by Oliver Graue
Wednesday, February 09, 2022
Travelling of the future should be more digital, but also more ecological. Brussels is developing a plan for this.
Tourism in Europe should change: It is to become more digital and more ecological. The EU Commission is now presenting a so-called transition pathway for tourism with 27 points.
How the ecological and digital transformation of tourism in Europe can succeed, the Commission of the European Union (EU) has developed in a plan together with stakeholders of the tourism industry.
This „Transition pathway for tourism“ includes measures in a total of 27 areas. These include the introduction of the ecological circular economy as well as data exchange (open data) and better workforce qualification.
„This pathway sets the agenda for European tourism for the coming decade,“ said EU Internal Market Commissioner Thierry Breton. „Today I would like to invite all stakeholders to participate in the process of joint implementation.“
Online survey for stakeholder groups
To intensify this exchange and the cooperation of all tourism stakeholders in the implementation of the Transition Path for Tourism, the EU Commission has therefore launched an online survey.
The areas in the Transition Path for Tourism include, for example:
Investing in the green circular economy to reduce energy and water consumption, waste generation and pollution while better meeting the growing demand for sustainable tourism;
increasing data sharing to enable new innovative tourism services and improve sustainable destination management;
investing in skills to ensure the availability of a skilled workforce and attractive careers in tourism.
The development of the transition pathway started in June 2021 with a consultation of tourism associations and businesses on scenarios for change in tourism. Several workshops and meetings were held with them to gather further ideas and flesh out the proposals.
Model for other economic sectors
The tourism transition pathway is to be a model for further corresponding pathways in other sectors. The EU Commission’s goal is to accelerate the ecological and digital transformation across all sectors while strengthening the resilience of the European economy.
In addition to tourism, Brussels is already working on such plans for mobility, construction, energy-intensive industries and the local and social economy.
Reiserecht Prof. Dr. Führich 