8th Baltic Sea Forum, Gdansk, 22.09.2015

Tourism policy priorities from a PPP perspective

Georgios Drakopoulos Special Adviser to the Secretary General, UNWTO

To discuss some practical aspects on tourism development

with reference to the Commission’s strategy

on coastal and maritime tourism

VisionChallengesFrameworkActions

Purpose & outline of the presentation

European Commission, COM 352 (30.06.2010)

Europe, the world’s No 1 tourist destination

Europe, the world’s best place to live,

therefore to visit, too

o  Growth and Tourism: The Vision

o  Growth and Tourism: The framework

High Quality is OK as a strategic direction, however…

Value for Money is better!

(DG Enterprise and Industry, 20.02.2014)

Growth and Tourism: The framework

Half of European tourism’s jobs and value added are located in the coastal areas

Southern Europe has far more tourist activity, now!

What about after 20-30 yrs and the climate change?

Blue Growth and Tourism: 4 challenges / pillars

�  Stimulate performance and competitiveness

�  Promoting skills and innovation

�  Strengthening sustainability

�  Maximize available EU funding

o  Stimulate performance and competitiveness Actions

�  Travel Facilitation

Stimulate performance and competitiveness Actions

LU PT GR MT CY ES IT FR DK

3 6 6,5 7 9 10 10 13 25

Introduce lower VAT rates for tourism across EU

Shall we move from national rates to product rates?

Stimulate performance and competitiveness Actions

Provisions for skeleton staff in EU Heritage sites

Stimulate performance and competitiveness Actions

Seasonality, beyond marketing action

New products Diversification

Market segmentation

Pricing policies Lower rates

Lower taxes More subsidies

Stimulate performance and competitiveness Actions

Seasonality, beyond marketing action

New products Diversification

Market segmentation

Pricing policies Lower rates

Lower taxes More subsidies

Results?

Stimulate performance and competitiveness Actions

Seasonality, beyond marketing action

Need for institutional regulation: Annual leaves to be distributed throughout the year

Stimulate performance and competitiveness Actions

o  Brand transnational products not areas

Stimulate performance and competitiveness Actions

o  Brand transnational products not areas

o .eu

Cost free approach, fits perfectly with new generation

o  www.visitgreece.gr o  www.visitpoland.pl o  www.visitmalta.mt

Stimulate performance and competitiveness Actions

o  Brand transnational products not areas

o .eu

Cost free approach, fits perfectly with new generation

o  www.visitgreece.gr.eu o  www.visitpoland.pl.eu o  www.visitmalta.mt.eu

o  Promoting skills and innovation Actions

Improve professional status – social recognition

Promoting skills and innovation Actions

�  When it comes to training:

Owners – Managers FIRST

Promoting skills and innovation Actions

�  Innovation needs support from research

�  Research needs support by educational systems

�  The tourism education systems in some EU Member States need to improve a lot, from basic up to academic levels

o  Strengthening sustainability Actions

�  Triple bottom line

Financial

Social Environmental

o  Maximize available EU funding Actions

EU funds

Businesses

o  Maximize available EU funding Actions

EU funds

Intermediaries

Businesses

Maximize available EU funding Actions

EU funds

Intermediaries

Businesses

o  Initiatives & Programs!!! Awareness???

Senior. Accessibility. Destinations of Excellence. Blue Jobs. EURES portal. Qualifications Framework. Credit System for Vocational Education and Training. Erasmus+. Knowledge Alliances. ICT. Tourism Business Portal. Natura. Water Framework. Water Blueprint. Marine Strategy Framework Directives. ECO Label. Travelife. EMAS. Tourism Indicator System. Protocol BCN on Integrated Coastal Management. Odyssea. Nautical Tourism. Tourism Quality Principles. European Structural Investment Funds. European Regional Development Fund. Horizon. COSME. Creative Europe. LIFE+. Neighborhood Policy. Black Sea Synergy. Strategy for Danube Region. Northern Dimension Policy.

A final message for policy action

Tourism is a good tool to help EU Member Countries restructuring/boosting their economies