Transforming tourism from a regional perspective: challenges, visions, ways forward
Tourism is the third largest socioeconomic activity in the European Union (EU) that contributes significantly to the EU’s gross national product, employment rates, and development indices as it encompasses a growing number ?of new destinations.
Despite the growth and development of tourism in the European regional context, recent studies have identified problems related to the sustainable use of natural resources, innovation dynamics and specialization patterns, and the relations between tourism performance and regional sustainable development in Europe. Destroyed environments, over-developed landscapes, seasonal economies, demographic changes and loss of cultural community could undermine European regional tourism in the future.
Although tourism has significantly contributed to these problems, it has the potential to significantly contribute to finding new and sustainable solutions. Players in the tourism industry – tourists, businesses, government bodies dealing with tourism and development –therefore have a responsibility to prevent and mitigate the negative impacts of modern tourism, as well as to ensure that host communities, the environment, and the climate are protected, today and in the future.
This conference aims to reassess tourism policy and planning by critically (re)examining tourism development models and (re)considering how the focus on sustainability might shape future tourism planning and policy making.
