Travelling with Ms Andreea Staicu - Deputy Head of the tourism unit, DG GROW, European Commission
Introduction to the series
Welcome to our interview series, where we delve into the intersection of tourism and transport at a time when both industries are under growing scrutiny. Through the years, Europe has remained the most popular world destination. With its population of 475 million, in 2022, it did attract 600 million inbound tourists arriving in Europe[1]. It is also one of the most popular destinations for Europeans itself. On one side, this is good news because it tourism contributes to economic prosperity for Europe. On the other hand, a majority of tourist trips are done by aircraft or car transport, depending on the two most polluting transport modes, which results in high emissions for the tourism sector.
While travel remains a beloved part of life, the environmental sustainability of tourism is a pressing concern. Key questions arise: What actions are different stakeholders taking? Where do the real bottlenecks lie? And most importantly, what is the way forward?
One thing is clear—there is an increasing need for cooperation, bringing the worlds of tourism and transport closer together. A significant milestone has been achieved with the appointment of a new Commissioner for Tourism and Transport, signalling a fresh focus on addressing these challenges.
In this series of interviews, conducted by Breda University of Applied Sciences and NHL Stenden University of Applied Sciences in the period of March- April 2024, as part of the CELTH “Travelling with” project, we gather insights from stakeholders. These conversations shed light on current developments in tourism transport, highlighting the crucial roles different actors play—or must play—in the effort to decarbonise travel.
Nina Nesterova, Professor of Sustainable Tourism and Transport at Breda University of Applied Sciences is travelling in the world of tourism and transport with Andreea Staicu, Deputy Head of Tourism Unit, DG GROW, European Commission. In this interview, they are talking about the role of DG GROW in shaping European tourism and priorities for cooperation between the transport and tourism sectors.
[1]Inbound tourism in Europe - statistics & facts | Statista
Can you please introduce the role of DG Grow in shaping European tourism?
“Within European Commission, DG GROW is the directorate that deals with the internal market and in particular supports the SMEs (small and medium enterprises). For tourism, we are mainly working on the resilience, the competitiveness of tourism and also on the greening and digitalisation of tourism. We've done that through the Transition Pathway for Tourism[1], which was co-created in 2022, together with stakeholders from the industry, from the national, local and regional authorities. Later, the Council adopted the European Agenda for Tourism 2030[2], with actions based on the Transition Pathway. Our unit follows all these actions and their implementation. And we are also promoting Europe as the first destination worldwide. Overall, the mission of the European Commission is to complement the action of the Member States, and that of the regional and local authorities.”
In 2022, DG GROW published the Transition Pathway for Tourism, detailing key necessary conditions, actions and targets to achieve green, digital and resilient tourism sector in Europe. What is the DG GROW definition of the green transition in tourism travel?
“When we talk about green tourism, we think about promoting sustainable means of transport: promoting the railway use, active travel modes, as well as scooters, electric bikes and so on. And also, very importantly, public transport, that is available in Europe. Quite recently on the European level we have adopted the European Declaration on Cycling[3], hoping to encourage cycling in Europe.”
In your opinion, which role does transport to, from and within Europe play in the sustainable tourism development?
“Transport plays a very important role, because, depending on the type of trip someone is taking, it can account for more or less of greenhouse gas emissions. At the same the tourism ecosystem is a very complex one. Next to transport, we need to think about accommodation, hospitality industry, attraction parks, cultural activities and so on.
The European Commission has adopted Fit for 55' legislation in 2021, which has been endorsed by the European Council and the European Parliament last year. Thus, we have a very good framework and specific targets to work on.”
At this moment, European tourism emissions growth is mainly determined by the aircraft emissions from the long-haul arrivals to Europe and outbound tourism emissions growth, which keeps growing. Which solutions DG GROW sees in decoupling tourism growth from tourism emissions?
“Both tourism growth and improvement of sustainability in tourism are important. That can be done following the course and objectives that we have proposed in the Transition Pathway for Tourism and also in line with the objectives, that the Member States and the regions are establishing for themselves. From that point of view dependency on the air transport plays an important role. In this regard, we focus on the three main areas of work:
- Increased use of sustainable transport modes, such as electric mobility, active mobility and increase in the uptake of sustainable aviation fuels for aviation.
- Encouragement of tourists to use these means of transport.
- Sharing best practices among the destinations and tourism sector companies, on how their action plans are being put into place to attain the objective of more sustainable transport.”
Transport and automotive ecosystems are recognised as those that have a direct impact on the tourism ecosystem's capacity to get greener, more digital and resilient. What is the progress of the work under Topic 6 “Sustainable mobility’ within Transition Pathway for Tourism?
“January 2024 we have published the first stocktaking report for the transition pathway for tourism[4]. We can see quite a lot of progress under topic 6, which is “Sustainable mobility”. We see that recommendations to the Member States on how to develop SUMPs (Sustainable Urban Mobility Plans) are becoming a priority for at least half of them. They are putting into place these strategies at the national level. Most importantly, stakeholders are working on their own action plans and are setting up targets for/from themselves locally.
We have received pledges from a variety of companies. For example, we have received a pledge from Ryanair, pledging that they would use about 12% of sustainable fuels by 2030. We have received very interesting pledges from regional authorities, for example from the Pays de la Loire region, pledging to become the leader in intermodality (train, coach, boat, bicycle), ensuring that all the destinations in this area can be reached by sustainable means of transport. So we see quite a lot of mobilisation under this topic.”
Tourism from one side affects transport systems, and from another - is highly dependent on it, using all transport modes at each scale: urban, peri-urban, rural, national, and international. Do you think that tourism travel characteristics and additional requirements are sufficiently integrated into sustainable transport, TEN-T and urban mobility policies?
“On these aspects we work closely together with our colleagues from DG MOVE and we follow all the legislation around TEN-T, as well as regulations that have been adopted under the Fit for 55 legislative package. From the Transition Pathway perspective, it is important to ensure that the visitors perspective is integrated into SUMPs that cities are putting into place.”
How does DG GROW cooperate with transport and mobility stakeholders and transport policy makers, beyond its cooperation with DG MOVE?
“We have several ways in which we cooperate and listen to stakeholders closely. Within Transition Pathway process we collect and publish the pledges. We do that at least two times per year. We also carry out several events, for example, a tourism stakeholder event that takes place at least once a year, where all kinds of stakeholders, including transport stakeholders, come and explain their pledges. We also bring together a variety of stakeholders during the European Tourism Day. Finally, there is an online platform, that, at this moment, we are developing in DG Grow. This platform will provide all stakeholders with information on all the topics that they are interested in, will allow to exchange information with other like-minded stakeholders, to see what pledges and best practices they can share, have an idea about the financing and the projects that are upcoming and also networking.”
Which role the topics of decarbonisation of tourist transport and tourism mobility play with DG GROW expert group Together for EU Tourism expert group?
“This expert group has three subgroups. One of them focuses on the green transition of tourism. This topic is a part of discussions within this group, resulting in the concrete actions and deliverables that we should take into account for the next proposals we make.”
Beyond the SUMPs, what are the cooperation topics on tourism transport between DG GROW and DG MOVE?
“We can summarise this cooperation around three main topics: transport infrastructure and high speed rail developments; the follow-up of the existing regulatory frameworks and sustainable urban mobility plans.”
Can you please elaborate on the cooperation about the railway transport and the Single European Railway area development?
“These topics are priority for us. Results from the Eurobarometer 2021[5] show that 38% of tourists wanted to travel more sustainably. Travel by train is the first sustainable travel way across Europe. So we closely follow the developments of the TEN-T rail projects. The train is also important for the rural areas, and for the most remote regions where it's more difficult to arrive in any other way. At the same time, we are aware that some places in Europe, like the outermost regions or islands for instance, cannot be reached in any other way than by aircraft. So we believe that increasing the rail usage and sustainable urban mobility will compensate for these particular regions.”
Transport industry plays a major role in tourism, but tourism itself can play a role in the modal shift to sustainable transport modes. In your opinion, what tourism industry can do itself to decrease its reliance on long haul travel and on the aircraft use?
“We observe a change in tourism preferences after COVID – 19 pandemic: much more travellers are interested in travelling locally in the same country. Eurobarometer results show that travellers increasingly prefer to travel in the same area or in the same country and want to do it more respectfully to the local communities that they are visiting. Eurostat data shows that about three out of four tourist trips are done in the same country – an interesting shift and trend to observe. Destinations are increasingly working on sustainable mobility plans, on infrastructure, and on developing multimodal transport offer to the tourists.”
To what extent and how DG GROW can support tourism industry in this shift to sustainable tourism travel modes?
“We make sure that the knowledge is shared. What is being done by certain destinations and companies is being broadly disseminated to raise awareness. We also make sure that pledges and commitments are collected and shared, ensuring that destinations can learn from each other.”
Which opportunities do you see for further cooperation and joint actions, between DG MOVE and DG GROW to support sustainable agendas of both sectors and to have synergy in helping each other to reach the goal of net sero by 2050?
“I think what's really important is that the visitor perspective is taken into account by decision makers and also by the private sector when they develop there sustainable actions and plans. DG GROW is working closely with colleagues from DG MOVE on passing this message and we growingly see that the visitor perspective is included in the sustainable transport plans for the destinations.”
What is your vision on the future of tourism mobility and your wish for sustainable tourism transport?
“I am a traveller myself, obviously. So for me, the most important is to have, across Europe, great train connections. That tourists can travel sustainably to any place, any destination. More night trains that will allow us to go from one place to another. And to be able to pay seamlessly, without buying different tickets in advance. So that would be my wish for sustainable tourism transport.”
[1] European Commission: Directorate-General for Internal Market, Industry, Entrepreneurship and SMEs, Transition pathway for tourism, Publications Office of the European Union, 2022, https://data.europa.eu/doi/10.2873/344425
[2] Council of the European Union: European Agenda for Tourism 2030, 15441/22 COMPET 969 TOUR 78
https://data.consilium.europa.eu/doc/document/ST-15441-2022-INIT/en/pdf
[3] Official Journal of the European Union: European Declaration on Cycling, ST/6215/2024/INIT
http://data.europa.eu/eli/C/2024/2377/oj
[4] European Commission: Directorate-General for Internal Market, Industry, Entrepreneurship and SMEs, Transition pathway for tourism – Taking stock of progress by 2023, Publications Office of the European Union, 2024, https://data.europa.eu/doi/10.2873/775069
[5] Flash Eurobarometer 499 (Attitudes of Europeans towards Tourism, Autumn 2021)
European Commission; Directorate General Communication, COMM.A.3 ´Media monitoring and Eurobarometer´ doi:10.2873/035869