Bid to bolster the EU’s tourism policy fails to get off the ground

Date: 27/07/00

By John Shelley

IF THE EU's tourism policy was a charter flight heading off for a sunny beach resort, it would be skidding down the runway with a wobbly wheel, very little petrol in the tank and the two pilots in the midst of a blazing row.

Plans to ensure that the Union takes a focused approach to tourism have been struggling to get off the ground for years, and some now fear that the flight may have to be aborted altogether.

The biggest problem is that half of those on board are committed to making sure it never takes off: member states such as Germany, the UK and the Netherlands have done all they can to restrict the Union's action in the area and there are no signs the resulting deadlock will be broken in the foreseeable future.

The European Commission, on the other hand, has been pushing for EU time and money to be invested into tourism for years, and is supported by southern member states such as Greece, Spain and Portugal - sunshine destinations whose holiday industries would probably have the most to gain. MEPs have also pushed consistently for Union programmes to raise the quality and safety standards of what is on offer to tourists as well as to encourage the industry's growth.

Despite such differences in opinion, all sides agree on one thing: the tourism industry is big in Europe and is a vital part of the continent's economy.

EU member states account for around 40% of arrivals and expenditure in world tourism, and the industry directly employs nine million Europeans. It is also one of the fastest growing business sectors and is seen as a major source of job creation over the coming years, particularly in Europe's less-developed and peripheral regions.

However, as one Union diplomat put it: "Just because it is really big and important does not necessarily means the EU has to go around dreaming up ways in which we can improve it."

Ten years ago, one could have been forgiven for thinking that the future of tourism policy was as sunny as a Greek island, when member states decided to designate 1990 the 'European Year of Tourism.' This was followed up in 1992 with a Commission action plan to help spread best practice and a Green Paper in 1995 intended to stimulate debate on where the Union could go from there.

An awareness-raising year and some talking did not much bother member states wary of the EU dipping its toe in the salty sea water of tourism policy. But when the Commission tried to propose an actual assistance programme involving money being spent, the northern Europeans withdrew faster than a startled squid.

It may have had something to do with the fact that its title, Philoxenia - the Greek word for 'welcome' - made it sound more like a tropical disease than a programme to promote tourism. But it probably stems more from the simple fact that some EU governments just do not want to spend money in this area. "A number of member states said 'look we are just not interested'," said one Union diplomat.

Subsequent plans for annual tourism support projects have been similarly shelved and there has still never been a Union-funded tourism programme. The reason why getting agreement is so difficult is there is no legal basis for tourism projects in the EU treaty and such programmes must therefore be launched using a 'general provisions' clause under which initiatives can only get off the ground with the unanimous approval of all 15 member states.

"We should be under no illusions: given the need for unanimity and the opposition of various member states, the Council cannot adopt the programme," said Italian centre-right MEP Guido Viceconte in a recent report.

Meanwhile, Commission officials working on tourism policy in what was once a directorate but has now been slimmed down to a unit have been trying to work round the problem by supporting the industry in ways which do not demand member state approval or much cash.

One of their main aims has been to play a coordinating role, ensuring that the needs of the tourism sector are taken into account in plans for Union legislation and projects in other policy areas. More recently, there has been speculation that the diminishing department will be closed altogether as a result of the ongoing 'peer review' designed to identify the Commission's 'core' tasks and decide whether there are areas in which it does not need to play a role at all.

If tourism does appear on the final hit list, that will be the end of dreams of an energetic EU tourism policy.