Ms. Cláudia Monteiro de Aguiar is Member of the European Parliament Committee on Transport and Tourism. Since she was elected Member of the European Parliament, she has been actively contributing to key discussions around the tourism sector in the European Institutions. MEP Monteiro de Aguiar also participated as a key note speaker to the last HOTREC General Assembly held on 5 and 6 November 2015 in The Hague. HOTREC has asked Ms. Monteiro de Aguiar to present the new European Parliament report on tourism, as well as about her views on how the EU could facilitate travel to Europe for tourism, and how to tackle the sharing/collaborative economy phenomenon affecting tourism.
1- Europe remains world’s destination number one. Nevertheless it is losing its market share. As one of the co-authors of the opinion report voted at the TRAN committee (Committee on Transport and Tourism, at the European Parliament), which are, from your point of view, the most important measures the European Union could introduce in order to make the access of legitimate travellers coming to Europe less burdensome, costly and lengthy? Despite the depth of the economic crisis, the tourist industry has proved resilient with numbers of tourist trips remaining high. In 2014 Europe consolidate its position as the most visited region in the world, with over half of the world´s international tourists, reaching a total of 588 million. According to the UNWTO, between January to August 2015, Europe recorded a robust 5% increase in international tourist arrivals, the highest across all regions, compared to the same period of 2014. Tourism has been instrumental in supporting the economic recovery of many countries and in generating new jobs. To keep this path there is a need to simplify and modernise the Visa Code. Complicated processes, processing times and expenses associated with obtaining a visa can persuade legitimate travels for applying to a Visa. I was the responsible at the TRAN Committee to both opinions on the Visa Package: the recast of Visa Code and the Touring Visa. These two opinions were approved at the Committee with a large majority. The points which I would like to underline on both reports are:
- Visa facilitation for regular travels already registered thought the VIS system and the possibility of Multiple Entry-Visa for a period between 5 and 10 years;
- Increase the ease of Access by extending the possibility of lodging a Visa application at another Member-State Consulate;
- The set-up of an online pre-registration system for issuing a Visa at the external border;
- The need for implementing a @Visa and digital procedures;
- Extension of visa facilitation for seafarers;
- Less burdensome, such as the end of the obligatory interview, and the revision of the documents needed to apply for a Visa;
- The creation of the new type of visa, Visa Touring, which should allow leisure tourists to travel around Europe during 1 to 2 years.
To conclude if Europe wants to increase its share in global tourism the only correct path is to increase the openness. All these points are crucial to attract more visitors to Europe and this does not mean that Europe should jeopardize national security and immigration concerns.
2- On 29 October 2015, the European Parliament adopted its own-initiative report on "new challenges and concepts for the promotion of tourism in Europe”. As the shadow-rapporteur for the EPP group on this report, you played a key role in its drafting. What are the issues raised by this report which you consider the most important for the future of tourism? What are the next steps you consider taking with regard to these issues? The Report on New Challenges and concepts for the promotion of Tourism in Europe was approved by a large majority of the Members with 485 votes in favour, 120 against and 21 abstentions. This gives us a large legitimacy for asking the European Commission (EC) to act and implement concrete actions. From the above report I would like to point out some important proposals. On the issue of upgrading skills and competences across the Tourism sector, MEPs ask the Commission to the EC to work with private entities to create a low-season training and internship programmes. This can be done under COSME and the European Social Funds provisions. This is not going only to increase the mobility and the exchange of best practices but also fight seasonality, another cornerstone to work on. I go further and I challenge the industry to create their own "Erasmus + for Tourism" addressing employees and employers. I also proposed the establishment of a Workforce Development Strategy to answer to the mismatch and shortage of skills. Regarding the existing funding, Tourism should be better recognised as an individual economic activity in terms of budget. Therefore, the report encourages the creation of a specific Tourism section within the next MFF. I also proposed the translation of the funding support guide into the EU´s 24 official languages in order to facilitate access to information on funding possibilities. This is a huge barrier that we need to overcome taking into consideration that 90% of tourism economic operators are familiar businesses. On the digital era Tourism sector needs to be on board that is why it is express the need for a roadmap on digitalisation and putting in practice the tools already in place. This also follows in the need for an Agenda for the new players of the collaborative economy. Also from my own initiative I decided to include an entire chapter on the potential of Maritime and Coastal Tourism. The direct and indirect connectivity are crucial to Islands and other coastal regions and because of that I proposed the establishment of an Annual Seminar with the participation of the coastal and maritime Member-States and Regions. The aim is to implement a long-term strategy through promoting a pan-European dialogue and facilitating the sharing of best practices. The creation of pan-european and transnational tourism products should be also developed by all stakeholders under the umbrella of Destination Europe. I hope that based on this Report we can create an Action Plan which clearly identifies the annual priorities and canalize the existing EU funding for concrete actions. This Action Plan can also include the 8 actions proposed by the Commissioner in late January, which have not yet been presented.
3- HOTREC was honoured by your presence as a key note speaker at the last General Assembly held on 5 and 6 November 2015. One of the key issues of the meeting was the sharing economy. The HOTREC policy paper on the sharing economy called "levelling the playing field” was made public at the Assembly. As you know, the paper includes the HOTREC Chart Towards a sustainable and responsible "sharing” economy in tourist accommodation. What is your opinion about these 10 principles? Do you agree that legislation should be put in place in order to level the playing field amongst all actors in the tourism sector and ensure fair competition? We have already had the opportunity to exchange our views at the Joint Hotrec-UEAPME Conference untitled Unlocking SMEs´ potential for jobs creation and growth: digital challenges and at HOTREC´s General Assembly. I also held at the European Parliament a round-table on Tales from the Sharing-Economy, last May, where we had the chance to listen some main players of the collaborative economy. From the contributions I received from this discussion I am preparing a policy paper with some recommendations which I think should be taken by the EC. I would take this opportunity to give at the first hand that the Transport and Tourism Committee will have an own-initiative report on collaborative-economy. The need for an Agenda for the p2p economy is expressed on the INI-Tourism Report. It is also address the need for a clear, stable and consistent regulatory framework. This goes hand with hand with the transformation needed to enable our SMEs and Startups to take profit of the opportunities offered by digitalisation. First of all it is necessary to know if there is a need for the EU to take any legislative action. What we are seeing within the Union is that our citizens do not enjoy the same rights. Moreover, it should be analyzed the need for specifically tailored legislation. We should have some common standards in all Member-States knowing that some of these p2p platforms are better regulated by the municipalities, regions or Member-States. The rules must be light, simple and appropriate, depending on the scale and nature of the activity. For this I encourage Member-States, regions, municipalities, the traditional sector and the EC to engage in further dialogue to ensure there is a consistent approach on the sharing-economy. In an age where youth unemployment is on the rise the sharing-economy models can create a stronger culture of entrepreneurialism and creativity.
