Sustainable Tourism Law

THE UNWTO DRAFT CONVENTION ON THE PROTECTION OF TOURISTS 233 growth and to the competitiveness of different States. The Travel & Tourism Competitiveness Index provides all interested parties with a series of awareness- -based elements and some essential tools to promote cooperation among stakeholders and to improve competitiveness of national economies. The main topic of the 2017 edition, entitled “ Paving the way for a more sustainable and inclusive future ”, shows the growing international attention given to sustainability and inclusion, also in relation to the Travel&Tourism area, highlighting the need to guarantee sustainable tourism in order to protect the natural environment and safeguard local communities, since they are factors on which it strongly depends 105 . Based on this perspective, interestingly, the most crucial aspects that influence the “ business environment ”, and the first indicator taken into consideration to determine the competitiveness level, is how the inefficiency of the legal system often plays an important role together with the other main factors related to the commitment of national Governments, the security of the Country and the level of corporate taxation 106 . The priority attached to tourism by governmental policies, the quality of the legal framework, the impact of rules on attracting investments, the efficiency of the legal system – also including a timely judicial system and the required time to settle the litigation, as well as in terms of the cost of bureaucracy – thus representing elements as essential for competitiveness of the system as other development factors, such as those connected to technology and security, to infrastructure and services, to health and environment, to cultural attractions and natural resources. Therefore, we could begin by asking how such a complex and heterogeneous international legal framework might really be integrated by an additional 105 The last edition is available at: www.weforum.org/reports/the-travel-tourism-competitiveness-report-2017. In the 2017 Ranking , Italy maintains its 8th position at the global level, despite the fluctuating performance. The competitiveness of the travel and tourism sector is dragged, according to the World Economic Forum, by its exceptional cultural resources (5th) and natural ones (12th), as well as by the level of tourist infrastructures (11th), which continue to attract significant flows of international tourists. There have also been improvements in ground infrastructure (22nd, with an improvement of 10 places), human resources are more qualified and easier to manage (67th, with an improvement of 8 places) and prices are more competitive (124th, with an improvement of 9 places). 106 With reference to Italy, the World Economic Forum notes that the priority reserved for the Travel &Tourism sector has dropped significantly (75th, with a deterioration of 10 places), due to a lower commitment by the Government (74th place) and a weaker brand strategy (75th place). Safety and security also worsened (70th, down 22 places), due to a deterioration in the perception of the reliability of the police system and a growing fear of terrorism and crime. The business environment remains weak (Italy ranks 121th in the world) and has not progressed, due to the slow administrative procedures related to building permits (114th), the inefficiency of the legal framework (134th) and the high level of corporate taxation (125th).