Sustainable Tourism Law

EVOLUTION OF SUSTAINABILITY IN THE EUROPEAN UNION TOURISM POLICY 121 informing and increasing the awareness of tourists and suppliers of services about the interaction between tourism and the environment, particularly through the creation of a European environmental prize, support for innovative pilot projects to reconcile tourism and nature protection at local or regional level, especially in coastal and mountain areas, nature parks and reserves, support for the development of networks involving transnational exchanges of experience and support for initiatives encouraging forms of environmentally-friendly tourism. On the other hand, Article 5 of Decision 92/421/EEC establishes that every year from the date of adoption of the Action Plan, the Commission, in a report to the European Parliament and the Council, shall evaluate the Community’s activities liable to affect tourism. Responding to this mandate, the Commission elaborated the Report on Community Actions affecting Tourism , corresponding to year 1993 [COM (94) 74 final]. The Report analyses different aspects related to tourism and the environment. From the impact of tourists transport in the environment to the Programmes and differentCommunity initiatives that affect these fields (FifthEuropeanCommunity environment programme, Community Initiatives ENVIREG, LIFE), the protection of natural resources (water, natural areas, air quality) or international cooperation (e.g. the Commission took part in the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development, held in Rio de Janeiro, in June 1992). The Report was approved, with clarifications, by the Resolution of December 15, 1994 , of the European Parliament (January 23 1995). One of its considerations is the request to include in the next review of the TEU (1996) a tourism policy of its own. This tourism policy shall be multidisciplinary and multidimensional, so that it integrates and coordinates environmental, economic, socio-labour and cultural parameters in its planning and advocates for the establishment of a European Tourism Agency which, in coordination with the European Environment Agency, could help set the priorities of a Community policy for an environment-friendly tourism. The report on Community Measures that have affected tourism in 1994 was adopted by the Commission on February 5, 1996 [COM (96) 29 final], and deepens the interdependence between the environment and land use. Annex 13 links the different sustainable tourism actions supported by the LIFE instrument. A few months later, the Commission submitted the Report on the evaluation of the Community Action Plan for tourism 1993-95 [COM (96) 166 final, Brussels, April 30, 1996], drawn up by the Price Waterhouse consulting firm. In general terms, the Commission agrees with the overall evaluation of the consultants’