Sustainable Tourism Law

EVOLUTION OF SUSTAINABILITY IN THE EUROPEAN UNION TOURISM POLICY 117 tourism. On the contrary, the influence has been remarkable from other policies such as the consumer protection or regional development ones. As ARCARÓNS remarked “the lack of specific legal basis on tourism in the Treaty has not been an obstacle for the EU to have undertaken a wide and diverse range of direct and indirect measures related to tourism, based on the general provisions of the Treaty (Art. 308 and 94) and/or provisions that are based on sector policies or initiatives”. MOLINA DEL POZO points out the multidisciplinary nature of tourism and, therefore, it has been approached from other different community policies (consumers and users, environmental protection, cultural policy, etc.). The following sections will analyse how the principle of sustainability has evolved in European tourism policy; from the first documents to the most recent ones. II. ENVIRONMENT AND TOURISM IN EUROPEAN POLICY II.1. First documents The first Community documents on tourism were the Communication from the Commission on the Community Policy on Tourism. Initial Guidelines [COM (82) 385 final] and the Council Resolution of 10 April 1984 on a Community Tourism Policy . These documents highlight the importance of tourism from an economic, political and cultural point of view, to achieve a closer union between peoples. Additionally, some conclusions about Community activity in tourism are drawn, such as the staggering of holidays, the safeguarding of the architectural heritage of disadvantaged regions or the social, cultural and rural tourism, etc. The Resolution of 1984, within the section on the safeguarding of European heritage, claims that pollution and environmental deterioration constitute one of the most important obstacles to tourism and links a series of Community initiatives in the field of environmental protection that favourably influence tourism: 1) Council Directive of December 8, 1975 , concerning the quality of bathing water in current, stagnant continental water and in seawater in the regions where bathing is authorized or tolerated. 2) Council Directive of May 4, 1976 , concerning the pollution caused by certain dangerous substances discharged into the aquatic environment of the Community, aims to stop the deterioration process of this environment by prohibiting or limiting the dumping of toxic substances, which are indicated in a “grey or black list”.