Minister Sobierajska at the European Parliament
Ms Minister’s visit to Brussels was connected with a series of presentations given by Polish ministers in their respective sectoral committees of the European Parliament, to commence the Polish Presidency of the Council of the European Union. Minister Sobierajska presented the Polish Presidency’s priorities in the field of tourism as well as information on activities taken by our country towards their implementation.
The priority in the area of tourism is to determine guidelines for improving the competitiveness of European tourism economy. The discussion will focus on the new EU programme and an analysis of whether and how its objectives are being achieved by the Member States.
Poland supports the direction of work indicated in the Communication COM (2010) 352- Europe, the world’s No 1 tourist destination, a new political framework for tourism in Europe, aiming to take activities towards maintaining the position of Europe as the most popular tourist destination in the world.
The Commission has proposed 21 actions which to focus on the following four pillars: to stimulate competitiveness in the European tourism sector; to promote the development of sustainable, responsible and high-quality tourism; to consolidate the image and profile of Europe as a collection of sustainable and high-quality destinations; and to maximise the potential of EU financial policies and instruments for developing tourism.
The Polish Presidency will pay attention to the implementation of the actions set forth in the Communication, particularly under the first pillar: to stimulate competitiveness in the European tourism sector. This subject is going to be the topic of the European Tourism Forum whose discussions will be carried out in two panels: the socio-economic knowledge base for tourism, and information and communication technologies in tourism. The Forum will be held in Krakow on 5-7October 2011. It will be accompanied by an Informal Meeting of EU Tourism Ministers.
It should be emphasised that the atmosphere of the meeting with the EU Parliament members was very good. After the speech by Minister Sobierajska, many of them took the floor in order to stress the importance of tourism for the European economy and recognise the need for the sector’s sustainable development, elimination of the effects of seasonality and awarding support, particularly to SMEs. The European Parliament Members declared their positive attitude and willingness to assist and wished success to the Polish Presidency.