Community measures affecting tourism (1995/96). Report from the Commission to the Council, the European Parliament, the Economic and Social Committee and the Committee of the Regions.

Abstract

This report, which presents an overview of Community measures affecting tourism undertaken in 1995/96, is presented in accordance with Article 5 of the Council Decision. 92/421/EEC of 13 July 1992 on Community actions to assist tourism1• Most of the actions described in the report have been implemented within the framework of a wide range· of Community policies and programmes which, while not specifically designed in terms of tourism objectives, have nevertheless an important.influence on the development of the tourism industry, on the interests of tourists, and on the exploitation .and preservation of the assets which are utilised by tourism. In order to give the clearest possible view of the impact of the measures on the main components of tourism, namely the tourist, the tourism industry and tourism resources, . the structure of the report follows this typology. Nevertheless, it should be borne in mind that these components as well as the related measures are directly interlinked. The · specified objectives, financial implications, beneficiaries,· together with measurable outputs and progress made, are described in respect of each main area of Community activity relevant to tourism. A more exhaustive catalogue of information on these aspects is available by way of a Working Document of the Commission Services. The Commission has already forwarded to the Council of Ministers and to the European~ Parliament a report2 on the evaluation of the Community Action Plan to assist tourism (1993-95), in relation to the actions launched in the first two years (1993 and 1994). As regards 1995 many of the projects launched in that year will only come to fruition in June 1997 and one of the most important pilot actions launched under the Plan will only be concluded in 1998. Evaluation of these measures will therefore be undertaken later. Due to the nature of this exercise, the financial and control aspects of the implementation of the Plan are not addressed in this r~port, and will be dealt with by the Commission in a separate report to the Court of Auditors. An effective evaluation of the large number of actions affecting tourism carried out under other Community policies and programmes (indirect measures) raises several issues in relation to methodology, selectivity, cost effectiveness etc. Besides, some of the actions to be evaluated in a tourism perspective, for example in relation to the structural funds, would be evaluated in terms of the objectives set for the policies concerned. The issues arising will be the subject of ongoing review by the Services concerned; more effective co-ordination is, of course, an essential pre-requisite to assessing priorities ·for the purpose of evaluation of indirect measures related to tourism.