1. To strengthen the EU tourism industry as a high quality service sector, a more customer-oriented approach as well as well trained and motivated staff is necessary.

2. To give the EU a better position as the number one tourism destination in the world, Europe needs better branding to reflect its core values and to adequately differentiate itself from other destinations in the world.

A pro-independence alliance has won a majority of seats in the Spanish region of Catalonia, plunging Spain into a constitutional crisis just two months ahead of national elections. The Junts Pel Si (Together For Yes) alliance won 62 seats in the 135-member regional parliament, and another pro-independence party, Candidatura d'Unitat Popular (CUP), won 10 seats. But the pro-independence parties between them failed to win an overall majority of the votes cast, ending up with just under 48%.

This SWOT analysis gives a short but concise overview of the Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats of the European Hotels and Restaurants sector.

Strengths

Source: ECTAA (2012)

Estimates

For Members of the European Parliament the Tourism Europe Forum (TEF) will be a reliable source of information and a useful tool to underpin debate on policy issues affecting the European tourism industry.

The Forum’s goal is to promote dialogue and include all major players in it, thus offering a unique opportunity to engage with many stakeholders, while respecting time constraints.

Recognizing the diversity of the European tourism industry does not mean that it is impossible for a sector composed of diverse elements to reach common views on some issues. It is does not mean that it is impossible to identify common issues and to work on them.

Lead DG: GROW- DG Internal Market, Industry, Entrepreneurship and SMEs

Mission: The role of the Committee is to facilitate exchanges of information, consultation and where appropriate, cooperation on tourism and in particular on the provision of services for tourists.

Task: Assist the European Commission in the preparation of legislation or on policy definition, coordinates with Member States, exchange of views.

Members

Outlined below is a full Health Check template for National Tourism Authorities (NTA) in EU Member States. NTAs' response to the Health Check questions will help determine priorities and also provide an indication of the progress already made against existing global sustainable tourism criteria.

It is also possible for NTAs to benchmark their performance against other NTAs.  Levels of Achievement can be No=1, Low=2, Med=3 and High=4). Unsure is to capture areas where internal or external partners are unsure of activity or progress against that item.

Destination Branding might be defined as the set of marketing activities that (1) support the creation of a name, symbol, logo, word, mark or other graphic that readily identifies and differentiates a destination; that (2) consistently convey the expectation of a memorable travel experience that is uniquely associated with the destination; that (3) serve to consolidate and reinforce the emotional connection between the visitor and the destination; and that (4) reduce consumer search costs and perceived risk, all with the intent purpose of creating an image that influences c