By Brian Johnson - 1st December 2010
Tourism is a very important economic sector and the Lisbon treaty has created a new competency to support it. That support should include a more integrated approach to tourism
Mercedes Bresso, the president of the Committee of the Regions
At European level, tourism is an important sector for south east Europe, and in many ways the region is one of tourism's heavyweights
Willebrord Sluijters, an advisor to the European commission's deputy director general for regional policy
With tourism activity mainly concentrated in the traditional destinations in the western and southern Mediterranean, it is clearly in Europe's interest to explore and promote as widely as possible, new destinations that can offer tourists something diff
Brian Simpson, chair of the European parliament's transport and tourism committee
Mercedes Bresso, the president of the Committee of the Regions, has backed calls for a more integrated EU approach to supporting Europe's tourism industry.
Speaking at a Parliament Magazine conference in Brussels on Tuesday, Bresso said a "strong and viable tourism sector" was of "great importance to Europe's regions".
Bresso, who provided the keynote speech at the event on tourism development in south east Europe, said that since the entry into force of the Lisbon treaty tourism had now become an EU policy for the first time.
"Tourism is a very important economic sector and the Lisbon treaty has created a new competency to support it," she said. "That support should include a more integrated approach to tourism."
The CoR chief said she welcomed the recent European commission communication on tourism, which called for an integrated approach that would see tourism policy mainstreamed into other EU policy areas that had a direct impact on it.
However, she also called for more to be done to help the industry innovate and diversify its products and services.
Cooperation
Bresso said, "The CoR is keen to encourage more cooperation and to help develop the exchange of best practices, many of which have been devised at the sub-national level.
"Local and regional authorities were among the first to realise that in order to ensure the continuous economic success if tourism it must be sustainable."
Sustainability however could not be achieved without effective cooperation between all of the sector's stakeholders, she added.
"The essence of providing high quality, sustainable tourism lies in the cooperation between local and regional authorities and the tourism industry itself," she said.
Bresso argued that trans-border cooperation projects such as the network of European regions for a sustainable and competitive European tourism, and the European grouping of territorial cooperation (EGTC) had already proven their worth in helping regions work together on a wide range of projects.
"An integrated approach is at core of the new Europe 2020 strategy, and [we know that] providing high quality and sustainable tourism requires broad cooperation," she said.
Citing the Camino de Santiago, the collection of ancient pilgrimage routes that crosses a number of Europe's countries and regions and finishes in northern Spain, Bresso said regional cooperation had "benefitted many more regions than just Galicia".
"This experience in interregional and public-private cooperation is directly applicable to the countries of south eastern Europe," she added.
"This sort of collaboration can only serve to diversify the tourism product and increase quality."
Innovation
Bresso's comments were echoed by several other speakers at the opening session of the conference. Willebrord Sluijters, an advisor to the European commission's deputy director general for regional policy, said tourism was a, "key driver for local economies", but that more innovation was needed.
Sluijters told delegates that tourism was an important and growing sector, particularly for certain regional players. Tourism in Croatia, he said, accounted for 20 per cent of GDP, while Greece relied on the industry for 15 per cent of its GDP.
"At European level, tourism is an important sector for south east Europe, and in many ways the region is one of tourism's heavyweights," said Sluijters.
Sluijters agreed that within the Europe 2020 strategy, the potential for growth was strong, saying, "We have to tap into this potential, but we also have to innovate. Innovation is essential.
"EU funding for tourism has to be fully integrated into national and regional strategies for smart, sustainable and inclusive growth, as part of the Europe 2020 strategy."
Brian Simpson, the chair of parliament's transport and tourism committee, spoke about the benefits of cross-border cooperation.
He said that since the last south east Europe tourism conference in December 2009 it has become clearer how the new EU competences are "taking shape and boosting the profile of tourism policy at European level".
