EU Tourism Policies

Challenges for the European tourism industry

The main challenges are:

 

  • security and safety– environmental, political, and social security; safety of food and accommodation; and socio-cultural sustainability threats;
  • economic competitiveness– seasonality, regulatory and administrative burdens; tourism related taxation; difficulty of finding and keeping skilled staff;
  • technological– keeping up to date with IT developments caused by the globalisation of information and advances in technology (IT tools for booking holidays, social media providing advice on tourism services, etc.);
  • markets and competition– growing demand for customised experiences, new products, growing competition from other EU destinations.

 

Europe, the world’s No. 1 tourist destination – a new political framework for tourism in Europe

A new strategy and action plan for EU tourism. Four priorities for action were identified:

 

  • To stimulate competitiveness in the European tourism sector;
  • To promote the development of sustainable, responsible, and high-quality tourism;
  • To consolidate Europe’s image as a collection of sustainable, high-quality destinations;
  • To maximise the potential of EU financial policies for developing tourism.

 

To date, the Commission has successfully implemented the majority of the actions set out in the Communication, focusing on the following priorities:

 

  • increasing tourism demand, from within the EU and beyond;
  • improving the range of tourism products and services on offer;
  • enhancing tourism quality, sustainability, accessibility, skills, and ICT use;
  • enhancing the socio-economic knowledge base of the sector;
  • promoting Europe as a unique destination;
  • mainstreaming tourism in other EU tourism policies.