About the partnership
This Partnership focuses on the specific issues related to tourism in cities as a crucial component of a sustainable development of the urban economies. It is based on a working definition of sustainable tourism and aims to use a method of collaborative, “co-creation” process, followed by an “co-implementation” phase, as described in the Transition Pathway for Tourism.
The ex-ante assessment, also based on the consideration of the post-pandemic resurgence of urban tourism, confirmed a positive evaluation on the opportunity for such a Partnership. The new Thematic Partnership was established within a complex policy scenario characterized by a method of collaborative, “co-creation” process, to be followed by an equally collaborative “co-implementation” phase, as described in the European Commission’s 2022 document on the Transition Pathway for Tourism.
A multi-level governance approach appears to be necessary to tackle the multiple issues of sustainable urban tourism and this is confirmed by bottom-up instances of collaboration among a variety of actors (such as the networks of cities). A need also emerges for greater inclusivity especially with regard to small and medium size cities.
This theme is aligned with the strategic priorities of the EU emerging in the time of the post-pandemic recovery. More specifically urban tourism is engaged by several “green deal” strategies and related targets. Concerning the contribution of tourism to local socio-economic development, the competitive sustainability approach has been integral to the EU tourism policy for years. Significant inputs for the tourism industry will come from the New European Urban Mobility Framework, the programme Creative Europe 2021-2027, and the short-term rental initiative launched in 2021. Tourism-related issues are dealt with in various programmes within the urban policies at EU level, such as the Urban Innovative Actions initiative and will be among the topics of the new European Urban Initiative.
With regard to the regulatory environment, a number of legislative initiatives will characterise the green transition of tourism in the years ahead. Regulatory efforts are to be expected also in other areas impacting on urban tourism, namely multimodal travelling and digital interoperability. The industry will certainly be affected by two important forthcoming acts such as the Digital Services Act and the Digital Markets Act.
With regards to trends and evidence about EU cities, emerging issues concern the use of land and of public spaces, the excessive specialisation in tourism of some territories, product innovation, and the new entrepreneurship and tech start-ups. A major and cross-cutting issue concerns the availability and appropriate use of data.
Thematic focus
The new Thematic Partnership is based on a working definition of sustainable tourism, following the recital 27 of the Regulation (EU) 2021/1058 on the European Regional Development Fund and on the Cohesion Fund:
“Sustainable tourism requires a balance between economic, social, cultural, and environmental sustainability. The approach to supporting sustainable tourism should be in accordance with the Commission Communication ‘Agenda for a sustainable and competitive European tourism’. In particular, it should take into account the welfare of tourists, respect the natural and cultural environment and ensure the socio-economic development and competitiveness of destinations and businesses through an integrated and holistic policy approach.”
The new Thematic Partnership focuses on the specific issues related to tourism in cities as a crucial component of a sustainable development of the urban economies.
The new Thematic Partnership also builds on the results of previous Thematic Partnerships on Digital transition, on Housing, on Urban Mobility, on Jobs and skills in the local economy and on Culture and Cultural heritage. The new Thematic Partnership may follow up the work of previous Partnerships, e.g., by expanding its scope and /or realising pilot implementation but will not overlap it.
The following tables provide a tentative and non-exhaustive list of potential issues that may be the object of the Partnership’s thematic focus.
Members
By clicking on the symbol , in the top left corner, you will be able to see the different layers of this map.
National authorities
- Ministry of Economics and Communication of Estonia (EE)
Regions
- Andalusia Ministry of Tourism, Culture and Sport (ES)
- Comunidade Intermunicipal da Região de Coimbra - CIMRC (PT)
- Rhine-Neckar Region Association (DE)
Cities (Urban Authorities)
- Municipality of Genoa, Coordinator (IT)
- Municipality of Galati, Coordinator (RO)
- City of Porvoo (FI)
- City of Venice (IT)
- City of Šibenik (HR)
- City of Zadar (HR)
- Municipality of Heraklion (EL)
- Municipality of Larissa (EL)
- Narva City Government, Department for City Development and Economy (EE)
European/ national city umbrella organisation
- Eurocities (BE)
- ICLEI European Secretariat (DE)
Other stakeholders
- Association for the Promotion of Tourism in Oradea and the Region (Visit Oradea)-APTOR (RO)
- Diputació de Barcelona (Barcelona Provincial Council) (ES)
- Fundació Visit València (ES)
- Ljubljana Tourism (SI)
- Mirabilia Network (IT)
- visit.brussels (BE)
European institutions
- European Commission Directorate-General for Regional and Urban Policy (DG REGIO)
- European Commission Directorate-General for Employment, social affairs and inclusion (DG EMPL)
- European Commission Directorate-General for Internal Market, Industry, Entrepreneurship and SMEs (DG GROW)
- European Commission Directorate-General for Climate Action (DG CLIMA)
- European Commission Secretariat-General
- European Commission Directorate-General for Maritime Affairs and Fisheries (MARE)
- European Commission DG Directorate-General for Education, Youth, Sport and Culture (EAC)
- European Commission Joint Research Centre (JRC)
Documents
EUI-Innovative Actions 2nd Call for proposals
The EUI-Innovative Actions has released the 2nd Call for Proposals. Find out more about the Call and explore the topic of "Sustainable Tourism".
Knowledge
View knowledge outputs on Portico
Portico is the European urban knowledge platform developed by the European Urban Initiative (EUI) in support of better urban policy and strategy design, implementation, and mainstreaming.
Updated on 6 months 2 weeks ago