Activites

• 1996/11/18 Final act published in Official Journal
• 1996/10/25 Decision by Parliament, 1st reading/single reading
  • T4-0562/1996 summary

    In adopting the report by Mr Eolo PARODI (UPE, I) on Community measures affecting tourism, Parliament called on the IGC to provide the tourism policy with a legal basis. It hoped that a report on Community measures affecting tourism would be drawn up by the Commission every two years. Parliament pointed to the important contribution made by tourism to understanding between peoples through learning about other cultures, and considered that there is a need to step up actions to promote intra-Community tourism by young people. It hoped that the tourism dimension would be incorporated into all Community policies. Parliament emphasized that the Community's role in the field of tourism should not be to over-harmonize legislation but rather to ensure coordination and closer cooperation. It stressed the vital importance of the tourism sector for the creation of employment in the Union and the role that this sector plays in the creation of improved conditions for growth in less-favoured areas. It called for training and exchange networks to be set up and for vocational qualifications to be recognized for jobs which do not at present require qualifications. Parliament called for a common European system of tourist signs to be established to enable easy and rapid identification of the environmental and cultural characteristics, services and opportunities offered by particular localities. It also hoped that an international forum would be set up to discuss and develop specific proposals on issues such as sex tourism. Finally, the EP called for a study of the impact in the European Union of the further deregulation of the markets in the tourism services sector as a result of the GATS Agreement. �

• 1996/10/24 Debate in Parliament
  • Debate in Parliament
• 1996/10/01 Vote in committee, 1st reading/single reading
  • A4-0297/1996
• 1996/02/16 Committee referral announced in Parliament, 1st reading/single reading
• 1996/02/05 Non-legislative basic document published
  • COM(1996)0029 summary

    OBJECTIVE: The purpose of this second annual report is to establish an overview of the Community's activities which affect tourism, in line with Council decision 92/421/EEC. SUBSTANCE: The report sets out the tourism-related measures taken by the Commission up to December 1994 in each area of Community activity concerned. It is divided into three parts: - part I is a general introductory chapter on the impact of tourism on the European economy, which gives a statistical analysis of Europe as a tourism destination and an overview of Community actions in the field of tourism; - part II analyses the Community measures implemented under Council decision 92/421/EEC, in particular the measures adopted in relation to the three main objectives of the Community Action Plan to assist Tourism, namely: improving knowledge of the tourist industry: establishing reliable statistics at European level in order to monitor the flow of tourists/visitors and devise a 'common language' of comparison, publication of studies and the holding of European conferences on the subject; promotion of trans-national and cross-border cooperation between the public sector and the private sector: in 1994 the areas of cooperation were tourist information, the countries of Central and Eastern Europe, tourists as consumers, the environment, cultural, rural, social and youth tourism, tourism training and the promotion of European tourism. The projects supported by the Commission should be demonstrative in nature; improving cooperation and coordination between EC bodies, international organizations, public and private administrations and organizations and local and regional authorities: at Community level, coordination involves two specific committees (with the assistance of Parliament's tourism intergroup), whilst on extra-institutional level (relations between the EC, the Member States and the tourism industry), coordination is not yet fully organized; - part III presents those Community measures affecting tourism which do not fall under Council decision 92/421/EEC. The measures involved are ones which have had a significant impact on tourism in the Union and they relate to three main areas: measures affecting tourists as people living or travelling in a geographical area which is free of any kind of physical or fiscal barrier (measures relating to consumer protection or stressing the social dimension of tourism), measures relating to the social and economic environment of tourism and designed to encourage the development of common structures which will help to boost tourism (completion of the single market, competition policy, trans-European networks, transport, telecommunications, employment, etc.). In third countries, these measures fall within the scope of the EU's general physical and economic relations, measures relating to culture and the environment: essentially, initiatives undertaken at EC level, the purpose of which is to establish a long-term relationship between, on the one hand, tourism and the cultural and architectural heritage and, on the other, the natural and the built environment in Europe. �

Documents

• Non-legislative basic document published: COM(1996)0029
• Committee report tabled for plenary, single reading: A4-0297/1996
• Debate in Parliament: Debate in Parliament
• Decision by Parliament, 1st reading/single reading: T4-0562/1996

History

(these mark the time of scraping, not the official date of the change)