1.1.

The EESC believes that the European Commission Communication COM(2020) 550 final should be a strategic policy tool for rethinking the EU sustainable model of tourism and transport. The EESC calls for a comprehensive package of measures, with guidelines and recommendations aimed at: (1) the safe restoration of unrestricted free movement, coordinated reopening of internal borders and the lifting of controls at internal borders; (2) the safe restoration of transport and connectivity following the adoption of a common political framework agreement for all EU Member States: — the safe continuation of the provision of services in the field of food tourism and hospitality, — striking a balance by agreement between EU Member States on the safe and common management of decisions and policies on borders and transport. As long as COVID-19 checks are carried out, there will be sufficient staff to manage the immediate and rapid transit of people, — securing funding for the training of workers in hotels, restaurants, catering establishments, museums, nautical tourism, etc., so that they can properly implement COVID-19 prevention measures; (3) ensuring that health and safety is top priority in any context, travelling or otherwise, as this is the only way to regain trust in the movement of persons; (4) adopting a new Passenger Locator Form (PLF) at EU level, because such a system could achieve further added value at EU level in a number of areas: — EU-level monitoring: if all Member States agreed to share both the new PLF information and the laboratory result information for travellers, we could reach economies of scale in terms of testing resources (1). If all EU countries agreed to use this technology (as Belgium and Germany have so far) and the same new standard PLF form, reliable estimates and projections could be made at city level, thus informing both country-level policies as well as EU-level policies. Such an effort would epitomise the role of the EU: through innovation and cooperation we can achieve our common goals — public health and economic activity at a time of crisis, — COVID-19 passport: one of the most challenging tasks of our tourist-season experience has been confirming the validity of PCR tests. If all Member States decided to adopt the same PLF platform, then all accredited laboratories could communicate the results through the platform itself, hence creating a COVID-19 passport for all travellers that could be trusted and ensure minimal risk associated with travelling; (5) establishing an EU common strategic plan to help the Member States implement economic and support measures for tourism SMEs, restaurants, hotels, travel agencies, tour guides, etc.: — addressing the lack of liquidity, with direct financing for micro-enterprises in particular, and restoring business confidence as well as arranging travel vouchers, — immediate access to and approval of loans to all Member States under the supervision of the ECB and the EU, with guarantees from the EU and the Member States, — establishing immediately a European mechanism for monitoring the implementation of support measures for SMEs and workers, particularly liquidity, lending and transparency in support measures; (6) strengthening and extending the SURE programme covering workers’ unemployment and SMEs’ wages compensation; SMEs should be exempted from paying part of their wages and be required to integrate workers through national schemes supported by SURE; (7) SME organisations should be properly consulted by European and national institutions competent to deploy the SURE programme; (8) the SURE programme should fully cover the wages and social security contributions of workers in the tourism and transport sector who have lost their jobs because of the pandemic, for instance in catering, hotels, airlines, cruise ships, tourist buses, airports, port terminals, nautical tourism and tour guides until at least 30 June 2021; (9) tax relief with a moratorium on tax obligations, an ad hoc tourism and transport fiscal stimulus package for all tourism SMEs for 2020-2024. The EESC believes that under a harmonised EU VAT system, reduced VAT should be applied to hotels, restaurants, travel services, nautical tourism (boat chartering, marinas), buses, tour guides, etc. Such measures, however, should be conditional to safeguarding workers’ rights and providing guarantees not to make redundancies. Furthermore, any financial support such as state aid, loans or tax exemptions should only be granted to businesses that: — safeguard employment/create decent jobs and respect workers’ rights, — are not registered in tax havens and have always paid their fair share of taxes and social contributions; (10) regulating the collaborative economy in tourism and especially in the tour guide sector. Inviting Member State governments to regulate the collaborative economy in the tour guide sector and to apply legislative and administrative measures designed to ensure a level playing field; (11) all liquidity, monetary and fiscal policy support programmes for hotels, restaurants, tour guides, buses, travel agents, nautical tourism, etc. and self-employed workers should be continued for at least 10 months after life gets back to normal in accordance with the WTTC (World Travel and Tourism Council).