Commission tables new strategy to boost tourism in EU

The main elements of the new policy:More policy-coordination: to make sure that policy initiatives affecting tourism do not hamper the competitiveness of the sector. Member States and tourism stakeholders will be regularly consulted, as for example, on the forthcoming Green Paper on Maritime Affairs covering coastal and marine tourism.Improved use of available European financial instruments: Tourism will continue to benefit greatly from the financial support offered by the various European financial instruments .”A European Agenda 21 for Tourism” to promote tourism sustainability: The Commission will present a proposal for an Agenda 21 , by 2007, based on input from the Tourism Sustainability Group, composed of the tourism stakeholders.Better regulation: Tourism-related legislation will be part of the Better Regulation process (see Memo 05/340).Enhancing the understanding of the importance of tourism by providing all decision-makers with high quality data.Better promotion of European destinations: Globalisation has opened up new opportunities to attract tourists from new markets (such as China, Russia and India) able to afford high value vacations.Improving the visibility of tourism: The Commission will continue to work in close partnership with all involved actors to promote the visibility of this important industry through events organised by the EU Presidencies and the Annual European Tourism Forum.Press release IP/06/344 of 2006-03-21

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