Welcome to the 11th issue of « Tourism Around Europe » - a quarterly newsletter for competitive and sustainable tourism in Europe.
In this issue I interview Mr Peter De Wilde, the new President of the European Travel Commission (ETC), we talk about the most innovative products for branding Europe as unique tourist destination, how to engage the private sector, the link between research and marketing, and sustainable tourism destinations.

Europe leads growth in absolute terms, welcoming an additional 29 million international tourist arrivals in 2013, raising the total to 563 million. By sub-region, Central and Eastern Europe (+7%) and Southern Mediterranean Europe (+6%) experienced the best results.
European tourism growth is more and more supported by EU policies and practices. The European Commission presents a new strategy to promote coastal and maritime tourism in Europe, proposes a set of voluntary European Tourism Quality Principles, assists SMEs to access markets in Greece, is testing the European Tourism Indicators System (ETIS) at Destination Level, promotes cultural routes in the development of Europe as single destination through a dedicated event in Spain, adopts new guidelines on how Member States can support airports and airlines in line with EU state aid rules,  supports the implementation of new innovative projects through specific funding. All these actions and guidelines may represent a solid framework to boost tourism also at local and regional levels.

I wish to invite you to join the second edition the European Summer School "Leadership and Governance for Sustainable Tourism" we created in partnership with key EU and International partners, as an opportunity to transform policies and guidelines into projects and generate innovative, market-oriented and sustainable project ideas. The European Summer School “Leadership and Governance for Sustainable Tourism" has received the patronage of the European Parliament and it will take place in Seinäjoki from the 1st to the 3rd July 2014, hosted by the Seinäjoki University of Applied Sciences – SeAMK.

I warmly wish you a very happy Spring 2014.

Silvia Barbone
Jlag Managing Director
 

The next “Tourism Around Europe” newsletter will be issued in June 2014

«Tourism Around Europe» is a quarterly newsletter for competitive tourism in Europe. Our aim is to disseminate European tourism policies and practices. We wish to encourage the exchange of knowledge regarding European tourism themes, actions and challenges. Each issue includes a conversation with influential leaders and thinkers within the sector.

Mr Peter De Wilde, President of the European Travel Commission

For the first 2014 Tourism Around Europe newsletter we interviewed Mr Peter De Wilde, the new President of the European Travel Commission (ETC). ETC is the organization responsible for the promotion of Europe as a tourist destination. Mr Wilde has been CEO of the Tourist Office for Flanders - Visit Flanders since 2009. He takes on the responsibility of leading the portfolio of research and marketing activities of the European Travel Commission towards the implementation of the Destination Europe 2020 strategy. As Jlag, we attended the Destination Europe 2020 conference, and we were impressed from the link between the research and marketing units within the ETC, as well as the active participation of European stakeholders. In this issue we talk with Mr Peter De Wilde to know more about the future of Europe as unique tourist destination.

As new President of the European Travel Commission, which are the first changes you have put in place? Which is the key driver of your activity at the ETC? Which his your vision of innovation in tourism?

As President of the ETC I will focus on the following targets:

• To increase marketing efforts by clearly defining the position of Europe, rethinking the choice of target markets and further building up ETC’s market intelligence;
• To let the organisation evolve into the primary partner of all relevant public and private tourism bodies;
• To introduce a light and modern governance of the organisation and an appropriate stakeholder management;
• And to continue the successful collaboration with the European Commission.

full interview

The European Commission presents a new strategy to promote coastal and maritime tourism in Europe

The European Commission presents a new strategy to promote coastal and maritime tourism in Europe. Recognising the sector's potential for sustainable growth and job creation, the strategy, released on February 2014, outlines 14 EU actions to help coastal regions and businesses tackle the challenges they face and strengthen the sector's position as a key driver of Europe's blue economy. The proposed actions include facilitating closer cooperation and dialogue across Europe between all coastal tourism stakeholders, public-private partnerships, promoting skills and innovation, promoting ecotourism, and creating an online guide to funding opportunities to help drive investment. For further information and to download the full strategy, click here.

Branding opportunities for destinations

The European Tourism System of Indicators for Sustainable Management at Destination Level (ETIS) has been launched by the Tourism Policy Unit of the European Commission as a tool to help local authorities in measuring and monitoring the sustainable tourism performances of their destinations, without the need of any specific training.
The Tourism Policy Unit has also launched a pilot phase to test the ETIS tool kit, destinations are invited to participate. ETIS has recently closed the first testing phase, involving 100 tourism destinations across Europe which have expressed their strong interest to test the System in order to measure and to monitor their sustainable tourism management performances. A second pilot phase will run from 1st April 2014 to 31 December 2014. In order to facilitate the comprehension and the use of the System, a dedicated toolkit (guidelines) is available in EU languages.

New tourism quality indicators proposed by the European Commission

On February 2014 the EC just proposed a set of voluntary European Tourism Quality Principles to ensure tourists travelling to other Member States or visiting our continent from third countries will get value for their money. These principles cover four main areas: staff training, customer satisfaction, cleanliness and maintenance, and correctness and reliability of information in at least the most relevant language. The principles are designed to foster the role of SMEs that, from the Commission perspective “will find it easier to emphasize that they are providing a high quality service by sticking to the principles”.
Click here for the full proposal.

European Capitals of Culture for 2014: discovering Riga and Umea

The European Capital of Culture is a city designated by the European Union for a period of one calendar year during which it organises a series of cultural events with a strong European dimension. Being the Capital of Culture is a great opportunity for a city to generate considerable cultural, social and economic benefits and raise its visibility on an international scale. After Marseille (France) and Košice (Slovakia), 2013 hosting cities, Riga (Latvia) and Umea (Sweden) are hosting the initiative for 2014.

Preferences of Europeans towards Tourism – Flash EUROBAROMETER Report, February 2014

Jlag suggests the Eurobarometer survey on the preferences of Europeans towards tourism that provides a detailed insight of Europeans' tourism preferences in 2013 (including favourite destinations, reasons for travelling and booking methods) and anticipates travelling trends for 2014.
Click here to download the full report.

International tourist arrivals to continue positive growth in 2014

International tourist arrivals grew by 5% in 2013, reaching a record 1,087 million arrivals, according to the latest issue of the UNWTO World Tourism Barometer. Despite global economic challenges, international tourism results were well above expectations, with an additional 52 million international tourists travelling the world in 2013. 
Europe led growth in absolute terms, welcoming an additional 29 million international tourist arrivals in 2013, raising the total to 563 million. Growth (+5%) exceeded the forecast for 2013 and is double the region’s average for the period 2005-2012 (+2.5% a year). This is particularly remarkable in view of the regional economic situation and as it follows an already robust 2011 and 2012. By sub-region, Central and Eastern Europe (+7%) and Southern Mediterranean Europe (+6%) experienced the best results.

Source: UNWTO.

The Secret Wine Tours Project: Memorable cycling, hiking and biking experience in Secret European Wine Areas

Vinest is a transnational network that promotes the interplay of small European wine areas in order to protect the variety and individuality of their wines and culture. The project involves partners from Austria, Croatia, Germany, Hungary, Italy, the Netherlands, Slovenia and Spain.
Vinest faces the new challenge of finding innovative approaches to thematic tourism development, in order to enhance all the values and assets that the local cultures can offer. In particular the offer for cycling and hiking tourism will be improved, valorising the trails and routes through these wine areas, as a “memorable experience”. 
This will be done by elaborating a special product development plan, integrated with innovative guiding tools like mobile phone guides, a Vinest Charta with basic values and principles for the involved establishments and companies (they will have a sticker identifying them with a QR-code). There will be a Vinest Passport as a common co-marketing tool allowing some discounts. Finally, a documentary film will be produced and distributed, too.

More info on www.vinest.net & www.facebook.com/VINESTSmallEuropeanWineAreas

TourEurope2, new program for young Entrepreneurs in the Tourism Sector

Are you planning to set up a company in the tourism sector OR are you an experienced entrepreneur in the tourism sector?
TourEurope2 – project under the Erasmus for Young Entrepreneurs Program would be of interest to you. Through this project, a new tourism entrepreneur can work with a more experienced entrepreneur for one to six months in another European country. The intermediary organizations, assist entrepreneurs to find a perfect match – preferably from one of partner countries – Finland, Sweden, UK, Portugal, Spain or Italy. Examples of previous successful matches can be found on the Erasmus for Young Entrepreneurs YouTube channel.

Currently, host entrepreneurs in both hotel and restaurant business are looking for new, talented entrepreneurs in the catering industry.  If you are interested, please contact the intermediary organizations nearest to you:

Anne-Maria Mäkelä, Seinäjoki University of Applied Sciences, Finland
Valeria Fantozzi, Federturismo, Italy
Russell Yates, Manchester Metropolitan University, UK
Sonia Pinto, Inovobeja, Portuga
Erika Charbonnel, Tourism Innovation Centre, Sweden
Mar Gimenez, CPDE, Spain

PANTOU, a new European Accessible Tourism Directory

Pantou.org is an initiative supported by the European Commission and launched with the aim of providing a single source of information about accessible suppliers. The new online directory is helping travellers find Europe’s accessible accommodation, restaurants, transportation and other services, making it much easier to discover places to go and things to do  comfortably and safely. Pantou-listed tourism suppliers have their own profile page, making them visible to the increasing numbers of visitors who are dependent on accessible venues and services.

Click here for more information.

ERASMUS + 2014 

Key Action 1 – Large Scale European Voluntary Service events

Deadline for application: 03/04/2013

Key Action 2 – Cooperation for innovation and the exchange of good practices – Capacity Building in the field of youth 

Deadline for application: 03/04/2014

Key Action 2 – Knowledge Alliances: Sector Skills Alliances 

CREATIVE EUROPE 2014 

Media – Support for film festivals

Deadline for application: 04/07/2014

Discover here new Creative Europe calls.

COSME 

COSME Enterprise Europe Network 2015/2020

Deadline for application: 15/05/2014

More call from DG Enterprise and Industry here.

HORIZON2020

Click here to view the full list of open calls.

European Entrepreneurial Region 2015

The Committee of the Regions has launched the 2015 European Entrepreneurial Region (EER) award which seeks to reward cities and regions with the most forward-looking visions in Europe.  Deadline: 31 March 2014.
Click here for more information and start the application procedure.

Top 10’s world best ethical destinations

Click here to discover the winners of the World’s most ethical destinations competition held by Ethical Traveler.

Natura2000 Award

The General Directorate for Environment of the European Commission has launched a new Award designed to celebrate and promote best practices for nature conservation in Europe. 

Winners are to be announced in May. Click here to find out more about the applicants.

iCapital Prize – European Capital of Innovation

...and the winner is... Barcelona! The winner city has been announced during the “Innovation Convention 2014”, Europe’s premier innovation event which has been held in Brussels on 10 and 11 March. 

Click here to discover the reasons for awarding Barcelona.

WTTC – Tourism for Tomorrow 2014 Award

2014 Awards Finalist announced. Winners to be announced during the WTTC’s annual Global Summit (24-25 Apr 2014, Hainan, China). 

Click here to discover the finalists.

World Responsible Tourism Award

New categories have been added to the award organized by Responsible Travel that, since 2004, honours the most shining examples of responsible tourism. Click here to learn more.

The European Green Capital Award for 2014: Copenhagen

With the handover ceremony held in Brussels the 18^th Dec 2013, Copenhagen has officially taken over from Nantes. Application for 2017 Green Capital Award will soon open on DG Environment website. 

Study on Tourism and Intangible Cultural Heritage, UNWTO

The UNWTO Study on Tourism and Cultural Heritage provides a baseline research on the interlinkages between tourism and intangible cultural heritage; investigating government-led actions in terms of tourism development, and discussing practical steps for the elaboration and marketing of intangible cultural heritage-based products.
As a matter of fact, one of the challenges currently facing the tourism sector is to contribute to the identification and protection of the intangible cultural heritage through tourism development. Fostering the responsible use of this living heritage for tourism purposes can provide new employment opportunities, help alleviate poverty and nurture a sense of pride among communities.
In this regard, the UNWTO Study presents relevant successful case studies and best practices from UNWTO Member States and suggests actions to encourage tourism development through the safeguarding of intangible cultural heritage.

Click here for the summary report.

OECD Tourism Trends and Policies 2014

This OECD (Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development) report provides comparative knowledge, both policy and data, through thematic chapters and country-specific policy and statistical profiles. Over 50 countries are covered. The report highlights key tourism policy developments, focuses on issues that rank high on the policy agenda in the field of tourism and provides a broad overview and interpretation of tourism trends in the OECD (area and beyond. The 2014 edition focuses on tourism and growth. Tourism Trends and Policies is an international reference and benchmark on how effectively countries are supporting competitiveness, innovation and growth in tourism, and sheds light on policies and practices associated with this. It is published every two years.

Click here for the report.

EVENTS

Info Day: EU Funding for Tourism, organized by the European Commission, 20 March, Brussels, Belgium

Workshop on IT Tools for Tourism, organized by the European Commission, 21 March, Brussels, Belgium

Salon Mondial du Tourisme, 20-23 March, Paris, France

English Tourism Week 2014, organized by VisitEngland, 29 March-6 April, United Kingdom

International Conference on Responsible Tourism in Destination, organized by the Responsible Tourism Partnership, 3-5 April, Manchester, United Kingdom

BMT – Mediterranean Tourism Fair, 4-6 April, Naples, Italy

8^th Snow and Mountain Tourism World Congress, organized by the UNWTO and the Government of Andorra, 9-10 April, Andorra la Vella, Andorra

China Outbound Travel & Tourism Market (COTTM), 9-11 April, Beijing, China

World Travel Market Latin America, 23-25 April, Sao Paulo, Brazil

14th Annual World Travel & Tourism Council (WTTC) Global Summit, organized by the World Travel and Tourism Council, 24-25 April, Hainan, China 

Ecotourism Conference, organized by the International Ecotourism Society, 27-30 April, Bonito, Brazil

Europanostra European Heritage Congress, organized by Europanostra, 2-6 May, Vienna, Austria

Italian Forum for Tourism and Sustainability, organized by EcoCongress, 8-10 May, Perugia, Italy

Global Forum on Tourism Statistics , organised jointly by the Ministry of Regional Development of the Czech Republic, the Czech Statistical Office, the Czech Tourism Board, the Statistical Office of the European Union (EUROSTAT) and the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD),  15-16 May, Prague, Czech Republic. 

2^nd UNWTO Knowledge Network Global Forum, organized by the UNWTO, 28-30 May, Mexico City, Mexico

Resilient Cities 2014 – 5^th Global Forum on Urban Resilience and Adaptation, organized by ICLEI, 29-31 May, Bonn, Germany

City Fair 2014, organized by ETOA and ECM, 16 June, London, United Kingdom

Tourism and Gastronomy Heritage: Foodscapes, Gastroregions and Gastronomy Tourism, organized by the UNESCO Chair “Culture, Tourism, Development”, 16-20 June, Barcelona, Spain

5th European Conference of Industrial Tourism, coorganised by the European Commission, Direction General for Enterprise and Industry, the Provincial Council of A Coruña, the French Chambers of Commerce and Industry and the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Toledo, 17-20 June, Ferrol, Spain

FEST Summer School: Leadership and Governance for Sustainable Tourism, organized by FEST -  Foundation for Sustainable Tourism, 1-3 July, Seinajoki, Finland

6th International Conference on Sustainable Tourism, organized by the Wessex Institute,  8-10 July, Opatija, Croatia

CALLS FOR PAPERS

FEST 2^nd Summer School: Leadership and Governance for Sustainable Tourism
Deadline for abstract submission: March 30th, 2014
Deadline for full paper submission: April 30th, 2014
Contacts: summerschool@pm4esd.eu or anne-maria.makela@seamk.fi

IT FITS - Tourism and Sustainability International Conference, Call for Papers
Deadline for abstract submission: March 31, 2014

6^th International Conference on Sustainable Tourism, Call for Papers
Deadline for abstract submission: no deadline, abstract to be submitted as soon as possible
Deadline for full paper submission: to be announced after the submission of the abstracts