Brussels/Belgrade, 25/09/2007 (Agence Europe) - No region in Europe is inaccessible to tourism and if European countries want to benefit economically from this situation they should also implement a forward looking policy for managing their historical and cultural heritage in order to avoid endangering their most precious assets. The round table organised last Friday during the EHD celebration in Belgrade (EUROPE yesterday) illustrated the challenge confronting all European countries, especially eastern and south eastern European countries. The opening up of borders and the current political stability will help attract tourists to these regions who want to discover one of the least known facets of European heritage, and it is imperative that the local authorities implement a suitable policy based on sustainability. In tourism, Europe accounts for more than half of all internal demand and last year attracted more than five million tourists, a figure that will be even higher next year. 800 million people will travel from one country to another by 2020. This motivation, according to Francesco Frangialli, Secretary General of the World Tourism Organisation, will often be motivated by cultural reasons. This new sociological phenomenon could have disastrous consequences on all historical monuments, even more so if it is accompanied by two negative factors: increased short stays provoked by an influx of short stay tourists who deprive the host country of economic resources that could be amassed over a longer period, and a media focus on certain sites (“The eight wonders of the world”) - which provoke an increase in visits to the detriment of other less well known sites. This phenomenon directly affects Europe, given that out of the 666 UNESCO listed cultural sites, 357 of them (more than half) are in Europe. There are four possible solutions: extension of tourist season, better marketing policy to encourage visitors outside the tourist season, implementation of sustainability indicators, and better site visit planning, concluded Frangialli. Mr Josep M. Lloveras, the head of the European Commission delegation to Serbia stated: “We need innovative schemes for sustainable development and quality cultural tourism”. (il)