The Council adopted a conclusion which underlines that that tourism is an activity which can play an important role in the attainment of the goals of the Growth and Jobs Strategy.
It takes the view that cooperation and partnership amongst all involved public and private stakeholders at European, national, regional and local level is needed for the sustainable development of European tourism.
The Commission, the Member States, the European tourism industry and other stakeholders of the tourism sector to:
- work together to strengthen the political awareness on tourism issues and to organise common initiatives which highlight the importance of tourism for jobs, growth and sustainable development and allow the exchange of expertise and best practice;
- continue and further their collaboration especially on issues related to sustainability in view of the presentation by the Commission, in 2007, of a proposal for a European Agenda 21 for Tourism.
The Commission is invited - through an active role in policy-coordination - to:
- maintain and implement its commitment to actively promote Better Regulation and to make sure that the impact of its policy initiatives on the sector's competitiveness and sustainability is identified at an early stage;
- identify and analyse initiatives that may affect tourism at an early stage and to inform the Tourism Advisory Committee on a regular basis of such initiatives;
- continue and enforce the interactive process by consulting with and informing the tourism stakeholders on issues and initiatives that may affect tourism;
- inform the Member States (and in particular the Tourism Advisory Committee) and tourism stakeholders on the possibilities of funding specific tourism-related projects through European financial instruments on a regular basis.
The Council invites the Member States to:
- actively exchange information on good practices and measures promoting economic, social and environmental sustainability in tourism ;
- undertake regular Better Regulation exercises, at all levels, aiming to improve the regulatory environment for tourism;
- promote the use of European financial instruments for tourism-related projects;
- pay special attention to the upgrading of relevant skills through training and education, and encourage the industry to do likewise.
The European Tourism industry and other stakeholders of the tourism sector are invited to:
- collaborate with each other and with the public sector to promote the competitiveness and sustainability of European tourism and improve the satisfaction of the tourists;
- proactively inform the policy makers, at all levels, of regulatory and policy measures that would help to better take into account the, often complex, interests of the various tourism related sectors;
- actively participate in impact assessment procedures;
- make best use of available European financial instruments for tourism-related projects.