Shaping sustainable tourism policies, views from the supranational level

The European Union is the leading tourism region in the world, 562 million international arrivals in 2018 accounting for 40% of worldwide arrivals. Within the region, tourism is an essential economic sector for the Mediterranean countries receiving almost 300 million visitors. In spite of these figures, European institutions have limited competences on tourism policies. However, due to the horizontal nature of tourism sector, other European policies in topics like digitalisation, sharing economy, consumer protection, transport and energy, skills and education, regional policy, taxation or visa policies have a direct impact on tourism policies. Under this scenario, some cooperation frameworks among international, European and other administrative levels have been launched in order to support the competitiveness and sustainability of the tourism industry, to promote Destination Europe as a whole, to mainstream tourism across other EU policies, and also to request for a more strategic approach, resources and visibility of tourism in the new European programming period. This Round Table was held at the occasion of the MED Sustainable Tourism Convention, June 5-6, 2019 Barcelona, Spain Moderation: Mr. Juan Daniel Núñez Sánchez (Smart Travel News) Speakers: Mr. Octavi Bono (Generalitat de Catalunya, NESCTouR Presidency) Mr. Adam Bodor (Eurovelo, European Cyclists Federation, Tourism Manifesto) Mr. Milosz Momot (European Commission) Mr. Marcello Scalisi (UNIMED - Mediterranean Universities Union) Ms. Anaël Le Bihan (ASCAME)