Opinion of the European Economic and Social Committee on Tourism and culture: two forces for growth
Date: 2006-03-15
Institutions: European Economic and Social Committee
Subjects: EU policy, cultural heritage, economic growth, heritage protection, information technology, public awareness campaign, tourism, tourism policy

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II

(Preparatory Acts)

EUROPEAN ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL COMMITTEE

425th PLENARY SESSION HELD ON 15-16 MARCH 2006

Opinion of the European Economic and Social Committee on Tourism and culture: two forces for
growth

(2006/C 110/01)

On 14 July 2005 the European Economic and Social Committee decided to draw up an opinion, under
Rule 29(2) of its Rules of Procedure, on Tourism and culture: two forces for growth.

The Section for the Single Market, Production and Consumption, which was responsible for preparing the
Committee's work on the subject, adopted its opinion on 21 February 2006. The rapporteur was Mr Pesci.

At its 425th plenary session, held on 15-16 March 2006 (meeting of 15 March), the European Economic
and Social Committee adopted the following opinion by 135 votes to one with three abstentions.

1. Introduction

Unlike other industrial sectors, this heritage cannot be relocated
or reproduced, and it could thus be a trump card in the face of
competition from other areas of the world.

1.1
Tourism contributes substantially to the EU's economy,
accounting for 5.5 % of GDP (with this figure varying from 3 %
to 8 % according to the Member State) thanks to the activity of
over two million businesses employing approximately nine
million people. Tourism is also a powerful driving force for
other sectors of the economy, including industry (particularly
fashion-related sectors),
trade and other
types of services.

transport, agrifood,

1.2
Over 80 % of European tourism is generated by indivi-
duals and families, while the rest is business tourism derived
from companies. European families dedicate about an eighth of
their personal expenditure to tourism-related consumption.

Europe is still the most popular tourist destination in
1.3
the world. Indeed, flows of tourists to the European Union are
constantly increasing from Russia, China and India, where
economic development is rapidly giving more of the popula-
tion access to this kind of consumption.

1.5
As part of the process of drawing up this opinion, a
number of meetings were held with the heads of the various
Commission directorates-general concerned with the issue of
tourism and culture and with European Parliament representa-
tives. In addition, a public hearing was held on 18 November
2005 at Paestum, one of the most evocative archaeological
sites in Italy, in which many representatives of public institu-
international organisations (UNESCO), cultural associa-
tions,
tions and private tourist companies took part. The hearing was
held in conjunction with the ‘Eighth Mediterranean archaeolo-
gical tourism fair’, making it possible for representatives from
countries on the southern side of the Mediterranean to partici-
pate as well.

2. New impetus for the Lisbon Agenda

1.4
Despite these initial encouraging facts, strong competi-
tion from new emerging economies affects the European
tourism sector more and more each year. The aim of this own-
initiative opinion is to draw the European institutions' attention
to the boost which culture can give tourism in Europe, and to
call on them to promote and protect Europe's cultural heritage.

2.1
The March 2005 European summit called upon the
Commission, the Council and the Member States to relaunch
the Lisbon Strategy for growth and employment and to take an
active part in the attainment of its objectives: tourism and
culture can clearly make a substantial contribution to both
growth and employment. Indeed, as regards growth, tourism

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looks set to be one of the fastest developing economic sectors
in the coming years: an average annual growth rate of 3.1 % is
expected between 2006 and 2015. In terms of employment,
too, tourism is an industry which is well placed to make a
significant contribution to combating unemployment. As the
industry employs a large number of women, it can also help in
the achievement of the Lisbon Strategy objective of raising the
number of women in employment (1). Although European
its
tourism is expected to double over the next 25 years,
growth rate is lower than the world average, and, in particular,
lower than the growth rates of some regions of emerging coun-
tries. Appropriate initiatives are necessary from all the institu-
tions if the EU's tourism sector is to expand still further and be
restored as the fastest-growing tourism sector in the world.

3. Cultural tourism

3.1
One of the fastest growing areas of the tourism sector is
cultural tourism — tourism connected with art and nature, art
heritage cities and areas with a particularly high concentration
of historical assets and local traditions. This opinion aims not
to address all culture-related issues but to assess the potential
contribution of culture to tourism.

In this specific segment of the tourism sector, the Euro-
3.2
pean Union is particularly fortunate in that it has a greater
concentration of cultural assets than any other area in the
world. Indeed, 300 of the 812 UNESCO World Heritage sites
of cultural and natural heritage recorded in 137 countries are
located in the 25 EU Member States. The figure rises to 331 (2)
if the four candidate countries (Bulgaria, Croatia, Romania and
Turkey) are taken into account. The second European Cultural
Tourism Network annual conference revealed the very signifi-
cant fact that the flow of visitors to Europe from China and
India is entirely due to the interest that people from those
countries have in European cultural and architectural heritage.
The EU and the Member States must therefore invest in preser-
ving their wealth of cultural heritage and promoting cultural
tourism.

(1) According to ECTN (European Cultural Tourism Network) data,
cultural tourism brings direct benefits for three areas defined by the
Lisbon Strategy: Area 8 – more jobs; Area 9 – labour force; and
Area 10 – education. The ECTN, which was set up in 2003 to
sectors of cultural
promote cooperation between the various
tourism, is a project cofinanced by the European Union.

(2) This is the distribution of UNESCO (United Nations agency respon-
sible for culture) sites among the 25 EU Member States: Austria 8,
Belgium 10, Cyprus 3, Denmark 4, Estonia 2, Finland 6, France 30,
Germany 31, Greece 16, Ireland 2, Italy 42 (including the two
Vatican City sites), Latvia 2, Lithuania 4, Luxembourg 1, Malta 3,
Netherlands 7, Poland 12, Portugal 13, United Kingdom 26, Czech
Republic 12, Slovakia 5, Slovenia 1, Spain 38, Sweden 14, Hungary
8.

3.3
Economic benefits aside, cultural tourism also has a key
role to play in developing social and civil values and in
fostering European integration and the dialogue between
peoples and cultures. The development of the European identity
hinges on a deeper knowledge of the countries, cultural tradi-
tions and ‘differences’ which make up the rich European
tapestry. Today, as Europe faces something of an identity crisis,
promoting European cultural values could convey optimism
and confidence as regards the Union's future (3).

Furthermore, particularly at this difficult time for multi-
3.4
culturalism, the EU must undertake to foster cultural and reli-
gious dialogue with other peoples,
including by promoting
cultural tourism. The EU's decision to make 2008 the European
Year of Intercultural Dialogue is therefore particularly timely.

Developing cultural tourism, highlighting the historical
3.5
and social context of European art heritage and enhancing
environmental heritage will give tourists from all countries a
genuine understanding of Europe's cultural history.

4. The European institutions' current undertakings

4.1
The European Union has for some time been active in
the area of tourism and protecting and promoting cultural heri-
tage, although it has never been able to finance tourist activities
directly for lack of a legal basis. Now, at last, a legal basis has
been provided for in the draft of the new Constitutional Treaty,
although, regrettably, the Constitutional Treaty has yet to be
ratified. The approach hitherto adopted by the EU with a view
to maximising the potential of tourism has essentially been
horizontal: sometimes the Structural Funds have been used to
promote tourism and sometimes it has benefited from the
knock-on effect of projects relating to other sectors, such as the
environment or research. Although this may seem positive, the
fact that it is difficult for DG Enterprise and Industry (tourism
unit) to achieve effective coordination with the other directo-
rates-general
that are directly or indirectly concerned with
tourism, is in danger of nullifying any beneficial effects of the
various European initiatives for the sector.

4.2 With regard to the Structural Funds, in the period 2000-
2006 the EU allocated approximately EUR 7 billion to projects
directly or indirectly linked to the tourism sector and some
EUR 2 billion to cultural projects (Interreg III, Leader+ and

(3) Europa Nostra (the Pan-European Federation for Cultural Heritage,
engaged in enhancing and safeguarding Europe's cultural heritage,
bringing together 40 European countries and over 200 associations
involved in safeguarding and enhancing cultural heritage) believes
that European cultural heritage is a key element in developing and
promoting the European identity and European citizenship.

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Urban programmes). A total EUR 9 billion of funding was thus
earmarked for tourism and culture, but it may not be properly
exploited because the level of coordination in managing these
two respective sectors financed by the Structural Funds leaves
something to be desired.

4.3
Particularly successful EU initiatives to promote cultural
heritage include the European Capitals of Culture (ECCs)
project. A recent study (4) commissioned by DG Culture states
that this programme has led in the year of the event to an
average increase of 12 % in tourism in cities awarded the title
of European Capital of Culture and in the following year to
tourist flows which were still higher than the average for the
years preceding the event. According to the same study, the
growth potential generated by the event is still high but is
worth exploiting more. To this end, DG Culture has drawn up
a new proposal advocating the future adoption of new, clearer
criteria for selecting the candidate cities, encouraging competi-
tion and emulation between them, stressing the need for
cultural programmes to have a European dimension and be
sustainable and,
lastly, promoting the dissemination of good
practice in the management of cultural events. The proposal
also calls for the EU's contribution to the European Capital of
Culture, currently set at EUR 500 000, to be trebled.

In early December 2005,

4.4
the EP Committee on
Budgetary Control, in line with the objective of promoting the
potential of tourism and culture as much as possible, approved
for the first time the appropriation of EUR 1 billion for the
development of a project promoting European destinations of
excellence.

For

experts

its part,

representing the

4.5
the Commission's DG Enterprise and
Industry has set up a Tourism Sustainability Group (TSG),
which includes
institutions and
different categories of operators, with the task of drafting
proposals to the Commission for achieving sustainable tourism
as a step towards drawing up an Agenda 21 for European
tourism by 2007. The EESC agrees with the Commission and
the European Parliament that sustainable tourism is the only
form of tourism that should be promoted, and that alone.

Lastly,

the Commission's DG Enterprise has

4.7
just
launched a study on The impact of cultural and sporting events on
tourism-oriented SMEs, while DG Culture has launched a study
on the cultural economy in Europe.

5. The work of the Economic and Social Committee

Aware of

the importance of

5.1
the tourism sector for
Europe, the European Economic and Social Committee has, for
some time, been active in tourism-related areas such as tourism
policy in the enlarged EU,
tourism and socio-economic
recovery of areas in decline, tourism and cooperation between
the public and private sectors, tourism and sport, etc. (5)

5.2
Together with the two papers referred to in point 4.7
and the opinions referred to in point 5.1, this opinion seeks to
contribute to the formulation of future tourism policy guide-
lines at European level.

6. Raising the public's cultural awareness

6.1
The promotion of cultural values should primarily target
the people living in an area, who must become more aware of
the wealth of local historical, art and environmental heritage (6).
Indeed, once familiar with local heritage, they can play a valu-
able role in preserving and promoting their area, supporting
the work of the public authorities.

To

encourage

6.2
awareness,
widespread
programmes need to be introduced in schools which inform
young people about local historical, art and environmental
heritage, together with initiatives which give young people a
leading role in exploiting it (7).

cultural

4.6 Moreover, at the fourth European Tourism Forum, held
in Malta on 20 October 2005, Commissioner Günter
Verheugen announced the launch in early 2006 of a European
tourism portal, which will provide access to the websites of
national tourist organisations in order to promote European
tourist destinations to the rest of the world more effectively.

(4) Palmer/Rae Associates, International Cultural Advisors,

‘European
Cities and Capitals of Culture’, study prepared for the European
Commission, August 2004.

(5) The tourism-related subjects addressed by the EESC include: Tourism
policy in the enlarged EU, The contribution of
tourism to the socio-
economic recovery of areas in decline, and Tourism policy and cooperation
between the public and private sectors (rapporteur: Mr Mendoza Castro);
and Tourism and sport: the future challenges for Europe (rapporteur: Mr
Pesci).

(6) The initiative of the municipality of Antwerp in Belgium, which
gives all Antwerp's residents free entry to the city's museums, is
worth noting.

(7) In Italy, for instance, a number of interesting initiatives have devel-
oped in this field: each year in early spring, the Fondo Ambiente
Italiano promotes the opening of monuments which are little-
known or usually closed to the public, and asks local schoolchildren
to become ‘tour guides for a day’ and take visitors on guided tours
of them.

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7. The segments of cultural tourism

If cultural tourism is to be promoted effectively and
7.1
appeal even to the ‘culturally indifferent
the various
segments need to be analysed and developed, and trends and
identified. The main
opportunities for further development
segments of cultural
tourism are: art heritage, exhibitions,
shows and other events, food and wine and rural tourism, film
tourism and cultural theme parks.

tourist’,

7.2 Art heritage

consisting of historic

The most traditional segment of cultural tourism is
7.2.1
‘physical’ art heritage,
city-centres,
museums and archaeological sites. The priority for this segment
is to encourage greater integration between the management of
cultural assets and the management of tourist facilities so as to
encourage tourists to ‘exploit’ this heritage. The approach must
be one of integrated ‘cultural tourism’ facilities, to encourage
the integrated management of combined arts-and-environment
facilities, even where these are owned by different public autho-
rities or private individuals, or to promote opening-hours and
pricing policies which make the sites as accessible as possible
and generate more revenue so that management costs can be
covered. Moreover, cultural heritage needs to be ‘brought to
life’,
in
museums, palaces or castles of historic interest, with particular
focus on the promotion of contemporary art.

instance by mounting temporary exhibitions

for

particular types of museums, including ‘enterprise museums’, or
trans-European itineraries (10) such as the Via Francigena. These
networks and itineraries should be identifiable by means of a
single mark and be properly signposted, and their components
should be promoted together. The reception facilities provided
should also be the same, where possible.

7.3 Exhibitions, shows and other events

7.3.1
Another major segment of cultural tourism is events:
exhibitions, concerts, festivals and other special events. Over
the past 10 to 15 years, cultural events have become powerful
driving-forces in promoting tourism.
Increasing numbers of
fans, particularly young people, travel to visit major exhibi-
tions, to attend concerts and festivals and to take part in special
events such as the ‘White Nights’ which are becoming popular
in many cities such as Paris, Versailles, Brussels, Rome, Vienna
and Warsaw.

7.3.2
To enhance this segment, infrastructure needs to be
created or adapted to provide sites suitable for exhibitions and
festivals; planning is also necessary in the field of advertising
and information campaigns. The European Union could facili-
tate the creation of a single calendar of cultural events,
promote cooperation between different countries and cultural
institutions and, lastly, encourage initiatives in countries which
have less experience and fewer traditions in this field, particu-
larly the ten new Member States.

There have been interesting schemes such as,

7.2.2
for
example, the ‘tourist passes’ introduced by a number of Euro-
pean cities which combine transport services and access to
museums and archaeological sites.

7.4 Food and wine customs and rural tourism

7.2.3
‘Cultural districts’ are particularly suited to smaller
centres of art heritage, which integrate tourist and cultural
services in regions made up of a number of similar districts,
combine public and private funding, and are promoted as a
single entity. Moreover, the EESC believes that it would be
beneficial for regional tourist organisations to work together to
develop and create cultural districts, including across borders.

7.4.1
A third major segment of cultural tourism is linked to
food and wine customs in the different countries: this is a
segment of ‘material culture’ which has become increasingly
significant in recent years and has generated a genuine cultural
and economic movement promoting typical local products (11).

(10) There are many extremely interesting examples, including:

‘networks’ (8) or itineraries of cultural sites
7.2.4 Moreover,
should be set up in different countries, such as networks of
castles or palaces of historic interest, archaeological sites (such
as the Magna Grecia network of cities) (9) or networks of

(8) An interesting example is the Network of

fortified towns. The
county of Kent (United Kingdom), the Nord-Pas de Calais depart-
ment (France) and the province of Western Flanders (Belgium) have
linked 17 places of historic interest together in a network, thereby
promoting the rich shared heritage of the area.

(9) As proposed at the public hearing at Paestum on 18 November
2005 by a number of regional councillors responsible for tourism
in the Campania Region and Greece.

— the European Route of Brick Gothic, a project which spans
Poland,

seven
Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia), 26 cities and two regions;

(Sweden, Denmark, Germany,

countries

— the European Route of Jewish Heritage, a programme awarded
the ‘Major Cultural Route of the Council of Europe’ diploma by
the Council of Europe (5 December 2005).

(11) Initiatives to promote typical products include the international
‘Slow Food’ association, founded by Carlo Petrini, which currently
has 83,000 members, offices in Italy, Germany, Switzerland, the
United States, France, Japan and the United Kingdom and local
groups in 122 different countries. Slow Food opposes the standar-
disation of taste, defends the need for consumer information and
protects cultural identities linked to food and gastronomic tradi-
tions. Among the most distinctive European tourist
routes
promoting typical products are the Malt Whisky Trail in Scotland,
which is the only trail
in the world entirely devoted to malt
whisky, the Trappist beer route in Belgium and the Netherlands,
and the oyster routes in Brittany.

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Here,

7.4.2
too, the creation needs to be encouraged of
‘food and wine itineraries’ that include art and cultural attrac-
tions, promoting an integrated package of cultural visits, food-
and wine-tastings and experiences of rural life, thus combining
the history of art with an experience of typical food and wine
traditions from a particular region or area.

the history

attractions, should be an auxiliary facility to help visitors under-
stand properly
are being
‘immersed’ (12). Similar parks could be built in major European
cultural districts (13) and the EU could encourage the building
of this ‘info-tainment’ (information and entertainment)
infra-
structure, which could be an additional attraction for tourists.

in which they

7.4.3
The European Union could promote a European guide
to food and wine itineraries and rural tourism, focusing in par-
ticular on cross-border itineraries which combine the traditions
of two or three countries: this would help to highlight the
common roots underlying many traditions and ‘differences’.

8. Use of new technology

7.5 Film tourism

7.5.1
A fourth segment of cultural tourism which is emer-
ging as a substantial source of tourist flows is linked to film
and television-serial productions. Many regions are seeing the
number of tourists increasing as more and more people visit
sets and places which have played host to successful films and
TV productions. Thus, for instance, Alnwick Castle in North-
umberland (North of England), which was the setting for the
films based on J. K. Rowling's Harry Potter novels, created a
tourist flow of EUR 13 million per year almost overnight,
making it one of the top tourist destinations in the UK. The
same thing happened in Italy at Agliè Castle in Piedmont,
where the television serial Elisa di Rivombrosa was filmed: the
average number of visitors per week to the castle increased
from 100 to 3 500. Moreover, the effect of fame even applies
to films which are still at the production stage: the small city of
Lincoln in England where the film The Da Vinci Code, based on
the best-seller of the same name by Dan Brown, is being shot
has already attracted large numbers of tourists, while tour agen-
cies have sprung up in Paris running tours solely of the places
described in Brown's novel.

7.5.2
According to a survey carried out in August 2005 in
the UK, 27 % of adults and at least 45 % of young adults
between the ages of 16 and 24 are influenced when deciding
where to go on holiday by films they have seen in the cinema
or on television. That is why VisitBritain, a body promoting
British tourism,
follows film productions very closely and
publishes very detailed movie maps on its website showing all
the places where new productions are being filmed, how to get
there and the tourist facilities available.

New information and communication technology has
8.1
many contributions to make to the exploitation of cultural heri-
tage for tourism purposes: creation of websites and satellite and
digital television channels, use of audio and video clips for
latest-generation mobile phones, reconstructions of monuments
and sites of historical and artistic interest using virtual reality
techniques (14).

tourism:

New technologies could be applied in this particular
8.2
area to encourage sustainable tourism and protect the most
popular art heritage sites which are in danger of being
damaged by mass
information technology could
provide new ways of scheduling, monitoring and sorting
tourist flows, and environmental factors (such as humidity in
museum rooms) which can damage works of art could be
controlled automatically.
the use of on-line-
booking and visit-by-appointment systems could encourage
people to visit sites which can only accommodate a small
group of tourists at a time.

In addition,

Lastly, modern technology has a valuable contribution
8.3
to make in helping to create structures and systems that over-
come architectural barriers, which are all too often an insur-
mountable obstacle for the less agile. This must not be over-
looked.

8.4
The European Union, which stated in its Seventh Frame-
work Programme for Research and Innovation that the results
of research could be used to benefit the tourism sector and

(12) The Malta Experience is an interesting example: an hour-long film
relates the history of the island from its very beginning and the
the peoples who have inhabited it, giving even the
story of
youngest
the history
visitors
surrounding them.

understanding of

a proper

7.6 Cultural theme parks

A fifth segment of cultural tourism could be linked to
7.6.1
the creation of historical and art theme parks which supple-
ment visits to museums, historic city-centres and archaeological
sites. The parks, which could be built near famous tourist

(13) For example, a virtual park on ancient Pompeii could be built near
the archaeological site of Pompeii, representing daily life in Roman
times and maybe reconstructing the eruption of Vesuvius which
destroyed the town. A similar park could also be built in Waterloo
(Belgium), to give tourists a better understanding of how one of the
most famous battles in history was fought.

(14) During the seminar on Cultural tourism: a challenge for European
integration, organised by the Luxembourg Presidency in April
2005, a number of interesting examples were given of the applica-
tion of new technologies, including the use of palm-top computers
to provide a constant flow of information on the area a visitor is
passing through (this was in relation to pilgrims travelling along
the Via Francigena).

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encourage access to cultural heritage, could facilitate the prac-
tical implementation of initiatives of this kind, maybe drawing
up a list of available technologies and a map of best practices
at Community level which could provide useful information for
operators in the various countries.

8.5
The use of technology is essential to promote cultural
tourist destinations both within and outside the EU. Here, too,
the initiatives under way in the different countries should be
recorded. The European Union could, moreover, supplement
the European tourism portal with a satellite TV channel
promoting tourism in Europe to countries outside Europe.

9. Governance of cultural heritage and staff training

these are public property (state or

9.1
An effective system of exploitation of cultural heritage
for tourism purposes raises the issue of governance of cultural
assets. Some of
local
authority), while others belong to religious or non-profit orga-
nisations or are privately owned. The situation is particularly
sensitive in a number of new Member States, where the forced
nationalisation of previous decades has created uncertainty as
regards property rights and caused a considerable drop in the
level of conservation of much cultural heritage.

9.2 Models of governance should therefore be adopted
which, while respecting the current ownership structures of
artistic and cultural heritage and providing the greatest possible
protection and preservation guarantees, allow coordinated
management of integrated cultural tourist facilities and encou-
rage sharing of public and private investment,
including by
means of appropriate tax incentives.

9.3
The European Union could carry out a survey of
systems of governance in the different European countries to
assess their effectiveness and encourage dissemination thereof
in other countries, or it could propose innovative tax and other
systems fostering public-private cooperation in management.

Linked to governance is the issue of

9.4
training: staff
working in cultural heritage sites now, in addition to knowl-
edge of art history, have to have management and marketing
skills and be able to use new technologies, and those who have
direct contact with tourists such as hoteliers, shopkeepers,
public services staff etc., as well as having language skills,
should be trained in ‘savoir faire’ and to respect cultural differ-
ences among tourists. Here, too, the European Union could
record the most cutting-edge training expertise in the sector in
order to facilitate exchanges of expertise, benchmarking and
the dissemination of best practices, with a view to encouraging
high-quality tourism.

10. Integration of cultural

tourism and other tourism

segments

10.1
Effective management of cultural tourism can benefit
other tourism segments too, such as seaside and mountain
tourism and even business tourism and tourism for the older
public.

10.2
The presence of art itineraries, exhibitions, concerts,
festivals or venues for food- and wine-tasting could encourage
tourists to select particular European destinations and could
help these resorts to cope with competition from tourist desti-
nations in developing countries, which, while more competitive
in terms of natural resources and prices, cannot match the
cultural attractions offered by their European counterparts.

Similarly, where business tourism is concerned,

10.3
the
opportunity to combine a business trip with cultural tourism
may lead to the trip being extended by a few days (perhaps to
include a weekend) or even becoming a family vacation in
which a spouse or children are included.

10.4
Given that life expectancy is now much higher than in
the past, cultural tourism meets the needs of an ‘older’ public
which is choosing to spend an increasing amount of its leisure
time learning about and familiarising itself with new cultures.
This also ties in with the need to promote tourism during low-
season periods of the year.

There is no doubt that the European Union can also
10.5
act as a driving force in this endeavour to promote the integra-
tion of cultural tourism and the other tourism segments.

11. Conclusions and proposals

11.1
Given that culture can help to boost the development
of tourism, especially since, as well as being a driving force for
other sectors of the economy, tourism has a significant contri-
bution to make to the achievement of the Lisbon Strategy goals
of growth and employment, the main aim of this own-initiative
opinion is, as stated above, to provide the European institutions
with additional tools for promoting the sector, which is still
dynamic but
faces stiff competition from countries outside
Europe.

11.2 Information and integrated advertising campaigns

11.2.1
If European cultural tourism is to be exploited effec-
tively, more effective information and integrated advertising
campaigns publicising Europe and European destinations are
needed; at the same time, best practices need to be facilitated in
the areas of protection, exploitation, governance and training.
The European tourism portal will doubtless be very useful here,
particularly if:

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— Member States' tourist bodies do actually input effective,
practical, regularly updated information into the portal in a
uniform manner;

— it

includes accurate information on, and advertising of,
networks and itineraries of cultural tourism destinations
within Member States and across Europe;

— it can also be used by operators in the sector as well to
keep abreast of best practices in the field of management of
cultural tourism systems and governance of cultural heri-
tage and to keep in touch with new initiatives and events
and up-to-date training for staff;

— it incorporates information input at European level, such as
a European calendar of cultural events and exhibitions and
a guide to food and wine circuits and rural tourism;

— coordination and synergy between the European tourism

portal and the culture portal is ensured.

11.3 Using competitions and reward systems to promote best prac-

tice

11.3.1
The European Union could use competitions and
reward schemes in its programmes in order to promote best
practices in the management of cultural tourism services, parti-
cularly in the European Capitals of Culture programme (15) and
the future European destinations of excellence programme. The
EU could also provide advice for cities and regions which
decide to apply for these two programmes, and grant them
more substantial funding than at present and maybe fast-track
Structural Funds appropriations for them. At national level, it
would be worth encouraging healthy competition between the
cities and cultural tourism destinations applying to take part in
the two programmes by applying criteria defined at European
level: governance systems, cooperation between public and
private sectors,
tourist and cultural services,
advertising and information campaigns publicising events, etc.
for European Capitals of Culture; and sustainability, extension
of the tourist season, decongestion, governance systems, coop-
integration of
eration between public and private sectors,
services, etc. for European Destinations of Excellence.

integration of

Brussels, 15 March 2006.

11.4 Fostering intercultural dialogue

11.4.1
Fostering intercultural dialogue, both within the EU
(particularly with a view to the future accession of the four
candidate countries) and between the EU and other areas of the
world, must be a priority in cultural tourism programmes too.
In this perspective, as has already been stressed, the decision to
make 2008 the European Year of
Intercultural Dialogue is
extremely timely. Nevertheless, even before 2008 it would be
useful
for
example, by extending international exchange programmes
such as Erasmus to secondary school pupils and encouraging
twinning between classes from different countries. Specific
projects fostering intercultural dialogue could also be intro-
duced for older people. Thus, 2008 would be a show-case year
for current initiatives and could spawn further initiatives.

to launch a series of projects targeting schools,

11.5 Creating a European tourism agency

11.5.1
tourism
Since the EU has no direct operational
instruments due to the regrettable lack of a legal basis, it could
usefully take action to enhance coordination in the area of
management, to promote current and future projects for the
sector. The EESC would advocate the creation, as soon as
possible and with due regard for the subsidiarity principle, of a
European tourism agency which could act as a European
tourism monitoring centre and provide the Community and
the Member States with reliable and comparable data on
tourism. This has already been proposed in the earlier own-
initiative opinion on Tourism and sport: the future challenges
for Europe.

11.6 Encouraging policy coordination of cultural tourism activities

The EESC welcomes the proposals made by Commis-
11.6.1
sioner Günter Verheugen at
the Fourth European Tourism
Forum in Malta and by the recent European Parliament resolu-
tion (16) to entrust DG Enterprise and Industry with the task of
coordinating the various Community initiatives affecting the
tourism sector.

11.7
The EESC has called this opinion the Paestum Declara-
tion, recalling the public hearing held last November at that
fascinating Italian archaeological site.

The President

of the European Economic and Social Committee

Anne-Marie SIGMUND

(15) Until 2005 the programme was based on intergovernmental agree-

(16) European Parliament resolution on new prospects and new chal-

ments.

lenges for sustainable European tourism.