Society is facing major changes and economic challenges. The advent of new family structures, the emergence of single-person households, increased life expectancy, financial constraints, employment issues, additional free time and population ageing in general are all factors profoundly altering the tourism environment. Ensuring universal access to holidays means, at Community level, taking account of the specific features of the European society.

The European Union must therefore equip itself to realise that objective. It is within this context that on the initiative of the European Parliament, the Budget Authority voted in favour of the preparatory action “Social Tourism in Europe”1 in 2008. Such a form of tourism allows as many people as possible to go on holiday and therefore, significantly aids mobility. Moreover, tourism exchanges of this kind can also contribute to combat seasonality, strengthen the notion of European citizenship and to promote regional development - many tourism association facilities are located in the countryside or in highland areas – besides facilitating the development of specific local economies.