WRITTEN QUESTION E-2702/01

by Mario Mauro (PPE-DE) to the Commission

(3 October 2001)

Subject: Sustainable tourism in the European Union

The European Union is one of the world's major tourist destinations.

In 1997 the Commission initiated three studies on integrated quality management in rural, urban and coastal tourist destinations. These studies are aimed at identifying and analysing best practice in integrated quality management in countries belonging to the European Economic Area and contributing to exchanges of information and knowledge transfer within Europe and serving as a guide to the public sector, in particular local authorities, and the private sector, in particular tourist companies. These studies were also intended to constitute a first step towards preparing sustainable development indicators for the tourist industry (beyond the transport and energy sectors).

It would in fact be desirable to develop a policy aimed at preserving as far as possible resources and all forms of environment (ecological, landscape, archaeological) from the impact of the tourist industry, guaranteeing compatibility between tourist activities and the protection of areas of great natural beauty and biological value and drawing up directives, e.g. on the load capacity of tourist destinations.

In this connection, will the Commission state whether it is about to draw up a strategy for the improvement of Community tourist areas, as announced?

Has the Commission considered the possibility of promoting initiatives to support sustainable tourism in the European Union, taking due account of the economic importance of this sector, as well as its impact on regional planning and increasing international competition?

Answer given by Mr Liikanen on behalf of the Commission

(10 December 2001)

Following the mandate of the Internal Market Council of 21 June 1999, the Commission set up, in close cooperation with Member States, five working groups aimed at further investigating the priority areas signalled for concrete action. One of them referred to the promotion of environmental protection and sustainable tourism in Europe. Besides Member States, experts representing the views of the tourism industry, non-governmental organisations (NGOs), consumer organisations and other relevant stakeholders were associated with this work. On the basis of the conclusions and recommendations issued by the Working Groups, the Commission has adopted, on 13 November 2001, a Communication on the future of European tourism(1), which presents an operational framework for the monitoring of policies and activities in the Community based on an open coordination method.

In line with the unanimous agreement of all stakeholders, the Communication includes a measure to launch the process for developing and further implementing the principles of sustainable tourism development through the Agenda 21 for European Tourism. The Agenda 21 for Tourism is meant as an input to the World Summit on Sustainable Development of September 2002 in Johannesburg.

Furthermore, the Commission is conducting a survey on an Early warning system for identifying declining tourist destinations and preventive best practices. The early warning system to be developed in this study will have the purpose of allowing inter alia tourism destinations to detect the signals of decline in a wide range of situations and enabling them to undertake suitable actions. The definition and measurement of carrying capacity is at the core of this study. It needs a systematic selection of indicators able to measure and monitor the evolution of tourism towards sustainability patterns. The dynamics of monitoring is one of the five stages in the Integrated Quality Management approach.

Finally, the Commission is also carrying out a study on Using natural and cultural heritage for the development of sustainable tourism in non-traditional tourist destinations which intends to provide basic guidance on the development of sustainable tourism based on natural and cultural heritage in non traditional tourist destinations and to draw up conclusions and recommendations including sources of funding to promote such initiatives.

(1) COM(2001) 665.