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2018
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2019 HOTREC ANNUAL REPORT
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FOREWORD BY MRS. ELŻBIETA BIEŃKOWSKA,
COMMISSIONER FOR INTERNAL MARKET,
INDUSTRY, ENTREPRENEURSHIP AND SMES
“Let me thank again HOTREC for its
constructive and proactive cooperation
during the past years and its active
involvement in shaping the policy agenda
for EU tourism”
Dear Readers,
Over the last four and a half years, I have had the pleasure of covering tourism as part of my portfolio as European
Commissioner. I say ‘pleasure’ because the EU’s tourism industry plays a crucial role in Europe’s economy, providing
jobs, incomes and benefits for millions of our citizens, and is constantly innovating to meet new consumer
demands and adjust to the challenge of sustainability. Before I step down, let me therefore take stock of our main
achievements over my time as Commissioner.
First, let me mention an area particularly relevant to the hospitality sector: digitalisation and the collaborative
economy.
With the help of the COSME programme, we put in place a series of actions supporting small and micro tourism
enterprises’ digital transformation. We mostly focused on digital, online marketing and e-management skills,
reaching tourism SMEs across EU Member States through the Tourism Business Portal, our webinars and local
seminars. In addition, we financed the establishment of the first European network of incubators to support
innovative SMEs and start-ups in tourism and creativity.
The rapid evolution of new business models has a strong impact on the hospitality industry and on local
communities. During 2017, we organised a series of workshops on the collaborative economy in the tourism
accommodation sector. We concluded this strand of work with a high-level conference in October 2018, where we
presented and debated about the outcome of the workshops. Let me take the opportunity here to thank HOTREC
for its valuable participation in both the workshops and the conference. Since then the Commission has continued
the dialogue with the relevant stakeholders and destinations, in order to discuss challenges and provide guidance
on the application of EU rules to new business models.
Second, another common challenge we have addressed and we continue working on is skills. Our efforts seek
to improve the resilience of the tourism workforce by equipping them with the right skills. We mobilised close to
€5 million to support a strategic cooperation on skills in tourism, in the context of the New Skills Agenda and its
Blueprint for Sectorial Cooperation, and improve the image of tourism careers. We supported the establishment of
a European cooperation platform to identify and close the skills gap and define the skills and job profiles the tourism
industry needs. The platform is currently working on an action plan to roll out those skills at national and regional
level. In parallel, we also put in place an awareness-raising campaign to improve the perception of the sector as a
long-term career opportunity .
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