http://www.visiteeuropee.com. That’s the website of the new Eu portal dedicated to European tourist destinations, inaugurated during the Conference of European Ministers of Tourism held in Vienna on 21 March, in tandem with an international symposium on “Tourism: a decisive factor for growth and employment in Europe”. Despite the fact that the economic data of the sector are very significant (12% of the Union’s workforce with 25 million full-time employees, for a product that amounts to 12% of total Community Gdp), European tourism is going through a competitive crisis caused not least by the emergence of new destinations able to offer lower prices. The European Commission – at the request of the governments of member states – has therefore prepared a new “Strategy to promote tourism in Europe”, based on 7 fundamental points: greater coordination of national policies; better use of available financial instruments; creation of an “Agenda 21” for tourism; better regulation of tourism; greater understanding of and consideration for the importance of tourism: better promotion of European destinations; and increased visibility of tourism.
