Sustainable Tourism Law

SUSTAINABILITY: THE PATH FROM STOCKHOLM TO THE EUROPEAN CHARTER 661 The European tourism policy , with a special focus on the Lisbon Treaty, has as its main goal stimulating the sector’s competitiveness , not forgetting that, in the long term, it is closely related to the sustainable way the activity is developed. The structure of the new tourism action framework 95 is formed by four axes: 1. Stimulating the competitiveness of the European tourism sector 96 ; 2. Promoting the development of a sustainable 97 , responsible and high- quality tourism; 3. Consolidating Europe’s image and visibility as a set of high-quality and sustainable destinations 98 ; 95 The Commission proposes its application in cooperation between the member-States and the main stakeholders. 96 Under this subject come the following objectives: – Promoting diversification of the tourism offer; – Developing innovation in the tourism industry; – Improving professional skills; – Encouraging an extension of tourism season; – Consolidating the socio-economic knowledge base of tourism. 97 A broad set of actions is presented: – Development, based on NECSTouR and EDEN, a system of indicators for the sustainable management of destinations. Said indicators, in turn, will allow the elaboration by the Commission of a label for the promotion of tourism destinations; – Organize awareness campaigns for European tourists related to their destination choices and means of transport. Raise attention to the relationships with the local population, as well as for the phenomenon of children and women’s exploitation; – Develop a “Quality Tourism” European brand “based on existing national experience, to increase consumer security and confidence in tourism products and reward rigorous efforts by tourism professionals whose aim is quality of tourism service for customer satisfaction”; – Facilitate identification of risks associated with climate change which may be suffered by investors and explore opportunities for alternative tourism services; – Propose a charter for sustainable and responsible tourism and institute a European prize for tourism businesses and destinations who reach it; – Propose a strategy for sustainable coastal and marine tourism; – Establish accords or reinforce cooperation between the European Union, the BRIC countries and the Mediterranean countries for the promotion of sustainable and responsible tourism development models, as well as the exchange of better practices in this domain. 98 Four actions are proposed: – The creation of a true Europe brand “ in cooperation with the Member States to complement promotional efforts at national and regional level and enable European destinations to distinguish themselves from other international destinations”; – The promotion of the Portal “visiteurope.com ”; – Favour common promotion actions related to major international events or major fairs and tourism exhibitions; – Reinforcement of the European Union’s participation in international bodies, namely the UNWTO, OECD, T20 and Euro-Med.