European Tourism Day Returns After 5 Years without WTTC

by: Juergen T Steinmetz |

Today is a big day for Europe and Tourism, but the World Travel and Tourism Council is not attending. Today is European Tourism Day.

Insiders told eTurboNews WTTC is becoming more British than global recently, specifically when it comes to new staff hire of the UK based association claiming to represent the private sector of the global travel and Tourism industry.

Perhaps WTTC is becoming a casualty of Brexit. A year ago, Julia Simpson, the CEO of WTTC, addressed European Tourism Ministers to highlight the importance of tourism recovery for Europe, creating employment for 24 million in the EU.

UNWTO known as the World Tourism Organization, represents the world’s public sector, and is part of today’s European Tourism Day.

Since 2018, several challenges have confronted the EU tourism ecosystem, but now the tools are available to work towards achieving the twin transition and boosting resilience in the coming years.

After a long and intense co-creation process, the Transition Pathway for Tourism was published in February 2022.

It was used as a basis for the European Tourism Agenda 2030, adopted by the Council last December.

European Tourism Day 2023 will enable discussions on the transformation of EU tourism and take stock of implementing the Transition Pathway for Tourism with stakeholders representing the whole spectrum of the tourism ecosystem.

To that end, an orientation debate with Thierry Breton, Commissioner for Internal Market, will take place to discuss the resilience of the ecosystem, and three roundtables will focus on the following:

Thierry Breton, European Commissioner for Internal Market, and Karima Delli, Chairwoman of the Transport and Tourism Committee European Parliament, will conduct the Opening Discussion.

An Orientation debate will follow this:

How can a resilient, world-leading tourism ecosystem be created with innovative SMEs and thriving communities?

Torbjörn Haak, Ambassador and Deputy Permanent Representative of Sweden to the European Union, will introduce the debate, and the following will participate: Susanne Kraus-Winkler, Secretary of 1tate for Tourism, Federal Ministry of Labor and Economy, Austria; Hubert Gambs, Deputy Director-General, DG GROW, European Commission; Luís Araújo, President of Turismo de Portugal and President of the European Travel Commission; Petra Stušek, Managing Director at Ljubljana Tourism and President of the Board at City Destinations Alliance; and Michiel Beers; Founder and CEO of Tomorrowland. Next on the program is a segment on the state of progress titled Transition Pathway for Tourism hosted by Valentina Superti, Director of Ecosystems II: Tourism & Proximity, DG GROW, European Commission.

There will be 3 Roundtable Discussions:

Digital transition: towards the data space for EU tourism

– Bjoern Juretzki – Head of Unit for Data Policy and Innovation, DG CNECT, European Commission

– Dolores Ordoñez & Jason Stienmetz, Project coordinators of the preparatory work for the common EU data space for tourism

– Oliver Csendes, Chief Digital & Innovation Officer, Austrian National Tourist Office

– Urška Starc Peceny, Chief Innovation Officer and Lead of Tourism 4.0 Department Arctur

– Mafalda Borea, Head of International Business Development & ESG Lead at E-GAP

Green Transition: sustainable tourism services and Destinations

– Emmanuelle Maire, Head of Unit for Circular Economy, Sustainable Production and Consumption, DG ENV, European Commission

– Alexandros Vassilikos, President, HOTREC

– Nina Forsell, Executive Manager, Finnish Lapland Tourist Board

– Eglė Bausytė Šmitienė, Marketing Specialist, Hotel Romantic, Lithuania

– Patrizia Patti, Founder and CEO, EcoMarine Malta

Skilling and upskilling of tourism actors

– Manuela Geleng, Director fo Jobs and Skills, DG EMPL., European Commission

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