Tourism – a Chance for the Regions of Europe - Institut IRE

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Danijel Ivanagić, BA IT, Member of County Council in charge of EU-Intergration and Regional Cooperation, Varaždin, Maja Lehman, Development Agency of Varaždin County, Elizabeta Dolenec, Director of Varaždin County Tourist Board, and Alen Leverić, Head of Department of Tourism in Varaždin County, Development Franco Ianniello, Head of Unit, European Commission, DG Enterprise and Industry, Dr. Hans Harald Jahn, Head of Unit for Tourism, European Investment Bank (EIB), and Dr. Ulrich Zacherl, Director, Investkredit Bank AG At the most important tourism conference of the regions, this year’s IRE Conference “Tourism and the Regions of Europe - latest Developments” 150 participants from 27 countries and more than 40 European Regions were present at the welcoming speech of the director of the Institute of the Regions of Europe, the former Governor of the State of Salzburg. 18 renowned representatives from the fields of politics, EU, tourism industry, tourism investors, law etc. presented this topic. Schausberger said, that he was pleased, that the European Commission had realised how important European Regions are for tourism and that in his opinion tourism plays a major role in realising the Lisbon Strategy. He was, however, also clearly criticising the new EU tourism strategy, saying that it left disappointingly small space for the cities and the regions, when one takes in consideration the huge effort they made to improve the situation. He also pointed out that regional political activities in the field of tourism and cities were very important for small and medium-sized businesses that are linked to the tourism industry. The Head of the Tourism Section of the Federal Ministry of Economy and Labour, Mrs. Elisabeth Udolf-Strobl highlighted the fact that in Austria tourism is a typical interdisciplinary field in which competences are split and where a vast number of rules and provincial and federal laws and currently more and more European legal provisions exist. She furthermore states that it is the provinces which are competent of issuing rules that concern tourism and leisure-time activities, therefore the provinces clearly play an important role in tourism and therefore it is also necessary to establish cooperations and networks. “The role that the regions play in this context is a very strong one - they should actively participate!” says Mrs. Udolf-Strobl. Franci Rokavec, state secretary for local autonomous administration and regional policy, emphasised the large potential of the economic branch of tourism in Slovenia. During the last few years a great deal was invested in quantity. Now it is necessary to improve quality. The vision of a “modern Slovenian tourism” was set up in a development plan. Part of this plan was the promotion of the construction of 4 to 5 star hotels, as well as the improvement of the quality of pensions and private boarding houses and the prolongation of the low season. The total sum of investments which currently amounts to EUR 1.6 billion is planned to be raised significantly till the year 2010. “Being a small country we must find a specific way to be different from the big countries where tourism is a major income factor. The keyword therefore is “authenticity!” Slovenia should take advantage of being a small country with a vast and varied offer concerning its culture, nature and landscape. The Polish State Secretary Tomasz Wilczak presented the current tourism situation in Poland. There are 23 national parks and preserves, as well as PhD. Dipl Ing. Pavol Weiss, Director of the Institute for Tourism, Bratislava, Albena Shishkova, First secretary - Acting Head of Community Policies Unit European Integration Directorate, Bulgarian Ministry for Foreign Affairs, Ing. Gabriel Kuliffay, Director of Tourism Department of the Ministry of Economy of the Slovak Republic, and Dipl. Ing. Ladislav Monćek, Director of the Travel Agency Montravel Tatraclub, Banska Bysrica Leo Bauernberger, Director of Salzburger Land Tourismus GmbH, Mag. Roman Himmler, MBA Vienna Airport AG, Head of Shareholdings, Dr. Andreas Hopf , Director, Central Danube Region Marketing & Development GmbH, Univ. Doz. Dr. Franz Schausberger, Mag. Dr. Stefan Eder, Dr. Helmut Falschlehner, Business Consultant 6 irenews 6 / nov06
13 world heritage sites which make tourism an important factor for the Polish economy. The most important tourism branches are business-, culture-, city-, agri- eco- and wellness tourism. Particular attention is paid to the positioning of niche products. In Cracow for instance especially Jewish culture and industry tourism along the Elbe canal is offered. Another tourist project is the “Greenways Vienna –Cracow”. It offers 700 kilometres (approximately 1,126 miles) of cycle tracks and hiking paths between Vienna and Cracow that connect historically important cities and places. Francesco Ianniello, head of the Tourism Unit, DG Enterprise and Industry, European Commission in Brussels, stated that the European Commission is planning an Agenda 21 for tourism. Till the end of 2007 a report will be handed in for discussion. The Institute of the Regions of Europe (IRE) is going to be involved, as its work is very much appreciated and all parties hope that the cooperation will be a good one. The Agenda 21 will especially focus on the support of small and medium- sized businesses. Two conferences are planned for 2007. They will deal with the different needs of younger and older tourists and jobs in tourism. A survey concerning sport and tourism should be completed by that time. The EU Commission’s Agenda 21 confirms the importance of tourism in Europe. Europe is the first destination of the world which has achieved 444 millions of arrivals in the year 2005 which equals 42% of the total international turnover. In Europe 2 million companies in tourism create 8 million jobs and further 24 million jobs in similar fields. Europe needs to meet the challenges of an altered demographic structure (older people represent a new target group for tourism), the challenge of new requirements in the field of health, nature, culture and the sustainability of tourism initiatives and last but not least the challenge of competition. From 1960 the latter has been growing constantly in the Asian and Pacific area. This challenge could only be met by a focus on quality. Ianniello explicitly complimented the Austrian EU-presidency on how well they were managing. However, cooperation on all levels of the EU, the national, the regional and the municipal level would need improving, which could be realised by simplifying the EU legislation and by optimising the use of European financing instruments. A huge inactive potential for tourism in Middle and Eastern Europe was being located by Mario Al-Jebouri, Chairman of the Bulgarian Agency for Tourism, the National Information Centre. in the year 2005 in Bulgaria the tourism revenues equalled 13% of the GDP. In Bulgaria the season is quite short and is concentrated mainly on the costal area of the Black Sea and the skiing resorts. Culture tourism in central Bulgaria and wellness tourism are not entirely developed yet because of a lack of the necessary infrastructure. It would therefore be the main objective not to focus on weekend tourism but on longer stays. This, however, involves the problem of the dependence on the “old markets”, therefore one should focus on developing new markets with new alternative products Esencan Terzibasoglu, United Nations World Tourism Organisation, Spain, Ulrich Bohner, Chief Executive of the Congress of Local and Regional Authorities of Europe, ans Yavuz Mildon, President of the Chamber of Regions, Congress of Local & Regional Authorities, hat a livelly discussion about the worldwide trends and developments of international tourism. Dr. Ferdinand Hager, Dr. Franz Schausberger, Marien André, Representative of the Minister of Tourism of Catalonia, Univ. Prof. Dr. Harald Pechlaner, Catholic University Eichstätt, European Academy Bozen Dr. Edgar Rosenmayr, Director, Immofinanz Bank AG, Mag. Dr. Stefan Eder, Mag. Ingrid Quint-Hager, Vice President and Head of Project Finance Tourism, Erste Bank der österreichischen Sparkassen AG, Dkfm. Georg Folian, General Manager, Warimpex AG irenews 6 / nov06 The Round Table Real Estate worked on the effects of Tourism on the developement of Real Estates in the touristic regions. 7
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Tourism – a Chance for the Regions of Europe - Institut IRE

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