02 July 2025
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EA Group members debate methods for establishing a sustainable tourism industry



The CoR's 167th plenary session opened this week with a debate on the European Commission's upcoming Strategy for Sustainable Tourism with Apostolos Tzitzikostas, Commissioner for Sustainable Transport and Tourism. Nanette Maupertuis, EA Group President, intervened in this debate alongside members Magdalena Czarzyń​ska-Jachim and Caroline Dwane Stanley, outlining their respective visions for a sustainable European tourism industry.

 

Commissioner Tzitzikostas led this debate by introducing the Sustainable Tourism Strategy and highlighting the key role that local and regional authorities (LRAs) must play in its development and implementation. He stressed that the strategy must take a balanced approach that emphasises the benefits of tourism while tackling challenges associated with its proliferation. Despite its exposure to volatility and geopolitical tensions, he continued, the tourism industry crucially bridges European people and cultures while catalysing economic and industrial growth.  Accordingly, the strategy must take concrete measures to ensure that tourism remains a source of pride, identity and prosperity. Cohesion policy and LRAs will play key roles in achieving this, he concluded, given their abilities to respond effectively to local needs and realities.

 

President Nanette Maupertuis responsively affirmed that the EU's Sustainable Tourism Strategy must be differentiated, flexible and tailored to ensure its coherence with ongoing tourism management efforts of LRAs, like those currently implemented in her native Corsica. She emphasised that achieving sustainability within the tourism industry requires a cross-cutting approach that generates territorial cohesion while promoting and protecting the linguistic and cultural heritages of Europe's regions. Accordingly, she promoted use of cohesion funds to cultivate a territorially balanced and socio-culturally sustainable tourism industry which is place- and people-based and which safeguards Europe's cultural and linguistic diversity.

 

Complementing President Maupertuis' calls for socio-cultural protections, Magdalena Czarzynska-Jachim stated the importance of managing tourism flows and infrastructures to ensure that residents do not become alienated but rather feel respected, needed and at home in their localities. She asserted that this is an essential facet of a sustainable tourism industry which can be achieved by regulating short-term rentals, supporting local businesses and shaping cultural and recreational facilities that serve both residents and tourists. She conclusively recommended an approach taken in her home city of Sopot, where local communities are encouraged to 'be tourists in their own city' and benefit from touristic amenities alongside the city's visitors.

 

Finally, Caroline Dwane Stanley foregrounded infrastructural considerations by calling for adaptable and focussed development of localised tourism models and sustainable transport systems. She stressed that more equitable tourism flows can be cultivated by boosting lesser-known cultural heritages and natural environments and by increasing accessibility and range of transport links. With this in mind, she advocated using cohesion and just transition funding to facilitate redistribution of visitor flow, thereby relieving pressure on over-subscribed areas while boosting tourism industries in less-visited destinations. Ultimately, she asserted that gaining temporal and regional tourism balances is key to fostering a more sustainable industry.