The landmark event in the European Parliament, initiated by TRAN Vice‑Chair Elena Kountoura, marked the launch of a coordinated effort by institutions and tourism stakeholders for a unified European framework of sustainable tourist destinations — with common standards, a new governance model, and dedicated financial instruments — so that Europe may lead globally as a sustainability benchmark.
This is a request of strategic importance from the tourism sector and destinations, which the EU has the responsibility at a central level to design and coordinate coherently, through the upcoming first European strategy for sustainable tourism in spring 2026 and in view of the new Multiannual Financial Framework (MFF) 2028–2034 to secure funding and the corresponding system of certification and monitoring.
At the event on October 1, representatives from European and international institutions and stakeholders presented their proposals: the European Commission (DG MOVE), the UN Tourism Organization, the Global Sustainable Tourism Council (GSTC), the OECD Tourism Committee, the European Travel Commission (ETC), HOTREC, ECTAA, NECSTouR and CLIA, representatives of the private tourism sector, Members of the European Parliament, and members of the Parliament’s Tourism Tinquire Force.
Key Strategic Priorities
A common recognition was that the first European strategy for tourism, to be presented in spring 2026, must include a unified and comprehensive framework for certifying Sustainable Tourist Destinations, with criteria, KPIs, and sustainability monitoring standards, aligned with international standards and the European 2030 agfinisha.
It is a necessary prerequisite that the new common framework for sustainable tourism destinations effectively connects the EU institutional bodies, regional networks — with an enhanced role for Regions and Destination Management Organizations (DMOs) — all sub‑sectors of the tourism market, while also including active participation from local communities.
Specifically:
It was deemed necessary that the European Union, in its role as guarantor of common rules, funding and oversight, provide to states, destinations, businesses and local communities:
– a governance model and mechanism securing consistency in the implementation of strategy and actions, given that the sustainability of each destination is not static, responding to the required for sustainability to be credible, comparable, and verifiable;
– a specific certification system, with the corresponding monitoring system, based on the three pillars: economy, society and environment, and on common KPIs;
– a dedicated European financial framework / instruments, fully connected to the new sustainable tourism strategy and the sustainable and resilient tourism development plans of destinations.
Close collaboration is required between the EU institutions and international bodies like UN Tourism, OECD and GSTC in designing and shaping the framework via consultation: success presupposes continuous, systematic and close cooperation and consultation between the EU and international and European public and private stakeholders for alignment with international standards, concurrently involving member states, regional networks, tourism enterprises, and the academic community.
The design must explicitly include insular (island) regions, which due to their particular and increased requireds from insularity require tarobtained measures and digital tools to reduce divergences and inequalities and to achieve high speeds in sustainability convergence.
The role of digital transformation of destinations into sustainable ones is pivotal, leveraging new technologies and artificial innotifyigence both for collecting, analyzing and visualizing tarobtained sustainability data, and for the digital training / upskilling of human resources through European platforms.
Next Steps
The positions – proposals of the stakeholders will be sought for inclusion in the forthcoming TRAN Committee report in November 2025, on “Enhancing Connectivity, Preserving Cultural Heritage and Local Excellence: Destination Management and Regional Tourism Development.” The report, in its final form, will be put to a vote in the European Parliament Plenary in spring 2026.
This report, as a position of the European Parliament, is a unique opportunity to embed in the first European Strategy for Sustainable Tourism a new governance model for tourism destinations, with the corresponding financial tools in the next programming period 2028–2034.
In this context, in collaboration of Elena Kountoura as TRAN Vice‑Chair with EU institutions and tourism bodies in Europe and Greece, concrete positions will be drafted and submitted with the aim of their inclusion in the final report.
In parallel, tarobtained coordinated proposals will be created within the forthcoming work of the TRAN (Transport and Tourism) Committee and the REGI (Regional Development) Committee regarding the new strategy for Europe’s islands, overall for the new support framework for European regions via Cohesion Policy, and for the related financial framework in the new programming period through the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF), Cohesion Fund, and the European Social Fund (ESF+).
Statements from Institutional and Stakeholder Representatives
The Commissioner for Sustainable Transport and Tourism, Apostolos Tzitzikostas, emphasized in his message that the aim of the first European strategy is to redefine the role of tourism in Europe, with pillars including benefits to local communities, supporting competitiveness, facilitating access to EU resources, promoting smart solutions for tourist destinations (via DMOs for each destination), and strengthening synergies between tourism and transport to ease connectivity and sustainability. “This strategy will be funded from the next MFF, and we can launch a serious discussion about the future of tourism in the EU.”
Elena Kountoura, TRAN Vice‑Chair, referring to the growing pressure on tourism in the context of the climate crisis, underlined that different speeds are now imperative. Europe must build resilience, invest in prevention in a timely manner, and eliminate differing paces in sustainable tourism development.
“It is an urgent immediate priority for Europe to converge and lead in strategy, policies, governance models, funding and the monitoring framework of progress in tourism.”
She described the new strategy as a historic opportunity and responsibility, one that the European Parliament has pushed for over the past five years, so that it is feasible in implementation and becomes a global benchmark framework.
The keynote speaker, Randy Durband, CEO of GSTC, spoke about successful European and international practices in sustainability monitoring. He emphasized that “sustainability standards are not merely guidelines. They form the foundation for developing tourism that protects destinations, empowers local communities, and ensures resilience for future generations.” He highlighted the importance of compliance with a holistic approach to destination management, such as that reflected in the GSTC Destination Standard, which, he noted, can serve as a substantive roadmap for Europe to lead in sustainable destination management.
The Regional Director of UN Tourism, Cordula Wohlmuth, noted that measuring sustainability is not limited to economic data; the evaluation and analysis of data at the local level is critical. In cooperation between UN Tourism, OECD and Eurostat, a package of unified sustainability indicators is already being developed for the EU member states.
The Deputy Director General of DG MOVE at the Commission, Maja Bakran, announced that processes are already underway for revising European Regulation 11 on statistical data. The common standards that will emerge will be among the most important deliverables of the sustainable tourism strategy. She also described as emblematic the upcoming work to develop a European platform for digital skills and training, to support workers and business competitiveness, noting that today 30 % of travelers apply artificial innotifyigence.
Misa Labarile, Tourism Policy Officer at DG MOVE, discussed the process of creating a European Tourism Data Space, and its linkage with other fields such as mobility and experience, so that it is accessible to all, while also creating support systems for destinations to implement the strategy for sustainable tourism development.
Elisabeth Vozeberg‑Bryonidi, Chair of the TRAN Committee, referred to the work done in the European Parliament and the priorities for supporting tourism through the new strategy. She emphasized, among other things, the connection of tourism with the transport sector, improving services, infrastructure development centered on addressing the climate crisis, the significant role of technology and digitization in the sustainability of the sector, and the training of workers as a pivotal priority.
Eduardo Santander, CEO & Executive Director of the European Travel Commission (ETC), pointed out that the question the EU must answer is “whether we want to be first or best in transformation.” A common set of indicators and new policies are essential for Europe’s competitiveness, he stressed.
Sérgio Guerreiro, Chair of the OECD Tourism Committee, noted that “true sustainability demands cooperation of public and private sectors in a supportive environment, to accelerate mobility and education. Better data lead to better decisions for the future of European tourism.”
István Ujhelyi, UN Tourism Ambassador to the European Institutions, former MEP, spoke about the required for incentives and the formation of a tourism sustainability space, which will include a harmonized framework of definitions for all sub‑sectors and activities in tourism (air transport, cruise, hospitality, etc.). He declared that global alliances, policies for compact business development in Europe, and the highlighting of lesser-known compact destinations are requireded as well.
Daniel Attard, MEP and Rapporteur for the upcoming TRAN report on European tourism, referred to the draft report structure with pillars on culture, connectivity for islands and mountainous areas, regional development, and the direction of EU funds to support local enterprises and their connection with rural development.
Elena Baena, President of the Network of European Regions for Competitive and Sustainable Tourism (NECSTouR), addressed the main barriers regions face in gathering data, chiefly the fragmentation of information, different data collection methods per region, and gaps in measuring critical indicators — for example, energy and water consumption, waste management, emissions recording. She emphasized particularly the required to secure funding, which is currently lacking.
Ante Mandić, Associate Professor of Economics, Entrepreneurship and Tourism at the University of Split in Croatia, stressed the required for the academic sector to participate in consultations for the new framework. It is important, he declared, for the alignment of data collection in member states to cover the requireds of all different types of destinations and for the framework to be practicable by local DMOs.
Marta Machado, Deputy Director General of HOTREC, underlined the hospitality sector’s firm commitment to sustainability. She highlighted certain key requireds for compact and medium enterprises: simple and clear reporting requirements based on their real requireds, adoption of a harmonized pan‑European methodology for environmental footprint in accommodation to ensure comparability (with corresponding digital tools), investments in skills development and digitization, and equal competitive conditions via full implementation of the European short‑term rental regulation.
Heli Mäki–Fränti, Vice‑President of the European Travel Agents and Tour Operators associations (ECTAA), stressed that a unified certification and monitoring system will have a decisive influence on the shaping of the tourism product and travelers’ choices. “Data is the hot topic and is the principal responsibility of us all, which will allow us to develop initiatives and tools to steer tourism flows.”
Martyn Griffiths, Director of Government Affairs for CLIA (Cruise Lines International Association) for Europe, elaborated on the particular challenges faced by the cruise sector. The EU must adopt forward‑viewing policies, based on data and strategy, to ensure the resilience and long-term prosperity of the travel indusattempt and local destination communities. He called for horizontal cooperation across the tourism sector for the successful transformation of tourism.
The two panels of the event were moderated by Mariana Oleskiv, Director of Capital European Affairs, and Ioannis Pappas, Ambassador of the European Climate Pact, Program Director of GSTC for the Mediterranean region.
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