Green Paper. Safety of tourism accommodation services

Europe is the number 1 tourism destination in the world. In 2013, more than 560 million international travellers arrived in Europe, a result which surpassed the very good figures of 2012. Growth was particularly strong in Southern and Central Europe.

Our continent is also the tourism destination preferred by Europeans themselves. In 2013, almost 40% of Europeans spent their holidays in the EU, 5% more than in 2012.

According to the last Eurobarometer survey, tourists in Europe feel safe and very satisfied. Respondents expressed a high level of satisfaction with most aspects of their 2013 holiday, in particular with the safety (95%) and the quality (95%) of their accommodation.

To maintain and reinforce Europe's leading position in tourism in the world, in 2010 the Commission adopted a Communication laying down a comprehensive strategy to boost the competitiveness of the sector. The safety of tourism accommodation features as one of the actions in this Communication. In fact, adequate and efficient safety levels can enhance consumers’ confidence and boost growth by creating a favourable environment for enterprises and for cooperation among Member States and allowing for higher competitiveness of the tourism sector.

Tourists concerns about safety have been regularly monitored every year since 2008 through Eurobarometer surveys, also with emphasis on hotel safety and fire safety. The annual surveys consistently confirmed that safety is never a concern for European tourists (replies ranked between 0% and 1%). Yet, accidents can occasionally occur, affecting directly the concerned operators, but also indirectly the reputation of the relevant destination with additional negative impacts on other operators. Although the safety of tourism accommodation services is the competence of Member States, the presence of such strong cross-border dimension suggests a reflection on the quality and safety levels of these services across Member States.

This, together with the indications of the 2003 Commission report on the Safety of Services for Consumers, which recommended to improve the knowledge base about risks and accident data and to monitor systematically the policies and measures of the Member States, has led the Commission to consider the issue of tourism accommodation services safety at European level in the past years, both by engaging in dialogue with relevant stakeholders and by undertaking actions aimed at strengthening the existing knowledge base.

• Primary Source

EUR-Lex: COM(2014)464: Follow the progress of this paper through the decision-making procedure http://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/HIS/?uri=COM:2014:464:FIN

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