/ Interview with Mr. Carlo Corazza, Head of Unit F4- Tourism, Textile, Emerging and Creating Industries. DG Grow – European Commission

Mr. Carlo Corazza is Head of Unit of Tourism, Emerging and Creative Industries at DG GROW from the European Commission. Since he was appointed Head of Unit, Mr. Corazza has participated to different meetings organised and hosted by HOTREC, amongst which the joint HOTREC-UEAPME Conference of 15 September on "unlocking SMEs´ potential for jobs creation and growth: the digital challenges”. Mr. Carlo Corazza will also participate as a key note speaker to the next HOTREC General Assembly to be held in The Hague on 5 and 6 November 2015. HOTREC asked Mr. Carlo Corazza to share his views on the mid-term Commission priorities for the tourism sector. 1. Could you please list and briefly describe the Commission priorities for the tourism sector for the coming years? What are your views on the role that HOTREC can play, together with the Tourism Unit, to develop the Commission policy actions for this sector?  

Tourism is a key contributor to President Junker's priority of creating more jobs and growth. In fact 25 million jobs and 10% of the EU GDP are directly or indirectly related to this sector, which has a huge impact also on construction, transport, agro food, fashion, cultural and creative industries or retail. In 2030 the number of global international arrivals will double, reaching 2 billion. This represents huge opportunities that Europe, as number one tourism destination of the world, cannot miss.The Commission's tourism policy is very ambitious. The 2010 Communication outlined a very comprehensive set of actions aimed at strengthening the competitiveness of the sector. Our primary objective is to support the efforts of the industry to respond to the main challenges that it faces. Europe should compete on quality and be capable to attract a larger share of international tourists, in particular from new emerging markets. To this aim, it is essential to improve the business environment and access to finance, particularly for micro enterprises, also through a better use of the Structural Funds. We should also take full advantage of the digital revolution which is changing consumer behaviour and business models. Improving skills, in particular digital skills, as well as training mobility, are also priorities. Finally we need to enhance the visibility and promotion of Europe as a unique tourism destination through joint promotional actions and partnerships between private and public stakeholders. HOTREC, as one of the main representatives of the EU tourism industry, plays a fundamental role in fulfilling the above mentioned priorities. In particular, it contributes to the development of a meaningful tourism policy at EU and national level, supporting the efforts to mainstream the interest of the sector in other policies. Moreover it helps the industry, including micro enterprises, to make their voice heard in EU and national policy making. At the same time, it has the power, also in cooperation with other representatives of the sector, to reach out to the EU tourism business. HOTREC is therefore a relevant ally to support the implementation of several Commission actions, such as upgrading of skills and training mobility, joint promotion or digitalisation. 2. On 15 September 2015 you participated to the joint HOTREC-UEAPME conference untitled "unlocking SMEs´ potential for jobs creation and growth: the digital challenges”. Can you tell us how does the Commission intend to help the tourism sector overcoming these digital challenges faced by tourism SMEs? Digitalisation is at the heart of the competitiveness of the EU tourism industry. We also share your views that it has a huge potential to boost economic growth and job creation.The Commission has already implemented a number of initiatives to improve the uptake of digitalisation, in particular by SMEs. Just to mention a few, we created the Tourism Business Portal, which helps tourism SMEs with useful information, tutorials and tools about setting-up, managing and promoting their business.  We supported the creation of a B2B platform called Tourism Link, which enables the integration of tourism SMEs into global distribution value chains to which HOTREC also contributed.

We organised several YouTube live events on digital tourism. Our focus was to improve the entrepreneurs' awareness about the opportunities offered by online marketing, in particular on social media. We will continue to produce further webinars on various digital and e-management skills. We also launched a dedicated Digital Tourism Network, which offers all the sector representatives, both digital and traditional ones, an opportunity to discuss about common and specific issues in tourism digitalisation. Within the framework of the Digital Tourism Network we are now looking at mapping the state-of play, challenges and opportunities of digitalisation in EU tourism. The final aim is to see whether policy actions are necessary. HOTREC has already contributed to the success of the first meeting and is also supporting the Commission in the ongoing mapping exercise. 3. One of the biggest digital challenges faced by the tourism sector is the development of accommodation services offered on a commercial basis through "sharing economy” platforms which directly competes with the hospitality industry, but which does not apply the same tax, security and safety legislation. As Head of the unit dealing with Tourism in the European Commission, how do you think this issue should be addressed? Should a level playing field be provided?  

Indeed, as you mentioned at the beginning, we have already had a few exchanges at various meetings. The Commission is therefore well aware of the difficulties the traditional tourism industry faces vis-à-vis the sharing economy. DG GROW has established a dedicated Task Force, which looks at sharing economy and its impacts across a series of sectors. This Task Force, in which my unit represents the tourism industry's interests, is currently working on the analysis of the sharing economy market and the regulatory and administrative measures put in place by certain Member States and regions.The Commission is therefore appraising the possible need for policy actions, so that all tourism actors, both traditional and new business models could compete at a level playing field. At the same time it is important that public and consumer interests are also taken into account. Therefore DG GROW works in close cooperation with other relevant services of the Commission, such as, for example, the Directorates-General responsible for Mobility and Transport (DG MOVE), Justice and Consumers (DG JUST) and Communications Networks, Content and Technology (DG CNECT). However, it is important to underline that there is a limit to what the Commission can do. The industry should also take its own initiative to find a way to work together with the actors of sharing economy and seek possible self-regulatory solutions. I would like to applaud HOTREC for opening the dialogue, in partnership with UEAPME, at the recent conference on digitalisation. I encourage you to pursue further this line of action in the spirit of open communication between market players.