Full-day Conference on Managing and Promoting Sustainable and Accessible Tourism Destinations

A full-day conference on Managing and Promoting Sustainable and Accessible Tourism Destinations organised by the European Commission will take place on 28 January 2016 in Brussels which will gather experts from the European Commission, the UNWTO, the European Environmental Agency, the European Network for Accessible Tourism and many national/regional tourist boards and tourism destination managers.

The tourism sector is amongst the most attractive and dynamic industries in Europe. The European Commission is committed to ensuring that the tourism sector thrives in a way that is sustainable for local communities and businesses while at the same time providing an improved and more diverse visitor experience. In 2013, the European Commission launched the European Tourism Indicator System (ETIS), available for free to all destinations, in order to assess their sustainability and accessibility performance. Over 200 destinations have been engaged on voluntary basis, testing ETIS between 2013 and 2014. Today, best practice examples and results are ready to be shared.

In particular, the conference will provide you with an occasion to hear first-hand accounts on the ETIS assessment from the destinations involved, including representatives from Spain, the Netherlands, France, Montenegro, United Kingdom, Slovenia and the Bulgarian Danube Region, as well as from the Italian urban destination network of Rome, Milano, Florence and Venice.

The conference will also put a specific focus on accessible tourism. You will be able to explore this issue in depth in an interactive World Café style seminar.

Key speakers:
Carlo Corazza, Head of the Tourism, Emerging and Creative Industries Unit, DG GROW, European Commission
Dr. Dirk Glaesser, Director Sustainable Development of Tourism, UNWTO
Stefano Dominioni, Director of European Institute of Cultural Routes, Council of Europe
Ivor Ambrose, Managing Director, European Network for Accessible Tourism ENAT
Roberto Vitali, Founder, Village4All
Ignace Schops, President of EUROPARC Federation

Organisations represented: Global Sustainable Tourism Council GSTC, NECSTOUR, ACCESSTOUR, Visit England, South Limburg Tourist Board, Anglia Ruskin University, City of Milano, Birmingham City Region, LABturisme Barcelona, Tourism Board Podgorica.

The agenda and other useful information are available at https://etis-jointconference2016.teamwork.fr/.