Presentations & Speeches
Workshop 2 Fact sheet : New Instruments, Innovative Partnerships

Yves Mannaerts, Member of the Tourism Sustainability Group and Board Member of the Passenger Transport Council of the International Road Transport Union (IRU)

Tourism is an important generator in the European Union economy accounting for 11% of GDP and employing around 24.3 million people. The forecasts are that its share in GDP will grow further and employment opportunities will increase. Over the last decade, the tourism market has also greatly evolved, not the least due to new technologies being developed on a large scale for use in the tourism sector. This evolution in the tourism market has presented new opportunities for its players but also new challenges. One of the main challenges is to maintain and increase the sector’s competitiveness while taking into account the basic values of European society which are sustainability and ethical development. Some of the key questions to be raised are: How can the creation of new partnerships boost competitiveness? What are the financial instruments available as incentives to the stakeholders and are they fully used? How can the smallest players in the European tourism industry fully benefit from the opportunities offered by this market evolution?

Europe as a destination is receiving more and more competition from other regions in the world. Moreover, the European tourism industry must permanently adapt to the constant evolution of consumer behaviour. These issues pose a challenge to Europe’s tourism industry which is required to use its professionalism, creativity, tradition of service quality and innovation to boost its competitiveness versus other regions and keep it sustainable. The competitiveness of the European tourism industry largely depends on an adequate regulatory framework - European, national as well as local – which aims to facilitate rather than hamper business, and which ensures a level playing field among all stakeholders. It is known that a considerable number of barriers currently hamper economic development in tourism. Excessive taxation and other charges faced by the different sectors of the tourism industry can certainly be considered as the most important barrier of all. A reduction in red tape and measures to improve free movement within the European Union must also be contemplated, alongside the need for a more skilled, flexible and mobile workforce to facilitate employment and professional training, whilst keeping firmly in mind the need for quality of services and professionalism of the main players.

Increased competitiveness of European tourism should also be the main benefit from cooperation and partnerships between the different tourism stakeholders. The different types of partnerships – public-public, public-private and private-private – need to be examined at various levels – international, national and local - , and the ingredients of a successful partnership identified. The need for coordination between partnerships at different levels should equally be looked at. Not only should new partnerships be considered, but also how existing and traditional partnerships can be reoriented to increase the benefits of its partners, and to optimise the functioning of European tourism.

As for financial instruments available to the tourism stakeholders, these are important incentives to speed up the introduction of innovation in European Tourism. There is a need to define what is understood by “financial instruments”. Does it for example include tax incentives or state aid? Financial instruments can stimulate but their existence and purpose should be known on a general basis. The advantages and disadvantages such as the impact on the creativity and entrepreneurship of the European tourism industry, as well as on the level playing field between its players should be brought to the forefront. The European tourism industry largely consists of small and medium-sized entreprises (SME’s) for whom it may not necessarily be as easy to access financial instruments as it is for large players. Financial agreements such as Basel II have an impact on the eligibility of businesses to benefit from certain financial instruments. This is also an aspect which should not be lost out of sight.

A final issue relates to how through better communication, trade associations can bring micro SME’s better into the picture. The smaller the company, the more it will be focussed on its core business, and the less resources it will have available to get involved in activities outside its core business, such as a membership and active participation in a trade association. Many of these smaller companies are family run businesses which are a key to the survival of SME businesses in the tourism sector and have a special elasticity in economic terms. Trade associations have a very important task in keeping their Members informed of latest development and to encourage their Members to actively participate in their activities. Many aspects will determine their success, such as the financial standing of the Members, language barriers, transfer of information, priorities of the Members, the innovative character of the Members and the availability of new technologies. Success will not only depend on the trade associations, a dual information exchange originating from upstream as well as downstream is needed in order obtain a better communication with and involvement of micro-SME’s in wider trade association activities which in turn will arm them better to cope with the challenges of their business, such as access to financial instrument offered to the tourism industry. It is a question of working together towards a better and sustainable future for European Tourism.

The aim of the workshop is to investigate how stakeholder partnerships and the better utilisation of financial instruments can contribute to improve the competitiveness of the European tourism industry. The main interventions will concentrate on:

• Public-private partnerships and financing tourism SME’s
• The competitiveness of Europe as a destination and the impact of charges and taxes affecting travel to and in Europe
• The use of European funding opportunities in the framework of a level playing field
• Facilitating mobility-innovative stakeholder partnerships for the integration of migrant workers in tourism