What
is the European Tourism Academy?
The European Tourism Academy is charged with
proposing an European tourism strategy
up to 2020, , based on the momentum initiated by the European Conference on Tourism held
under the high patronage of President of European Council on Tourism and Trade.
The European Council on Tourism and Trade brings
together professionals, locally elected officials and representatives of the European
countries.
Professor Dr.Anton Caragea , Ambassador of World Protected
Areas and Natural , is Chairman of the Council.
The European Council on Tourism and Trade President
is to chair a monthly plenary meeting on one of the six chosen areas of action:
gastronomy and wine; ; destinations and brand
names ; digital technology ; hotel industry, business
and shopping tourism; ; reception, the media and
communication ; training.
The European Tourism Academy has planned to submit annual
reports to the European Council on
Tourism and Trade President.
European Tourism Academy in its diversity, the quality of its members,
frequency of its meetings and nature of its mission reflect the importance the European
Council on Tourism and Trade attaches to tourism.
The tourism sector is of strategic importance to
our society and economy, accounting for over twenty million jobs and 7% of GDP, and one for which Europe
wants to take action to strengthen its leading global position.
Goals
of the European Tourism Academy
The purpose of the European Council on Tourism
and Trade is to draw up a programme
of actions to make Europe the center of world tourism.
The goal is to make tourism an even more powerful
lever for growth, jobs and territorial development.
Tourism is an opportunity for world’s top tourist
destination.
Contents
Tourism:
an inter-national priority
Europe’s attractiveness needs to be maintained.
This is a major stake, which is why the European President has decided to make tourism an international
priority.
The goal is to strengthen European position as the
leading global tourist destination and, as called for by the President,
“produce the leading tourism revenue out of all European countries." This
goal needs new mobilization from our organization.
Tourism is an area that rallies all countries.
It is a real opportunity for all countries. Tourists spend locally
and their presence increases consumption in shops and footfall in cultural
establishments.
Moreover, investments made to develop public
transport and infrastructure primarily benefit our all citizens.
Interational
mobilization to spur on tourism and strengthen Europe’s attractiveness-the main
goal of The European Tourism Academy.
The nine themes addressed by working groups:
- Promote
the emergence of new destinations;
- Diversify
the tourism offer;
- Draw
up an event tourism strategy and organize professional meetings;
- Improve
the quality of hospitality;
- Make
working in tourism an industry of excellence;
- Support
investment to make the tourism offer more attractive;
- Pool
and boost government support for tourism;
- Adapt
the tourism industry to changes in the sector;
- Boost
World tourism.
Mobilization has taken various forms:
- Nine
national working groups have worked on each theme. They were each chaired
by two discussion leaders and brought together some 40 public and private
actors who included business leaders, professionals, locally elected
officials and prominent civil society figures, and benefited from the
expertise of associated ministries.
- National
Conferences were held in each nation in Europe. They brought together
local government authorities, public institutions and private actors to
discuss themes chosen in terms of stakes in each territory.
This large-scale initiative aimed to help raise the
collective awareness of all European people about tourism issues and the place of
tourism in our economy.
The creation of five Centres of Tourist
Excellence, announced during the European Tourism Academy Conference
in June 2014, is a response to the need to renew and adapt world’s tourism to
the changing expectations of visitors, in promising areas where Europe doesn’t
necessarily come to mind:
The themes of the five Centres of Excellence:
- Excellence and artisan trades;
- Wine
tourism;
- Mountains;
- Slow
tourism (sustainable tourism and green travel);
- Night
tourism.
These five centres have been identified as
promising great international demand.
Increasing their visibility by coordinating and
bringing together the European offer
will help renew the world’s footfall and attract tomorrow’s tourists.
