On this issue, the Member States Tourism Ministers confirmed their willingness to “focus [their] competences to embrace the green, sustainable and digital transition”.
The text, presented last February by the Commission, should make it possible to increase the resilience of tourism by working with professionals in the sector.
In addition, the issues of the revision of the Package Travel Directive (see EUROPE 12891/9) and the forthcoming Commission proposal on short-term rentals were also discussed.
Concerning the revision of the Package Travel Directive, “we are in the consultation phase”, said Thierry Breton. “We really want to do things as well as possible, many stakeholders are being consulted. We would like the consultation to be completed before the summer”, he added, pointing out that, as was the case with the Digital Services Act (DSA) and the Digital Markets Act (DMA) (see EUROPE 12913/20), deadlines could be extended.
Finally, on the issue of short-term rentals, the European Commissioner suggested that the proposal could be presented “by the summer”. “This is our goal”, he concluded. (Original version in French by Thomas Mangin)