3 / 24
2016
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2017 HOTREC ANNUAL REPORT
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3
“HOTREC continues to
bethekeypartner forus
in the implementation
of our initiatives”
Dear Readers,
It was just a year ago when I addressed you here, in HOTREC’s Annual
Report. Despite being a world leader, EU tourism still needs to face many
challenges.
Businesses still need our support to access finance. We have a lot of work
ahead to improve the reputation of tourism careers. Professional skills
need to be developed on the basis of curricula that meet the needs of the
industry. Consumer expectations are changing faster than ever and we
witness the rapid evolution of new business models. Competition from
emerging destinations remains strong and Europe continuously loses its
market share. In addition to all these, our continent and destinations are
suffering from the aftermath of last year’s terrorist attacks.
It is essential that we work together to help the industry in facing these
challenges and to preserve Europe’s position as the world’s top tourism
destination.
In the Commission, we adapt actions to tackle new challenges and help
the sector enhance its competitiveness.
First, we continue helping SMEs to use new and existing financial
resources smarter. We have organised several events, also in cooperation
with our stakeholders, devoted to exchanging good practices on the use
of the EU funds and programmes, such as the Juncker Plan, the Structural
Funds and the COSME Programme. We updated our
“Guide on EU funding
for the tourism sector”
and published it in all EU languages.
Second, under the
New Skills Agenda for Europe
, we are working to
establish a sectorial cooperation aiming at matching tourism education
with the skills needed by the industry, so that tourism careers become
more attractive and prosperous for young professionals.
Third, we keep on supporting tourism SMEs in their use of digital and
online tools. We are updating the Tourism Business Portal and will soon
publish a new series of webinars on digital and online marketing skills for
tourism entrepreneurs.
We keep a close eye on the development of the collaborative economy. In
June last year, we published the
European Agenda for the Collaborative
Economy
. It provides horizontal guidance on how existing EU legislation
should apply to newbusinessmodels. Furthermore, we are noworganising
sector-specific workshops on collaborative economy in the tourism
accommodation sector, in which HOTREC plays a key role by representing
the EU hotel industry.
The 2018 EU-China Tourism Year and the European Year of Cultural
Heritage are excellent opportunities for Europe to attract more visitors,
especially from third countries’ markets. We will give more visibility to our
destinations and highlight Europe’s cultural heritage and creativity.
Finally, we work with our public and private stakeholders on ways to
increase our preparedness to react in front of security incidents, while
continuing to raise the profile of Europe as a high-quality and safe tourism
destination.
The role of industry associations is very important in the success of these
initiatives.
I thank HOTREC for their cooperation in several actions, for example on
skills, digitalisation and the collaborative economy workshops. HOTREC
continues to be the key partner for us in the implementation of our
initiatives.
FOREWORD
by Mrs Elżbieta
Bieńkowska,
Commissioner
for Internal Market,
Industry,
Entrepreneurship
and SMEs