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Tourirsm's role in the context of economic development : a key sector for the economies of the industrialised nations ?

Michelle DEMESSINE - State Secretary for Tourism, Chairman of the Council of Tourism Ministers for the European Union, Paris, France

 

 

Mr President of the High Council,
Mr Ambassador,
Mr Mayor,
Ladies and Gentlemen attending this summit,

 

I am delighted to be here with you once again for the opening session of the second Tourism Summit.

You will be aware, Mr President, how the success of the first Tourism Summits that were held in your lovely area of Chamonix have allowed us to initiate discussions on a subject that affects all of society, that of sustainable tourism.

Today here in Geneva, an international city that is highly influential and just as famous as your own, Mr CHARLET, this second Tourism Summit will deal with the relationship between economic growth and the development of sustainable tourism.

During the next two days you will have the opportunity to discuss such matters as broad trends in tourism, new products and new markets, supporting systems and policies, and the dynamics of development brought about by tourism.

Looking at the participants we have here, the quality of the speeches and the relevance of the topics up for discussion, I am sure that with your hard work we have an important discussion on the evolution of a sector of which the impact on our societies has not yet been accurately measured. This evolution is nonetheless allowing us to foresee some considerable economic and social changes that are always better to anticipate.

Because we can safely say that tourism is at something of a crossroads.

In a general framework of significant growth and change, it could generate the best or the worst, a dream or a nightmare, for the future.

That is why we now need to be extremely apprehensive of the challenges it brings. There needs to be an exchange of ideas and experiences and input involving all the key players at all levels and on the basis of a shared strategy. All this is necessary for us to be able to make decisions for the future.

We have already seen that some progress has been made in this area and it is up to all those involved in tourism to take matters further.

We will therefore highlight important issues such as the economic impact of tourism and its potential for development, and also the fact that the challenges it brings are becoming ever greater. The success of this second summit bears witness to this fact.

How then could it be otherwise ?

All growth predictions - and Mr FRANGIALLI will talk about this shortly - show that there will be treble the number of tourists worldwide, and double the number in Europe, by the year 2020.

During the course of the French Presidency of the European Union, we have had the opportunity to highlight the important role that tourism plays in European economies.

This can be summarized by these statistics :

• 59 % of international movement,
• 5.5 % of the community GDP,
• 6 % of jobs
• and 30 % of European Union services' foreign business.

All the figures lead us to the conclusion that tourism will become one of the principle economic activities over the next few years. In terms of exports it will overtake sectors linked to the production of oil or the motor industry.

Growth in tourism seems to be directly linked to general growth, but I think we can go further than that and say that it both strengthens and develops it.

The economic fuel of the most highly developed countries is often represented by an increase in the amount of spending by the population on tourism products at levels that exceed general growth.

By way of comparison it is also interesting to note that, where growth to slow down, and the share of population expenditure on tourism and leisure products decreased accordingly, then consumer concentration would not be affected.

It is as though the habits that we have acquired have reached a stage that cannot be reversed and we are turning to less costly practices.

With the close link that exists between general and specific growth, tourism is now a key sector for the world economy in general and for European economies in particular, for the simple reason of its high level of development.

However, important though it is, this one economic standpoint is not enough for us to gauge how important tourism is today, especially in Europe.

We are all agreed that it now covers many other dimensions and presents many new challenges that have been revealed by the considerable and relatively recent changes that undergone in the tourism economy.

By nature a multi-disciplinary activity, tourism benefits enormously from the considerable changes that our era has forced us to make to our lifestyles, and the way we work, communicate and travel. Through the course of history of developed countries, and from the social progress generated by this development, we have been able to see how the demand for mass tourism has increased, and how the chosen destinations have increasingly been the sunny climes of southern Europe and also Africa and Asia.

Mainly due to the influence of the large tour-operators, this demand has led to the appearance of standard tourism products centred around certain well-known resorts.

Nowadays this phenomenon tends to lead to a concentration of tour-operators keen to group together to find their own place in a global large-scale distribution network of tourism to Europe and other areas of the world.

They are all capable of assessing the risks that such tourist development may create both for its diversity and the quality of what's on offer, and maintaining the economic and social structure consisting in the main of small and medium-sized companies, but also for land management, preserving resources and the environment.

However this type of development, sometimes said to be irreversible in an acquiescent world, satisfies one specific demand rather than to demands as a whole.

Because tourism is also marked by a certain change in the expectations and demands of the tourists themselves.

The principal criteria they require to be met are as follows :

• freedom via more detailed information to choose from all the products available,
• increasing desire to create their own holiday product themselves,
• demand for quality,
• desire for authenticity and to discover different cultures and populations,
• a strong wish to respect and protect nature and the environment.

You will no doubt see that by meeting these demands and satisfying the imperative requirement of balanced and sustainable national and regional development, we will become aware of the need to encourage and develop an alternative and complementary holiday product ; a new form of tourism.

Tourism that is less concentrated in just a few places, that respects the environment, different cultures and man's traditions ; tourism whosedevelopment is being controlled by the local community and their representatives, development from which they can benefit. This is what we will now be calling sustainable tourism.

As soon as it relies on the individual assets of each country and region, tourism becomes an essential factor in the development of the local economy as well as one of the tools for regional development, both in the medium and long-term.

It therefore has strong political elements and is a serious candidate for intervention by local authorities.

First and foremost, however, this intervention must be done in the context of tourism ethics.

That is why I want to emphasise the need for every State to consider the World Ethics code when drawing up all their national tourism policies. This was the Code that was approved by the majority of States within the World Tourism Organisation. This is what France has done by signing a Tourism Ethics Charter with the leading tourism operators, in its capacity as leading world tourism destination. Similarly, authorities must intervene to support the efforts that tour operators are making to adapt to new consumerism and to new tourist demands.

Within this framework the French government is anxious to support private professionals and associations, officials and local representatives, in their initiatives to diversify and categorise the national demand for tourism, taking into account these new expectations.

Let's remember that we are only able to offer more quality thanks to the rich network of some 200,000 small and medium-sized tourism companies that criss-cross our country. Of course, this whole concept of tourism development is reliant above anything else on the commitment and skills of those in key roles. At the very moment when we are restating the potential for development, tourism has a greater than ever need for men and women who are skilled, motivated, and creative in all relevant areas and professions.

The tourists' demands for quality and new ideas cannot be built on destabilised and insecure employment opportunities unless there is a workers' guarantee in place for the men and women who are helping to respond to them.

What we need to do, therefore, is stabilise the workforce, and to do this we must offer attractive career prospects in the sector, especially for the young.

In particular I am thinking here of those employed in seasonal tourism-related jobs.

In this context we should consider the experiences in Brittany, to be more precise the local Mission of the Pays d'Auray in Morbihan, which is based around a network of tourism regions both in France, with la Savoie, and in Europe, with Greece, Ireland and Italy. This has shown that it is possible to encourage professional mobility amongst the young, and to move towards longer more sustained working periods, in so doing helping them along their way to acquiring professional experience and skills.

Similarly groups of employers have adopted measures to keep job prospects or other skills alive in the field of long-distance training by taking advantage of modern information technology.

However nowadays we know that national policies are not enough to meet all the challenges posed by the high level of tourism development that is occurring now, and that will occur in the future.

This has made us consider the best way of preparing Europe and its citizens for the changes that lie ahead.

The Member States of the European Union need to put a huge effort into comprehending how important this sector really is and they need to coordinate their national policies much better than they have done in the past.

With this in mind I took the initiative in organising, in the framework of the French Presidency of the European Union and during the European Ministers Seminar that took place on 22 November in Lille, a forum on the development of sustainable tourism in Europe.

This forum was attended by nearly 400 participants, local councillors and socio-professionals, all involved in European tourism, as well as representatives from countries that are likely to become members.

It lets us see to what extent the key players in European tourism were aware of the way in which the State was going to implement its concerted efforts.

Similarly, exchanges with delegates from countries likely to become members also showed how interested they were in such a step forward.

The meeting of European Tourism ministers that followed this forum enabled the common desire for being involved in the creation of a sustainable tourism development strategy to become a reality.

The success achieved by this initiative, along with the testimonies and questions posed by many of the participants, showed that there is an awareness of the inherent possibilities and risks in uncontrolled tourism development.

They also showed that work is in progress and being carried out in various countries to ensure that tourism development takes account of the balance that is needed between economic performance and social development. This balance is essential to ensure that it generates skilled and long-term employment, and respects the needs of the consumer while at the same time supporting the diversity of our cultural and national heritages.

Madame NAJERA ARANZABAL, mayor of CALVIA, in the Balearics, has described the radical measures that she has been required to introduce, in consultation with other local collectives and companies, to counter the negative effects of mass tourism that, on an island of 300,000 inhabitants welcoming 2 million tourists each year, is becoming less and less acceptable.

A rigorous land management policy is in place that serves to categorise land with a view to limiting building work. It has also reduced the number of building permits, and ensured that when hotels are renovated, their actual size is not increased.

By restoring public spaces and repairing their coastline that has been damaged by obsolete buildings, and by tourism diversification, they have set themselves a target. This target is to get back to the balance that had disappeared to the detriment of the locals, a balance between the tourist population and the local population.

The reflection, involving all relevant parties, has enabled them to revert the situation largely compromised for the tourism sector back to how it was via a policy, drawn up by local representatives, of reawakening people to their own model for tourism development. Our Italian neighbours had practically the same problem, welcoming as they did some 40 million tourists each year.

This volume of tourism was becoming too much for the local populations to sustain.

Those responsible locally have been able to reverse this trend by taking on board strategic choices for tourism management, implementing a policy for quality, and providing a wider choice of family holidays.

With the local population having reawakened to their traditions and leisure practices, this has enabled a positive image of tourism to be established by being choosy as to the development that takes place and keeping the numbers of tourists at manageable levels.

A similar thing has occurred in France - or to be more precise here, in this alpine region that is so dear to the hearts of the organisers of these Tourism Summits - here we are endeavouring to restructure and modernise the main tourist resorts that were built for several over thirty years ago.

We are managing the development work with an increased respect for the cultural and natural environment while favouring the core of traditional villages. We are doing this by updating facilities rather than increasing their numbers, and by improving the range and quality of choice.

These measures have already been implemented in some resorts. In particular I would mention the resort of Tignes, which has just completed a vast program of public space redevelopment, while renovating some of the tourist accommodation.

This was done in order to satisfy new customer requirements by having more to offer, and in so doing it has given the resort a new image.

This example will be followed by many others.

In the past we have been guilty of straying too far from the management logic, and for this we must be prepared to face the consequences.

This was why France incorporated "planning contracts" into its so-called contractual policy. The aim of these contracts is to manage the main regional development policies in partnership with the State and the French regions, and to manage funds to support a general move towards restructuring tourist resorts, be they located by the sea or in the mountains.

Similarly it has initiated a vast support program for concerted managed tourism development in predominantly rural countries.

During the same Lille forum other trials, all just as interesting, were able to be put forward.

They were all heading in the same direction, that of searching for the subtle balance that should exist between, on the one hand, key tourism for economic and social progress and, on the other, a real desire to control the future while respecting its values and differences.

This forum also provided details of the work carried out by the four working parties that were established under the aegis of the European Commission following up the conclusions reached by the Council of Ministers on 21 June 1999. The work covered : the quality of what is on offer, the spread of information via new technology, employment and training, and sustainable tourism.

In the name of the French Presidency, I also hoped that the information gleaned from the Lille forum, coupled with the works in progress within the Commission in collaboration with the Member States, will enable us to commit, at European level, in one voice to an agenda 21 for tourism.

If this were the case we would then be able to finalise a program of action taking into account the Rio commitments. This program could then be presented during the Gothenburg Summit.

The work being carried out by the Commission with the help of representatives from Member States has just been featured in a progress report and the Commission is planning, in close collaboration with Member States, representatives of the tourism industry and other key players, to issue a final report at the end of the year 2001.

This will include a full analysis of national policies, the best Community steps, efforts and measures taken having an impact on the tourism activity in Europe.

Finally it is in this spirit of searching for improved collaboration between the various key players involved in European tourism development that a proposal has been put forward for the creation of pilot territories for sustainable tourism.

This would be done with a view to making the most of knowledge, exchanging experiences and encouraging the development of good tourism practices.

With this desire for there to be more awareness of tourism within the European Union policy, I was able to include the rich nature of this reflection and these exchanges in my report to the Conseil du Marché intérieur Consommateurs Tourisme (MICT) dated 30 November.

The big debate that followed in the wake of the Lille meeting showed the growing interest by all European Union countries in matters concerning tourism development.

And by that I mean all aspects of it.

Because, having as it does common values across Europe, tourism is an essential tool for promoting European citizenship across our whole continent and other areas of the world.

That is why, in the larger scale of things, the most desirable thing to do is to increase the European presence on the international stage with a view to using our own experiences to help promote sustainable tourism with organisations that would oversee its development.

In that way emergent countries with enormous potential for tourism could draw on the experiences and exchange of information with countries where tourism is already well established. This would enable them to propose some solutions for their own tourism development that would suit their country's individual economic, social and political needs.

 

Mr President,
Ladies and Gentlemen,

As I draw to a close, I feel it is important for me to emphasise here, before all of you experts and key players in the field of tourism development, just how important it is that we appreciate and comprehend the consequences of long-awaited development.

Development of a sector that will take out as much as it will gain frombthe general growth of our economies.

While I have absolutely no doubt as to the role that tourism can play in terms of creating employment, enhancing the wealth and balance of our territories, I am also aware that this quest for harmonious development of our tourism resources for the good of us all is neither natural or spontaneous.

However I am sure that sustainable tourism can be a powerful lever for development, once it has been implemented in the tourist areas both at local, regional, national and international level. This implementation will have been achieved by coordinated action on the part of political and economic representatives as well as representatives from society.

This is the conviction that I am endeavouring to share with all my speakers, especially at European level.

In this connection we can all assess the important road that we have already covered, while at the same time working out what we have left to do.

That is why we must support all that will come to enrich our knowledge in this area, every initiative taken to promote collaboration and every exchange of experiences that have worked, indeed everything that will assist political representatives in their decision-making.

I will be paying particular attention to the results that come out of this second Tourism Summit, and I hope that you all have a fruitful time here.