Cultural tourism
6.5.2020
Priority question for written answer P-002787/2020
to the Commission
Rule 138
Nora Mebarek (S&D), Salima Yenbou (Verts/ALE)
Cultural tourism accounts for around 40% of all international tourism. Several Member States, including France, have developed strategies to promote this kind of tourism.
The COVID-19 crisis has struck a sector already needing to reinvent itself given the limitations of mass tourism confined to certain destinations to the detriment of the quality of life of local residents, territorial convergence and the environment.
The Commission has responded to the crisis in this sector by announcing plans for a summit on this matter in the autumn and specific support measures as part of the recovery plan.
Does it support, in this connection, the creation of a special instrument under the European structural and investment funds which would serve:
- 1.in the short term, to provide support for cultural tourism operators threatened by the crisis, and on whom a major economic ecosystem also depends;
- 2.in the longer term, to trigger a change to a more inclusive, participatory and equitable tourism model, for the European Union and for third countries, centred on EU climate targets, social inclusion, reducing inequalities, sustainability and resilience?