Published: 5.6.2015
In an event co-hosted today by MEP Ana-Claudia Tapardel and MEP István Ujhelyi in the presence of Vice-President of the European Parliament Antonio Tajani, MEPs from various political groups and tourism stakeholders agreed that an intergroup on tourism is needed to bring coherence to the European Parliament’s work on tourism and foster growth and jobs creation.
MEPs and stakeholders acknowledged that tourism is one of the biggest drivers for growth in Europe and a key provider of new jobs. As it makes an overall contribution of 9% to the EU’s GDP and employs 10% of the total EU workforce, Vice-President of the European Parliament Antonio Tajani stressed that „Tourism is essential for Europe’s competitiveness and must remain at the core of the political agenda”.
MEPs and stakeholders also agreed that the creation of an intergroup on Tourism would allow the European Parliament to adopt a more holistic and coherent approach to the Parliament’s tourism work. This would also maximise its impact on Europe’s competitiveness.
„Thousands of jobs are created every year in this sector, and still the European Parliament work on tourism lacks coherence. We need an intergroup to tackle this” commented Kent Nyström, President of HOTREC, the trade association representing the European hospitality industry.
„The Tourism sector is the industry of Peace. Unfortunately, many policy issues with a direct impact on tourism are not falling within the competence of the TRAN (Transport & Tourism) Committee. An intergroup with MEPs from various committees is needed to adopt coherent policies”, explained MEP István Ujhelyi, Vice-Chair of the TRAN Committee.
„Given the wide cross-party support received so far from many MEPs, I am glad to call on the various political groups of the European Parliament to now provide their official endorsement for the creation of this intergroup.” concluded MEP Ana-Claudia Tapardel.
The establishment of an intergroup requires the support of at least 3 political groups. Political groups will vote on their priority list of intergroups in November, for a final approval in December.
hotrec.eu – 08.10.2014.