Meeting point

The importance of tourism to our national economy is well known. That is why over the past months I have been lobbying hard to bring the European Union's most important tourism event to Malta. The lobbying has paid off and next month Malta will be hosting the European Tourism Forum.

In the EU, it is up to the presidency to convene those events that are organised within its term of office. That is why, in particular, we had various talks with our British counterparts to make the case for a Malta meeting.

I am grateful to the British presidency and the European Commission for accepting our nomination. It will be our honour to welcome to Malta not only various ministers responsible for tourism in the different European states, but also delegates representing the industry at the highest level.

It is significant that in a market that is increasingly dominated by tough competition, 54.4 per cent of tourists worldwide visited Europe. According to a survey carried out by the World Travel and Tourism Council, this year the EU is expected to generate no fewer than %1,705 billion in economic activity resulting from travel and tourism.

By 2015 that level of activity is expected to go up to %3,066 billion. Travel and tourism generate 24 million jobs in the EU, accounting across Europe for four per cent of the gross domestic product. Pro-rata, Malta's own figures are even more impressive since tourism accounts for a quarter of the national economy and around a third of all employment, when one takes into account indirect employment.

We no longer talk of tourism as confined to a few countries that specialise in the field. Competition comes from all over the place. Asia, for instance, is one of the fast growth areas for international travellers and that makes all other tourism destinations more conscious of what they need to do to sustain their competitive edge. It is against this background that the European Tourism Forum is growing in importance. The first of its kind was held in Brussels in 2002, the second in Venice in 2003, and the third in Budapest last year.

Malta is hosting the fourth forum between October 19 and 21 at the Mediterranean Conference Centre. It will bring together top representatives from the tourism industry, civil society and authorities from the 25 EU member states.

The forum is expected to focus on competitiveness related to skills and ICT, better regulation, with an emphasis on the proposal of the Directive on Services, and sustainable development in the field of tourism. These themes will be covered in three parallel workshops.

We shall be particularly honoured to have among us as keynote speaker, at the forum's plenary session, the Vice-President and Commissioner responsible for Enterprise and Industry, European Commission, Günther Verheugen.

He is well known to Malta as the former Commissioner responsible for EU enlargement when Malta was on the road to EU membership.

That speech will be followed by a demonstration on the European Tourism portal, an important Internet tool for the benefit of all EU members in this competitive age. That demonstration brings to an end the plenary session, which will be inaugurated by Prime Minister Lawrence Gonzi.

Following the plenary session, there will be the Informal Ministers' Meeting with Günther Verheugen's participation. The agenda for this meeting is a discussion on the EU's proposed tourism policy.

Malta has been very proactive on a bilateral basis as well as with the EU as a whole to promote tourism as an important policy area - even if it's up to the member states to promote tourism within their respective areas in line with the subsidiarity principle, there is still a complementary role that the EU can fulfil, not least because there are considerations that affect the entire EU on, at least, two grounds: considering competitiveness of the region vis-à-vis other regions, and looking into the impact of various directives and regulations on the tourism industry that needs to grow much further all across Europe.

It was in this respect very reassuring that when Mr Verheugen met four major associations representing the European private tourism industry last February 18, he confirmed the EU view that tourism's contribution is vital to the future European economy. That was the Vice-President's first contact with the tourism industry since taking on his responsibility for enterprise and industry.

He emphasised that the strengthening of the competitiveness of Europe depended on a business friendly environment, a strong entrepreneurial spirit, a level playing field and better regulation. He also pointed out that tourism had been identified as one of three key sectors where sustainable growth and job creation were anticipated. Malta strongly believes that this potential is that much more pronounced, especially after the EU's enlargement, for which Mr Verheugen was responsible.

In that February meeting, Commissioner Verheugen explained that before the end of this year, and in close consultation with the relevant stakeholders, he would present his policy proposal for tourism, not based on protectionism or further regulation, but rather on measures to support the realisation of the full potential of the industry.

Mr Verheugen has promised to look at the issues of competitiveness and job creation as two crucial hallmarks he will be focusing on in dealing with enterprise and industry. His intention is to ensure "less bureaucracy, not more", avoiding the notion of "one size fits all" and promising not to accept future legislative initiatives without proper impact assessment, making it a point to ask whether the proposed legislation is creating any additional administrative burden and seeing how it will affect competitiveness.

This fits in well with Mr Verheugen's assessment that only competitive players within the economy are able to win. As the EU gears up to build a strong economy through growth and job creation, tourism will become more and more important across the board.

The EU already represents 455 million citizens and, with the accession of Bulgaria and Romania in the coming years, the number will go up to 485 million.

Seeking unrivalled global competitiveness by 2010 as envisaged in the Lisbon Strategy will mean further commitments as well as clear decisions not only at the European level but also by the various member states, stakeholders and society in general.

Even at the February meeting, Mr Verheugen had offered regular contact and ongoing dialogue with the European tourism private sector, including his intention to join the Tourism Forum in Malta and seeking opportunities to address the tourism industry at high profile events such as next year's ITB in Berlin.

One of the people present for this meeting who will also be in Malta for next month's Tourism Forum is Bernd Geyer, president of HOTREC, representing the tourism industry across Europe.

It is against this background that next month's Tourism Forum in our country assumes particular importance. Looking forward to co-chair the ministerial segment with my British counterpart, Minister James Purnell, who will be addressing the Forum's plenary session, I am conscious that this is an important occasion not only because Europe's most important tourism meeting is taking place in the country that has the highest level of dependency on this economic activity, but also because this meeting leads to the formulation of a European tourism policy that is highly geared towards further growth.

As all those who are familiar with the industry would immediately point out, that kind of boost is required for tourism and equally for the economy as a whole.

The Malta Forum will be a meeting point of people with different but converging points of view the industry, the EU, as well as between tourism as a key industry and ensuring competitiveness, growth, and job creation in our respective countries and in all the EU.

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