Commission staff working document

Tourism plays an important role in the European economy, with some 1.8 million enterprises employing approximately 9.7 million people. It accounts for five per cent of both employment and gross domestic product in the EU. Maritime and coastal tourism play a significant role. As tourism also affects the demand for services and products in other sectors, its indirect relevance for the macro-regional development is much higher.

Growth in the tourism sector has been supporting the economic recovery in the Baltic Sea region. In 2011, the number of international trips in Europe grew by 4%. The top growth rates were achieved in the three Baltic States with an increase in Latvia of 31%, Lithuania of 25%, and Estonia of 15%. Arrivals from China, India and Russia grew at a double-digit rate.
In rural areas, tourism is often a key sector in generating growth and employment, next to agriculture. It offers an economic incentive to stay in the countryside, and gives people pride in their traditions, in their cultural and natural heritage. It stimulates investment in infrastructure and transport facilities, and thus helps achieve balanced territorial development in the region.

Apart from these factors, the development of a globally competitive tourism scene in the Baltic Sea region also depends on close cooperation with other sectors, e.g. information and communication technology, and the environment and health. Tourism trends are aligned with societal, technological and global trends, like demographic change, climate change and environmental challenges or the economic rise of the formerly called ‘emerging countries’. So tourism is subject to constant change and development. Today, it has to increasingly meet the requirements of elderly and disabled people as well as lone travellers. It needs to be developed and consumed sustainably, and it has ideally to be climate-friendly.

Currently, tourism in the region lacks a comprehensive institutional and political framework. The existing tourism cooperation structures, like working groups or projects, are concerned with specific interests and topics, are of a temporary or intermittent character, or lack the desired geographic coverage of the macro-region.

1. 
   For the cooperative dimension the target should be real opportunities for networking among all Baltic Sea states on tourism issues provided and used as a major result of, among other factors, the work of priority area ‘Tourism’. In the long run, establishing an institutionalised cooperation framework for tourism might be desirable but seems unrealistic for the moment.
   
2. 
   For the policy dimension the target should focus on an increase in the number of jointly developed tourism strategy and policy documents available, both regarding comprehensive/all-inclusive strategies, and documents focusing on more specific aspects of tourism, including maritime and coastal tourism.
   

1. 
   Cooperative dimension: number of fora (conferences, meetings, workshops etc.) for dialogue on tourism cooperation with participation of stakeholders representing the Baltic Sea states.
   
2. 
   Policy dimension: number of jointly developed strategy or policy documents on tourism in the Baltic Sea region.
   

This networking action should include private business, non-governmental organisations, public authorities, and multilateral cooperation structures in the entire Baltic Sea region. To this effect, all existing tourism-related network initiatives should be utilised including the annual Baltic Sea Tourism Forum (BSTF).

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  Network of regional tourism innovation centres for Baltic Sea Region. Identification of expertise and know-how in different areas of the region by conducting a study on the covered research areas and research caps, available expertise, including Russia (especially St. Petersburg area) and Norway, understanding about different innovation systems and structures as well on the existing networks between tourism and other business branches (e.g. energy, health, living and building sector, cleantech and environmental technologies, maritime industry). Based on the findings, create cooperation/networks between regional innovation clusters, benefiting from each other’s expertise, transferring knowledge, finding best partners for development actions and sharing best practices to support the renewal, growth and competitiveness of the BSR tourism industry. Lead: Regional Council for Southwest Finland and Turku Touring/Centre of Expertise for Tourism and Experience Management. Preparation and planning phase during 2013, operational phase 2014.
  

By developing common strategies and approaches based on environmental and social responsibility, and building on the commitment of various stakeholders, including Russia, cooperation could include: facilitating the exchange of best practices, harmonisation of standards, regional marketing and branding activities, the development of joint tourism products and projects in the region.

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  Facilitate sustainable land excursions of cruise ship operators in the Baltic Sea by developing pilot actions in order to elaborate guidelines for the application of sustainability criteria for the product format ‘land excursions’. After the implementation and the evaluation of the pilot actions, it is intended to offer a standardised process for this product in order to promote the dissemination of the results within the cruise ship sector. Lead: AIDA Cruises, Germany. Deadline for progress review: July 2013.
  
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  Promote the cultural and natural heritage by monitoring on-going initiatives and trends in tourism development in the Baltic Sea region. Cooperation on the part of public and private sector partners will focus on tourist product development and it’s launching into the market. The flagship project will be part of the Enjoy South Baltic! project for the South Baltic region. It shall be expanded to the whole Baltic Sea region by disseminating the project results and by clustering with relevant networks and projects. Lead: Office of the Marshal of the Pomorskie Voivodeship; Pomorskie Tourist Board, Poland. Deadline for progress review: June 2014.
  
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  Develop strategies for sustainable tourism by using available sources of information such as the YEPAT database⁵⁷ or the Nordic Culture Point. In addition, within the project AGORA 2.0,⁵⁸ partners from the Baltic Sea region (including Belarus) will start on pilot projects to improve the accessibility to the natural, cultural and historical heritage for tourism and to detect elements of a common identity for the region. Lead: University of Greifswald, Germany. Deadline for finalisation: July 2013.
  

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  Attract tourists to rural areas especially the coastal ones by promoting joint sustainable rural and coastal tourism packages (e.g. farm, food tourism, hiking, winter sports, nature based tourism) and by creating a network of players in the tourism sector, research and education, local and public sector in order to share and disseminate best practices and know-how on products, services and accessibility.