This high-level conference was organised by the European Commission with a special focus on two priority subjects for EU tourism:

• improving the business environment to attract more investment and to better use EU funds to boost the competitiveness of the sector
• raising awareness of the investment needs to boost skills and mobility of the tourism workforce.

The key speakers of the conference included:

• Three Commissioners: 
  • Elżbieta Bieńkowska, Commissioner for Internal Market, Industry, Entrepreneurship and SMEs,
  • Marianne Thyssen, Commissioner for Employment, Social Affairs, Skills and Labour Mobility, and
  • Corina Crețu, Commissioner for Regional Policy.

• Members of the European Parliament 
• policy-makers at EU, national and regional level, including ministers
• representatives of international organisations, industry, business and trade associations, representatives from academia

Documents and media

Final programme

Biographies of speakers

Discussion papers

Presentations

Photos

Background

Tourism is an important sector of the EU economy. It has huge potential to generate economic growth and create jobs. In order to attract new tourism flows to the EU, it is indispensable to improve the competitiveness of the sector. The adoption of the Digital Single Market and Single Market Strategies, the Juncker Investment Plan with the creation of the European Fund for Strategic Investments, as well as the availability of European Structural and Investment Funds (2014-2020), call for additional effort to raise awareness about the need to unlock the full potential of the sector and attract new investments for its competitive development.

More information

• More about tourism in the EU