BSPC Report on Sustainable Tourism 2022 – 2023

32BSPCYEARSBerlin , 27 – 29 August 2023Report on Sustainable Tourismin the Baltic Sea Region2022–2023The BSPC Rapporteur’s 2022-2023 The Baltic Sea Parliamentary Conference (BSPC) was established in 1991 as a forum for po-Report on Sustainable Tourism in the Baltic Sea Region litical dialogue between parliamentarians from the Baltic Sea Region. The BSPC aims to© Schwerin, July 2023 raise awareness and opinion on issues of current political interest and relevance for the Bal-tic Sea Region. It promotes and drives various initiatives and efforts to support the sustain-able environmental, social and economic development of the Baltic Sea Region. It strives toText: Birgit Hesse enhance the visibility of the Baltic Sea Region and its issues in a broader European context.Editing: Evgeniya Bakalova, Georg Strätker and Bodo Bahr BSPC gathers parliamentarians from 10 national parliaments, 7 regional parliaments and 5Photo: Landtag Mecklenburg-Vorpommern parliamentary organisations around the Baltic Sea. The BSPC thus constitutes a unique par-Layout: produktionsbüro TINUS liamentary bridge between the democratic EU- and non-EU countries of the Baltic Sea Re-gion. BSPC external interfaces include parliamentary, governmental, subregional and otherBaltic Sea Parliamentary Conference organisations in the Baltic Sea Region and the Northern Dimension area, among themBodo Bahr CBSS, HELCOM, the Northern Dimension Partnership in Health and Social Well-Be-Secretary General ing (NDPHS), the Baltic Sea Labour Forum (BSLF) and the Baltic Sea States Subregional+49 171 5512557 Cooperation (BSSSC).bodo.bahr@bspcmail.net The BSPC shall initiate and guide political activities in the region; support and strengthenwww.bspc.net democratic institutions in the participating states; improve dialogue between governments,parliaments and civil society; strengthen the common identity of the Baltic Sea Region bymeans of close cooperation between national and regional parliaments based on equality;and initiate and guide political activities in the Baltic Sea Region, endowing them with ad-ditional democratic legitimacy and parliamentary authority.The political recommendations of the annual Parliamentary Conferences are expressed in aBSPC Secretariat Conference Resolution adopted by consensus by the Conference. The adopted ResolutionSchlossgartenallee 15 shall be submitted to the governments of the Baltic Sea Region, the CBSS and the EU and19061 Schwerin disseminated to other relevant national, regional and local stakeholders in the Baltic Sea Re-Germany gion and its neighbourhood.3Table of ContentsI. Introduction ......................................................................................................................................4II. Main Developments in the Field of Sustainable Tourism ..................................................................71. EU Initiatives to Promote Sustainable Tourism ...................................................................................................................7Transition Pathway for Tourism .........................................................................................................................................7Guide on EU Funding for Tourism ....................................................................................................................................9EU Tourism Dashboard .......................................................................................................................................................9European Agenda for Tourism 2030 .................................................................................................................................102. EUSBSR Policy Area Tourism ...........................................................................................................................................11Main Developments: An Overview ...................................................................................................................................11Interreg Baltic Sea Region Projects Contributing to PA Tourism .....................................................................................123. Interreg South Baltic: Third and Fourth Seed Money Calls for ProjectsContributing to Sustainable Tourism Development ........................................................................................................13III. Meetings and Events .....................................................................................................................161. “Competitive and Sustainable Tourism Sector” Workshop, Interreg Europe Policy Learning Platform ..........................162. “Towards an EU Strategy for Sustainable Tourism” Event, 1 October 2021 ....................................................................183. European Tourism Forum 2021, 17 November 2021 ......................................................................................................214. “Branding of the Baltic Sea Region as a Single Maritime Destination for Sustainable Coastal Tourism”,Project Final Conference, 22 February 2022 ....................................................................................................................225. “The Road to Sustainable Cruise Tourism”, Second Pan-European Cruise Dialogue, 1 March 2022.............................236. Conference of EU Tourism Ministers, 17–18 March 2022 ..............................................................................................247. European Tourism Forum 2022, 15 November 2022 ......................................................................................................258. Baltic Sea Tourism Forum 2022, 1 December 2022 .........................................................................................................269. SusMarTour Final Conference, 7 December 2022 ............................................................................................................2910. European Tourism Day, 5 May 2023 ..............................................................................................................................30IV. Notable Publications ......................................................................................................................32Preferences of Europeans towards Tourism – Flash Eurobarometer Report 2021 ................................................................32SusMarTour Final Report: The Future of Maritime Tourism in the Baltic Sea Region 2022 ..............................................33V. Prospects and Outlook ....................................................................................................................34Sources (Selection) and Useful Links ...................................................................................................35List of Abbreviations ...........................................................................................................................37I. Introduction 4I. IntroductionThe Baltic Sea Parliamentary Conference (BSPC) remains com-mitted to promoting sustainable tourism in the Baltic Sea regionwith a view to ecological, economic, social, and cultural aspects.Following the final recommendations of the BSPC Working Groupon Sustainable Tourism for the 26th BSPC resolution and the es-tablishment of the BSPC Rapporteur mandate on sustainable tour-ism in 2017, this commitment was renewed in the resolutions ofthe 30th1 and 31st2 BSPC in 2021 and 2022. The present ReportMs Birgit Hesseon Sustainable Tourism in the Baltic Sea Region 2022–2023 – thefifth of its kind – follows the tradition established in 2017 and pro-vides an overview of political developments, projects, events, andpublications in connection with sustainable tourism policies andinitiatives in Europe and in the Baltic Sea region.The past three years have been especially challenging for the touristindustry, with the COVID-19 pandemic having caused a world-wide decline in international tourist arrivals of up to 72% in 2020.According to the United Nations World Tourism Organisation(UNWTO), international tourist arrivals have been showing signsof gradual and slow recovery throughout 2021–2022 and havereached 80% of pre-pandemic levels in the first quarter of 2023.3In Europe, international arrivals have now reached 90% of pre-pan-demic levels – compared to the first quarter of 2019 – with South-ern Europe even showing a slightly positive trend. However, theUNWTO Panel of Experts survey has demonstrated that many1 See Item 14 of the Conference Resolution Adopted by the 30th Baltic Sea Parliamentary Conference (BSPC), 30 August 2021,https://docs.google.com/viewerng/viewer?url=https://www.bspc.net/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/30-BSPC-Resolution-2021-adopted.docx&hl=en.2 See Item 9 of the Conference Resolution Adopted by the 31st Baltic Sea Parliamentary Conference (BSPC), 14 June 2022,https://www.bspc.net/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/Conference-Resolution-31-BSPC.pdf.3 UNWTO, Tourism on Track for Full Recovery as New Data Shows Strong Start to 2023, 9 May 2023, https://www.unwto.org/news/tourism-on-track-for-full-recovery-as-new-data-shows-strong-start-to-2023.I. Introduction 5experts doubted that international tourism could fully recover to pre-pandemic levels before 2024. Forthe coming years, it is forecasted that tourists would travel closer to home and seek value for money dueto the challenging economic situation, high inflation, the energy crisis caused by the Russian war of ag-gression against Ukraine. The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) doc-umented that tourism recovery in 2022 largely exceeded expectations for many countries,4 but observedthat domestic tourism was expected to recover by 2023, and international tourism – no earlier than 2025or later.In the Baltic Sea region, Germany, Poland, and Denmark have ranked among the top twenty destinationsfor international tourists in world comparison in 2022, according to UNWTO.5 Yet all three states expe-rienced declines in international tourist arrivals compared to 2019 – with Germany having experienced a28% decline, Poland – 30%, and Denmark – 2%. OECD reported that countries neighbouring Russiaand Ukraine had seen slower recovery compared to other states in Europe, with Estonia, Finland, Latvia,and Lithuania remaining below or significantly below 2019 levels in 2022.6It is important to note that aggregated statistical data cannot account for the economic, social, cultural,and psychological damage the COVID crisis and the war in Europe have dealt and continue to deal totourism stakeholders, tourist SMEs, the societies at large, and individuals. According to the EuropeanCommission, the tourism ecosystem was one of the most heavily affected by the COVID-19 crisis,7 whilethe war in Ukraine has caused an additional blow to economic recovery with far-reaching direct and in-direct consequences for the tourism industry, according to the OECD. These effects go far beyond eco-nomic losses and cannot be fully elaborated at present.Despite the ongoing crises, the past years have also witnessed multiple developments and initiatives,which could help strengthen the tourism ecosystem in the future. At the level of the European Union, theTransition Pathway for Tourism presented in February 2022 and the accompanying co-creation processwith European tourism stakeholders aimed to assist the tourism industry in its green and digitaltransformation in line with the European Green Deal. The European Agenda for Tourism 2030 adopted4 OECD Tourism Trends and Policies 2022, November 2022, https://www.oecd-ilibrary.org/sites/a8dd3019-en/index.html?itemId=/content/publication/a8dd3019-en.5 UNWTO, World Tourism Barometer, Vol. 21, Issue 2, May 2023, Excerpt, https://www.unwto.org/unwto-world-tourism-barometer-data.6 OECD Tourism Trends and Policies 2022, November 2022, https://www.oecd-ilibrary.org/sites/a8dd3019-en/index.html?itemId=/content/publication/a8dd3019-en.7 European Commission, Transition Pathway for Tourism, p. 2, https://ec.europa.eu/docsroom/documents/49498.I. Introduction 6in December 2022 contained a multi-annual EU work plan with actions and responsibilities aiming tomake the European tourism ecosystem more sustainable and resilient. In addition, newly developed toolssuch as the Guide on EU Funding for Tourism and the EU Tourism Dashboard offer valuable data andinformation for stakeholders and consumers. The organisation of the European Tourism Day in May2023 – after a five-year pause – represented another positive development paying tribute to the impor-tance of the tourism industry for European economy and labour market.In the Baltic Sea region, the adoption of the updated EUSBSR Action Plan as well as the recent develop-ments in Policy Area Tourism, the approval of the 2021–2027 Interreg Baltic Sea Region and InterregSouth Baltic programmes have provided impetus for new cooperation initiatives and projects to supportthe development of sustainable tourism in the region. One of the highlights has been the return of theBaltic Sea Tourism Forum (BSTF) in December 2022. The next BSTF is planned to take place on 11 Oc-tober 2023 in Tallinn, Estonia, continuing the tradition initiated by the Ministry for Economy, Employ-ment, and Tourism and the Tourist Board of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern back in 2008.The report at hand provides a retrospective overview of these developments and offers a brief reflection onthe prospects of joint future work aiming at raising the sustainability and resilience of European and Bal-tic Sea tourism in the future.Birgit HessePresident of the State Parliament of Mecklenburg-VorpommernBSPC Rapporteur on Sustainable TourismII. Main Developments in the Field of Sustainable Tourism 7II. Main Developmentsin the Field of Sustainable Tourism1. EU Initiatives to Promote Sustainable TourismTransition Pathway for TourismOn 10 March 2020, the Commission adopted a new industrial strategy1 in order to support EU indus-tries in their green and digital transitions and to boost the EU’s global competitiveness. In light of the ex-perience of the COVID-19 pandemic, the update of the EU industrial strategy2 highlighted the need tofurther accelerate the green and digital transformation and increase the resilience of the EU industrial eco-systems. To do so, the Commission proposed launching transition pathways that were co-created withstakeholders to assist industrial ecosystems in their transformation. Since the tourism ecosystem was thehardest hit by the pandemic and continued to face major challenges to achieve the twin – green and dig-ital – transition, it became the first industrial ecosystem in which a co-creation process was launched todevelop a transition pathway.The development of the Transition Pathway for Tourism started in June 2021 with a stakeholders’ consul-tation on scenarios for the ecosystem shift. Several workshops and stakeholder meetings were held to fur-ther brainstorm and elaborate on the relevant proposals. The Transition Pathway for Tourism was also in-tended to contribute to the request of the European Council in its conclusions of 27 May 20213 that in-vited “the Commission and Member States, in participation with relevant stakeholders, to design a Euro-pean Agenda for Tourism.”The Transition Pathway for Tourism report4 was presented on 8 February 2022. On the same day, the Eu-ropean Commission launched an online survey, inviting the EU tourism community to share informationabout their individual and collective commitments and to express interest in working together on the im-plementation of the transition. The report covered areas where stakeholders, often in collaboration, should1 European Commission, European Industrial Strategy, https://ec.europa.eu/info/strategy/priorities-2019-2024/europe-fit-digital-age/european-industrial-strategy_en.2 European Commission, Communication from the European Commission to the European Parliament, the Council, theEuropean Economic and Social Committee and the Committee of the Regions, Updating the 2020 New Industrial Strategy:Building a stronger Single Market for Europe’s recovery, COM(2021) 350 final, https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/PDF/?uri=CELEX:52021DC0350&from=EN.3 European Council, Council Conclusions on Tourism in Europe for the next Decade: Sustainable, Resilient, Digital, Global andSocial, https://www.consilium.europa.eu/media/49960/st08881-en21.pdf.4 European Commission, Transition Pathway for Tourism, https://ec.europa.eu/docsroom/documents/49498.II. Main Developments in the Field of Sustainable Tourism 8take action, in order to accelerate the twin transition and promote more resilience in the tourism ecosys-tem. The measures were designed to yield positive effects for the stakeholders and to benefit the overalltourism ecosystem. It set out several types of measures to be taken by different stakeholder groups, withspecific milestones along five building blocks: regulation and public governance, green and digital transi-tion, resilience, investments and funding, monitoring and co-implementation. Overall, the TransitionPathway proposed measures in 27 areas, including:• developing comprehensive national and regional strategies taking account of economic,environmental, and social sustainability of tourism,• developing greenhouse gas (GHG) reduction plans by passenger transport companies in line withthe Climate Law goals,• developing the use of locally supplied ingredients with low environmental footprint to reduce theenvironmental impact of food services,• establishing large-scale pilots on sustainable tourism, e.g. on islands and remote regions, includingthe outermost regions,• enhancing the Guide on EU Funding for Tourism by providing information on recently fundedprojects and upcoming calls, as well as• providing a one-stop-shop that would link to key support resources and funding opportunities fortourism SMEs on European, national, and regional level.In addition, the report provided an overview of plans for supporting and monitoring the industry’s greenand digital transition within a co-implementation process.One of the key elements of the Transition Pathway were stakeholder pledges as an integral part of theco-implementation process. This process included multiple steps, along which stakeholders were to be in-vited to present their voluntary commitments by pledging to take action on specific measures and/or tar-gets set out in the Transition Pathway. Stakeholders were further to be invited to express their interest inparticipating in task forces to support and track progress on the key dimensions (green, digital, resilience)of the Transition Pathway.Consequently, in February 2022, the Directorate General for Internal Market, Industry, Entrepreneur-ship and SMEs (DG GROW) opened a continuously open call for stakeholders to submit their pledgesto support the Transition Pathway, with published results 2-3 times a year. These pledges were conceivedto show examples of leadership and facilitate best practice sharing. The first three sets of commitments(including a total of 382 pledges) received through the online survey opened by the European Commis-sion5 have been published on the respective DG GROW webpage.6 The first summary report including186 pledges for action and 112 organisations expressing their commitment to the Transition Pathway was5 Call for commitments and participation in the co-implementation of Transition Pathway for Tourism, https://ec.europa.eu/eusurvey/runner/Together4EUTourism.6 Organisations committed to the Transition pathway for tourism: https://single-market-economy.ec.europa.eu/sectors/tourism/eu-tourism-transition/tourism-transition-pathway/commitments/organisations_en.II. Main Developments in the Field of Sustainable Tourism 9published in June 2022. The second report summarising the second round of commitments collection(with 260 actions and 142 organisations) was published in October 2022.7In February 2023, DG GROW organised a stakeholder event to support the co-implementation of thetransition pathway for tourism.8 In the next step, an online collaboration stakeholder platform ‘Togetherfor EU Tourism’ is expected to be launched by 2024.Guide on EU Funding for TourismThe Guide on EU Funding for Tourism9 was first published by the European Commission in May 2021in order to highlight existing funding opportunities for the tourist sector. An update was then conductedin February 2022. The online guide features a wide range of funding programmes financed by the newEU budget, the Multiannual Financial Framework 2021–2027, and NextGenerationEU. It also providesproject examples funded by previous EU programmes.EU Tourism DashboardOn 27 May 2021, the Council of the European Union issued its conclusions on Tourism in Europe for theNext Decade.10 Among other things, the conclusions envisioned the development of an EU Tourism Dash-board,11 as an EU flagship tool for the tourism ecosystem. It should also contribute to the Transition Pathwayfor Tourism published in February 2022. The development and consultation process started in mid-2021,with EU member states and other organisations contributing to its improvement. The EU Tourism Dashboardwas developed by the European Commission’s Joint Research Centre (JRC) and the Directorate-General forInternal Market, Industry, Entrepreneurship and SMEs. It was launched at the end of October 2022.The EU Tourism Dashboard was conceived as an instrument to support tourist destinations and publicauthorities in documenting and systemising their progress towards the green and digital transition as wellas highlighting vulnerabilities and strengthening resilience. It should also serve to improve access to sta-tistics and policy-relevant indicators for tourism. The dashboard itself represents an online knowledge7 Transition pathway for tourism: Summary of stakeholder pledges and commitments, 28 October 2022: https://ec.europa.eu/docsroom/documents/51756/attachments/1/translations/en/renditions/native.8 Together for EU Tourism stakeholders meeting, 7 February 2023, https://single-market-economy.ec.europa.eu/events/together-eu-tourism-stakeholders-meeting-2023-02-07_en.9 Guide on EU Funding for Tourism, https://single-market-economy.ec.europa.eu/sectors/tourism/eu-funding-and-businesses/funding-guide_en.10 Council conclusions on "Tourism in Europe for the next decade: sustainable, resilient, digital, global and social", 27 May 2021,https://www.consilium.europa.eu/media/49960/st08881-en21.pdf.11 EU Tourism Dashboard, https://tourism-dashboard.ec.europa.eu/?lng=en&ctx=tourism.II. Main Developments in the Field of Sustainable Tourism 10tool, which offers visualisations of tourism-related data and indicators from trusted sources.12The indicators of the EU Tourism Dashboard are sorted into three thematic groups: ‘environmental im-pacts,’ ‘digitalisation,’ and ‘socio-economic vulnerability.’ The dashboard also offers a set of ‘basic tourismdescriptors’ to provide further context regarding the characteristics of tourism destinations in terms of de-mand, supply, and tourism offer.The indicators currently cover the 2019–2021 period to show pre- and post-COVID developments. Thedashboard offers information and data on 27 EU member states, Iceland, Norway, and Switzerland.European Agenda for Tourism 2030In its conclusion on Tourism in Europe for the Next Decade13 from 27 May 2021, the Council of the Eu-ropean Union called upon the Commission and member states to design a European Agenda for Tourism2030/2050 in cooperation with relevant stakeholders and to present a first outline by the end of 2021.On 1 December 2022, the Council of the EU adopted conclusions setting out a European Agenda forTourism 2030.14 It included a multi-annual EU work plan to support member states, public authorities,the Commission, and stakeholders in assisting the tourism industry in its transition towards green econ-omy, sustainability, resilience, and digitalisation.The European Agenda for Tourism is closely linked to the European Commission’s Transition Pathway forTourism and includes a multi-annual EU work plan following five priority areas: green transition, digitaltransition, resilience and inclusion, skills and support, and the enabling policy framework and govern-ance. Under each priority, the Agenda identified a number of goals and objectives as well as correspond-ing actions and responsibilities. These actions described voluntary activities for EU member states, publicauthorities, the European Commission, and other stakeholders within the European tourism ecosystem.Actions under the work plan included e.g. the implementation of the EU Tourism Dashboard; sup-port for the development of models and transferable practices for sustainable tourism as well as for es-tablishing large-scale pilots on sustainable tourism across the EU, including on islands and in outer-most regions. Furthermore, the Commission and member states would support data-driven sustaina-ble destination management development and provide various forms of support to help companies,start-ups, and local communities innovate with sustainable and resilient tourism services. Another keyobjective related to meeting the skills demand in the tourism ecosystem by implementing the Pact forSkills, a shared engagement model for skills development. To this end, the Commission, memberstates, and other relevant public authorities would facilitate and support the establishing of national,12 Such as Eurocontrol (https://www.eurocontrol.int/), Eurostat, and the European Environment Agency.13 Council conclusions on "Tourism in Europe for the next decade: sustainable, resilient, digital, global and social", 27 May 2021,https://www.consilium.europa.eu/media/49960/st08881-en21.pdf.14 Council conclusions on ‘European Agenda for Tourism 2030’, 1 December 2022, https://data.consilium.europa.eu/doc/document/ST-15441-2022-INIT/en/pdf.II. Main Developments in the Field of Sustainable Tourism 11regional, and local skills partnerships. In addition, the Commission would establish a stakeholder sup-port platform by 2023.2. EUSBSR Policy Area TourismThe previous Reports on Sustainable Tourism in the Baltic Sea Region 202015 and 202116 have closely fol-lowed the update of the EU Strategy for the Baltic Sea Region (EUSBSR) Action Plan. After four years,the revised EUSBSR Action Plan was approved in February 2021. As mentioned in the Report on Sus-tainable Tourism 2021, Policy Area Tourism was preserved as one of the 14 PAs and now includes threeactions to be implemented within the 2020–2025 period:• ransnational tourism development in rural areas,• nvesting in people, skills, and technology in the tourism industry,• protection and sustainable utilisation of cultural heritage and natural resources in tourismdestinations.Main Developments: An OverviewSince April 2022, PA Tourism17 is coordinated by Poland (Pomorskie Tourist Board) and Finland (OuluRegion). Ms Magda Leszczyna-Rzucidło from Pomorskie Tourist Board and Ms Anna-Maija Toivonenfrom the Council of Oulu Region act as Coordinators.According to the EUSBSR Action Plan, PA Tourism provides a platform to reinforce sustainable tourismdevelopment in the Baltic Sea region; creates networks and strengthens the dialogue with stakeholders ofthe tourism industry and tourism education institutions to ensure competence development in the tour-ism sector across the Baltic Sea region. It develops synergies by linking projects, initiatives and organisa-tions with tourism activities; facilitates and strengthens the cooperation in the area to find solutions forcommon challenges. EUSBSR PA Tourism enhances the profile, visibility, and attractiveness of the BalticSea region as a preferred partner for tourism cooperation within the Baltic Sea region.On 1 December 2022, PA Tourism organised the 14th Baltic Sea Tourism Forum 2022 webinar, which at-tracted over 115 participants to discuss future EUSBSR PA Tourism actions. At the beginning of the event,Vice Marshal of Pomorskie Region Mr Wiesław Byczkowski and Mayor of Oulu Region Mr Pauli Harjuunderlined that the joint coordination of EUSBSR Policy Ares Tourism was seen as a great challenge butalso a huge opportunity to start new initiatives and find new synergies for tourism cooperation among allBSR countries. A detailed summary of the BSTF 2022 is provided in Section III.8. of the current report.15 Report on Sustainable Tourism in the Baltic Sea Region 2020, https://www.bspc.net/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/BSPC_WorkingGroupSustainableTourism_2020-2.pdf.16 Report on Sustainable Tourism in the Baltic Sea Region 2021, https://www.bspc.net/bspc_workinggroupsustainabletourism_2021/.17 EUSBSR Policy Area ‘Tourism’: https://www.eusbsr.eu/pa-tourism-about.II. Main Developments in the Field of Sustainable Tourism 12Furthermore, on 20 April 2023, PA Tourism Coordinators welcomed BSR tourist stakeholders to a webinaron EU tourism initiatives. The session featured presentations by European Commission Experts from theDirectorate-General for Regional and Urban Policy (DG REGIO) on the EU Transition Pathway for Tour-ism and the EU Tourism Dashboard, which have been summarised in Section I.1. of the current report.In the next step, EUSBSR PA Tourism Coordinators are planning to organise the 15th Baltic Sea TourismForum to be held on 11 October 2023 in Tallinn, Estonia. The event would be hosted in collaborationwith the Green Destinations Conference 2023, with support from the Estonian Ministry of Economic Af-fairs and Communications, Visit Estonia, Visit Tallinn, and the Council of the Baltic Sea States (CBSS).Interreg Baltic Sea Region Projects Contributing to PA TourismInterreg (European Territorial Cooperation) is one of the two goals of the EU Cohesion Policy. The areaof the Interreg Baltic Sea Region Programme covers nine countries: eight EU member states (Estonia, Lat-via, Lithuania, Poland, Germany, Denmark, Sweden, and Finland) as well as one non-EU country (Nor-way). In the previous programming period, Interreg Baltic Sea Region 2014–2020 funded around 200projects from across the Baltic Sea region.On 2 June 2022, the European Commission adopted the new Programme Interreg Baltic Sea Region2021–2027. The Programme is endowed with more than 250 million euro from the European RegionalDevelopment Fund and Norwegian national funding. It is envisioned to help organisations from coun-tries around the Baltic Sea to cooperate in one of the four thematic priorities:• Innovative societies (Priority 1),• Water-smart societies (Priority 2),• Climate-neutral societies (Priority 3), and• Cooperation governance (Priority 4).Currently, five projects within Interreg Baltic Sea Region Programme 2021–2027 contribute to EUSBSRPolicy Area Tourism: BaltSusBoating 2030 (Baltic Sustainable Boating 2030), BaMuR (Baltic MuseumResilience), BASCIL (Innovative Solutions for the Rural Food Production Sector to Diversify into Sus-tainable Culinary Tourism Services), BSR Cultural Pearls, and Lakes Connect. These projects are shortlysummarised below.BaltSusBoating 2030 (Baltic Sustainable Boating 2030)18 involves six organisations from Poland, Swe-den, Latvia, Finland, and Estonia and would run from October 2022 to September 2024 with a budgetof almost 0.5 million euro. The project aims to create a pan-Baltic cooperation platform to turn the Bal-tic Sea region into a sustainable and competitive leisure boating destination. It is a follow-up of the Baltic18 BaltSusBoating 2030, https://interreg-baltic.eu/project/baltsusboating-2030/, https://cbss.org/projects-cbss/baltsusboating-2030/,https://www.eusbsr.eu/pa-tourism-news/591429-get-to-know-baltsusboating-2030-project.II. Main Developments in the Field of Sustainable Tourism 13Sustainable Boating project, which concluded in March 2022 and was financed by the Swedish Institute.The project is supported by the Council of the Baltic Sea States (CBSS).BaMuR (Baltic Museum Resilience)19 is carried out by five partners from Estonia, Sweden, Finland, Lith-uania, and Poland. It would last 24 months until September 2024 with a budget of 0.48 million euro. Theproject aims to equip public authorities, NGOs, and SMEs with a toolbox to help cultural and heritageinstitutions maintain their consolation role to people in times of crisis.BASCIL (Innovative Solutions for the Rural Food Production Sector to Diversify into Sustainable Cu-linary Tourism Services)20 connects 15 partner organisations from Sweden, Estonia, Germany, Lithuania,Poland, Norway, Latvia, and Finland. The project would run from January 2023 until December 2025with a total budget of 3.39 million euro. It aims to help local food producers in rural areas diversify theirbusiness into sustainable culinary tourism services, and thus reach new customers.BSR Cultural Pearls21 involves 12 partners from Sweden, Finland, Latvia, Denmark, Poland, Germany,Estonia, and Lithuania. It would run from January 2023 to December 2025 with a budget of 3.5 millioneuro. The project aims to help smaller cities and regions be more attractive to live in and improve theirquality of life by engaging people in cultural activities and developing a stronger sense of commonship.Lakes Connect22 involves five partners from Poland, Latvia, and Lithuania. It is a small project running fromOctober 2022 to May 2024 with a budget of 0.47 million euro. Its aim is to establish cooperation among au-thorities, NGOs, and researchers in order to reduce the impact of tourism on water quality in lakes.3. Interreg South Baltic: Third and Fourth Seed Money Calls for ProjectsContributing to Sustainable Tourism DevelopmentInterreg South Baltic promotes cross-border exchange in the southern Baltic Sea region between the coast-al regions in Germany, Poland, Lithuania, Denmark, and Sweden. The Interreg South Baltic Programme2021–2027 would support projects along four priority axes:• Innovative South Baltic – enhancing the level of innovation and internationalisation of local actors(Priority Axis 1),• Sustainable South Baltic – promoting sustainable development and blue and green economy (Priority Axis 2),• Attractive South Baltic – activating the tourist potential of the South Baltic area (Priority Axis 3),• Active South Baltic – improving governance cooperation (Priority Axis 4).19 BaMuR, https://interreg-baltic.eu/project/bamur/, https://www.eusbsr.eu/pa-tourism-news/591449-get-to-know-the-bamur-project-policy-area-tourism.20 BASCIL, https://interreg-baltic.eu/project/bascil/.21 BSR Cultural Pearls, https://interreg-baltic.eu/project/bsr-cultural-pearls/.22 Lakes Connect, https://interreg-baltic.eu/project/lakes-connect/.II. Main Developments in the Field of Sustainable Tourism 14The first regular call for proposals of the Interreg South Baltic Programme 2021–2027 was open between20 December 2022 and 15 February 2023.The decision on the supported projects is expected to be an-nounced on 22 June 2023. In order to bridge between the 2014–2021 and 2021–2027 programmes, thethird and fourth Seed money calls aimed to develop ideas for regular projects to be implemented and fi-nanced under the future Interreg South Baltic Programme 2021–2027. Even though the selected projectswere to be funded under the Interreg South Baltic Programme 2014–2021, the Seed Money Facilitysought to stimulate the development of projects with a view to the new funding priorities. Projects con-tributing to sustainable tourism development are eligible for funding under both programmes.The third Seed money call for proposals of the Interreg South Baltic Programme 2014–2020 was open be-tween 13 September and 5 November 2021 and received 69 project proposals. As a result of the third callfor seed money projects, 43 projects with a total budget of 40 thousand euro each have been selected forfunding. Seven out of 43 projects were selected within the ‘Sustainable tourism’ objective:23Acronym Project Title Lead PartnerSB Nudging Nudging in the South Baltic Region EU-office Skåne NortheastSustainable Nature-Based Tourism throughSeNSE Roskilde UniversityTourism Social EntrepreneurshipInclusion in active tourism. Model tourism desti-ActiveForAll nations in South Baltic area for people with disa- Kolobrzeg Communebilities and seniorsCreating new kinds of maritime experience Tourism Association Vorpom-MariExpoints for land tourists mernSouth Baltic natural and cultural heritage assets Administration of Seaside Re-SB MANTAmanagement as Tourist Attraction gional ParkNature-based wellness tourism – New ConceptN-B-Well Klaipeda Universityof the Sustainable development of the SBAImproving dark tourism service in South Baltic Zemaitija National Park Direc-Dark tourismcountrys torateThe fourth Seed money call for proposals was then opened between 27 September and 21 November2022 and received 27 project proposals. The sum of total eligible budgets requested amounted to 1.08million euro. Altogether 23 projects with a total budget of 40 thousand euro each have been selected for23 3rd Seed money call Monitoring Committee Decision, https://southbaltic.eu/documents/18165/561564/3rd+Seed+money+call_MC+decision.xlsx/39b9835f-1b22-4bbe-bea4-17b6e40b4d14.II. Main Developments in the Field of Sustainable Tourism 15funding in February 2023. Three projects contributing to sustainable tourism development were selectedunder ‘SME internationalisation’ and ‘Sustainable tourism’ specific objectives:24Acronym Project Title Lead PartnerBALTIC MAN- Supporting SMEs to develop & promoteTourism Association Vorpom-ORS @ internati- new manor tourism products for internatio-mernonal markets nal marketsBaltic Living History Lessons – we share a Association of Polish Commu-BeLIVEpassion, a common past and future nes Euroregion BalticSouth Baltic horse tourism – developmentSouth Baltic Hor-of horse tourism based on cooperation, joint Pomorskie Voivodeshipse Tourismpromotion, and offer management.24 4th Seed money call Monitoring Committee decision, https://southbaltic.eu/documents/18165/626053/4th+Seed+money+call+Monitoring+Committee+decision.xlsx/25795009-fee1-48d4-a958-7c98f4339e51.III. Meetings and Events 16III. Meetings and Events1. “Competitive and Sustainable Tourism Sector” Workshop, InterregEurope Policy Learning Platform, 21 September 2021On 21 September 2021, the Interreg Europe Policy Learning Platform organised an online workshop oncompetitive and sustainable tourism.25 The event included three distinct sessions: a panel discussion onInterreg Europe best practices in sustainable tourism development (with presentations from the Baltic Searegion), two parallel working groups, and a plenary session.The first session featured presentations on the successful tourism development strategy adopted by theLatvian City of Valmiera, the revitalisation of the industrial heritage in the Swedish region Västra Göta-land, and the implementation of the CHRISTA project in the Andalusian Province of Granada.In their presentation on “Tourism development strategy of Valmiera city and surrounding area (Valmi-era+),” Ms Lienite Priedaja-Klepere (Vidzeme Planning region, Latvia) showed how the promotion of thetourism sector in the region of Valmiera was improved through a number of targeted initiatives. Thus, thesetup of a shared strategy within Valmiera City allowed connecting several neighbouring municipalities aswell as representatives from academia, research, and the tourism industry. The setup of the Gauja nation-al Park tourism cluster brought together around 50 businesses, 9 municipalities, 13 NGOs, and furtherstakeholders. Both initiatives contributed to a more efficient governance and collaboration among stake-holders in the tourism area and a 30% growth of the sector. Within the cluster, strategic development pro-jects enabled the attraction of additional resources and the development of new products and services. Astrong brand emerged and the open dialogue among regional stakeholders enabled the uptake of natureand culture heritage goals in the regional tourism development strategy.Following this best practice example from Valmiera City, Mr Björn Ohlen from the Västra Götaland Re-gion reported on how regional authorities worked on a proactive strategy to draw more local and especial-ly international tourists into the region telling the story of Sweden’s rich industrial heritage. To this end,the region developed an industrial cultural route with hiking and biking trails and a network that con-nected industrial museums, people, and remote places. The PRISMA network enabled a close collabora-tion and provided a common branding and point of entry for a wide range of regional players. With theimplementation of its strategy, the Region Västra Götaland had been able to enhance the visibility of itsheritage and to involve the local population, on a voluntary basis, in guided tours, to display the heritageand the knowledge of ancient crafts.Building on these lessons learned, Ms Trinidad Manrique de Lara Vilchez from the Diputación de Granadapresented how Granada got inspired by Västra Götaland despite the large distance between the two regions.In the CHRISTA project, they learned that the conditions of the two regions were similar: both25 E-workshop recording: sustainable and competitive tourism, 27 September 2021, https://www.interregeurope.eu/find-policy-solutions/workshop/e-workshop-recording-sustainable-and-competitive-tourism.III. Meetings and Events 17represented areas with great tourism potential but suffered from depopulation and unemployment. That iswhy the PRISMA network attracted their interest. Based on the method of Västra Götaland, Granada madethe decision to change the Provincial Geopark Strategy to highlight an offer for sustainable tourism basedon the rich natural and cultural heritage of the area and to create a network of public and private visitor cen-tres instigating cooperation and common development among the municipalities in the Geopark area. Thisapproach reportedly paid off. By 2019, the number of visitors had nearly doubled to 130,395 up from65,547 in 2017 and the average overnight stays had increased from 1.69 to 3.31 nights per visitor.The second session gave the participants an opportunity to join an active debate about Interreg Europegood practices in two parallel working groups, one on joint branding and multi-stakeholder involvementprogrammes, and the other on developing new geographically distributed and off-season tourism offers.Working group I (Cooperation for success: joint branding and multistakeholder involvement pro-grammes) discussed three good practices: “From guesthouse to guesthouse cooperation” (DestinationSMEs) presenting a network of small guesthouses located in rural areas of North Karelia (Finland), “Ben-vinguts a Pagès (BaP) - Welcome to the Farm” (EUREGA) on the promotion of Catalan food and foodproducers through direct visits to farms, orchards, herds, and fishing boats, and Validichiana Living(BRANDTour) with a model of territorial governance to expand proposals of vacation by integratingproducts/services and improving the competitive positioning of destinations in Tuscany (Italy).The workshop concluded that joint branding was a useful tool to overcome a weakness of many of thesmall and very small businesses in the tourism sector, namely the lack of resources and skills for market-ing and communication. This was especially relevant for international marketing. All three examplesshowed how more value (e.g. increase in overnight stays) could be created by working for common goals.Such practices could supposedly help overcome seasonality and fragmentation struggles of the tourismsector. Joint branding was seen as useful in bringing together actors from different supply chains relevantto the tourism sector, for instance agrifood and transportation. It was suggested that well-managed brandscould significantly contribute to fight over-tourism by bringing tourists away from the main sites and pro-moting a diversity of locations. Trust and value-based collaboration among tourist actors was seen as apowerful soft tool to promote diversity in the tourism offer and contribute to the transition towards moresustainable tourism.Working group II (Off the beaten track: Developing new geographically distributed and off-season tourism of-fers) considered three good practice examples: the establishment of the “Visit Prosecco Hills” network of tour-ism-oriented enterprises in the Veneto Region (Local Flavours), the quick response given by the Province ofTeruel to help the recovery of local tourism in COVID-19 times (RAMSAT) as well as the public-private part-nership that made Via Transilvanica possible and was boosting Romanian ecotourism (MOMAr).The participants concluded that competitiveness and sustainability did not necessarily contradict eachother. If pursued in parallel, they supposedly increased the overall resilience of the tourism sector. In theaftermath of the pandemic, the bulk of regional initiatives and investments needed to target the recoveryof local and proximity tourism. As the good practices explored in the working group confirmed, thiscould be done in cooperation with a variety of different stakeholders – from private companies to NGOs– and should always have the valorisation of the natural and cultural heritage as the ultimate goal.Finally, the third session was dedicated to the outcomes of the working groups’ deliberations and featureda presentation on financial support for sustainable and competitive tourism under European StructuralIII. Meetings and Events 18and Investment Funds by the European Commission. Ms Ramune Genzbigelyte Venturi (EuropeanCommission, DG Internal Market, Industry, Entrepreneurship and SMEs, Unit GROW G1 – Tourismand Textiles) reminded of the severe impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the tourism sector as well asits importance for the EU in terms of GDP and jobs and noted the need to provide support and work onthe transition towards a more resilient, sustainable, and digital European tourism ecosystem. She ex-plained how the European Commission was working jointly with relevant stakeholders on the co-creationof the Transition Pathway for Tourism and towards a European Agenda for Tourism 2030/2050. To thisend, she touched upon the key lessons from the “Regional impacts of the COVID-19 crisis on the tour-ist sector” study. According to the study, tourism growth needed to be managed responsibly; tourismneeded to be sustainable; digitisation became the new backbone of tourism; collaboration, innovation,and creative ideas were essential. Ms Venturi concluded by underlining the relevance of tourism in the In-terreg Programme 2021–2027 and noted that investments in tourism were possible through all five poli-cy objectives supported by the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF).In conclusion, it was observed that the tourism sector had been hit hard by the COVID-19 pandemic andwas starting to show signs of a slow recovery. The workshop on competitive and sustainable tourism sec-tor highlighted a number of successful strategies that drove this recovery by bringing visitors to remote ar-eas, attracting both local and international tourists, and increasing overnight stays. A key success factorhad reportedly been the collaboration of dispersed actors through functioning networks that worked un-der a common branding, as well as the launch of communication strategies and marketing campaigns.Different regions had been creating alternative tourism offers, away from the hot spots offering open-airtourism, enabling people to enjoy natural and cultural heritage and the rural environment. This type oftourism had been particularly appreciated by the local population in times of the pandemic. The ap-proaches presented showed that regions were promoting alternative modes of transport ranging from hik-ing and biking to canoes and horseback riding. They were also promoting local delicacies enabling themto strengthen their local businesses, particularly in rural areas. Regional authorities supported the devel-opment of these new sustainable and competitive tourism offers financially and used Interreg Europe pro-jects to inspire policy changes and new strategies.2. “Towards an EU Strategy for Sustainable Tourism” Event, 1 October 2021The Seas, Rivers, Islands and Coastal Areas Intergroup (SEArica) event titled ‘Towards an EU Strategy forSustainable Tourism: Building forward smarter and greener in the EU coastal & insular regions,’ co-or-ganized by the Conference of Peripheral Maritime Regions (CPMR) and co-funded by WINTER MEDproject (Interreg MED programme) was held online on 1 October 2021.26 This event aimed to providean opportunity for a virtual exchange between members of the EU Parliament, the European Commis-sion, representatives from CPMR coastal and insular regions, and key territorial stakeholders.The event was divided into two main sessions and addressed such issues as the situation of the tourism26 Towards an EU strategy for sustainable tourism: Fighting seasonality in the EU coastal & insular regions, https://cpmr.org/projects/towards-an-eu-strategy-for-sustainable-tourism-fighting-seasonality-in-the-eu-coastal-insular-regions/30152/.III. Meetings and Events 19sector in the EU coastal regions in view of the pandemic crisis as well as the medium-long term reflectionon an EU strategy for sustainable tourism towards a smarter, greener, and more resilient sector. It also fea-tured targeted consultations on scenarios towards co-creation of the Transition Pathway for Tourism bythe European Commission.According to the situation analysis, the global health and economic crisis triggered by the COVID-19pandemic had severely affected the travel and tourism sector, particularly in coastal areas and islands.However, it had allegedly also presented a unique opportunity to reflect on the current tourism model andrebuild it differently, from overcrowded, poorly managed, and environmentally damaging, to well-man-aged growth implementing green measures. Some European regions had reportedly started to show thefirst signs of recovery during the 2021 summer season. The European Commission and member states,through the NextGenerationEU recovery funds, had aimed to boost European tourism recovery with spe-cial focus on green and digital transition. Some member states in particular were already committed to thetransformation of the tourism sector, including via the tourism component in their national recoveryplans. EU funding support was equally important to finance a long-term strategy for recovery in the tour-ism sector and to recover those areas strictly dependent on tourism.To lay the basis and support the green and digital transition, the European Commission was condicting astakeholders’ consultation process on the Transition Pathway for Tourism to further develop an EU Agen-da for Tourism 2030/2050. At the same time, the European Parliament drafted an INI report on an EUstrategy for sustainable tourism to structure the guidelines towards a smarter, greener, and more resilientsector in 2021.27 In addition, it was noted that the Glasgow Declaration on Climate Action in Tourismwould represent an important step to secure strong actions and commitments from the tourism sector.The event was opened by Ms Eleni Marianou, Secretary General at the CPMR, who highlighted the im-portance of discussing the future of European tourism against the backdrop of consultations organised bythe European Commission. Ms Marianou underlined the CPMR’s catalysing role in this process, e.g.through its contribution to DG GROW’s consultation on the Transition Pathway for Tourism. Through-out the meeting, she stressed the importance of involving regional authorities in the implementation ofnational action plans and EU roadmaps to the benefit of the tourist sector and to adapt to climate changethreatening coastal tourism.The first session featured an exchange between the European Commission, CPMR Regions, and MEPs.Ms Valentina Superti, Director responsible for Ecosystems II: Tourism & Proximity (Directorate-Gener-al for Internal Market, Industry, Entrepreneurship and SMEs, DG GROW), opened the first sessionstressing that regions were at the core of the EU tourism strategy, and the most popular tourism activitiesin regions were threatened by seasonality and climate change. However, the recovery of the tourism sec-tor was reportedly moving forward, as more and more member states were including a tourism compo-nent in their national recovery or tourism related measures. Ms Superti highlighted how the EuropeanCommission had launched a co-creation process on the Transition Pathway for Tourism, which intendedto include all tourism stakeholders in the creation of a roadmap for a green, digital, and resilient tourismsector in the EU. Finally, she emphasised that the tourism transition needed to focus on green and digital27 See, also: Report on Sustainable Tourism in the Baltic Sea Region 2021, pp. 8–11, https://www.bspc.net/bspc_workinggroupsustainabletourism_2021/.III. Meetings and Events 20issues, strengthen the sustainable development of tourism, protect communities and natural habitats, se-cure carbon neutrality, and invest in nature-based solutions.Mr Christos Economou, Deputy Director – Head of Unit (Directorate-General for Maritime Affairs andFisheries, DG MARE), remarked that in the blue economy, tourism was seen as a traditional sector, buttime was ripe to give space to innovation and change in the framework of green recovery. He stressed theimportance of promoting this new way of tourism, via coordination and cooperation among all stake-holders. He also presented DG MARE’s plan to manage the BLUE INVEST platform, a blue investmentinitiative for SMEs that provided solutions linked to green and blue economy in different aspects. Final-ly, he underlined the importance of cross border cooperation and creating partnerships such as the Cruisedialogue session organised by DG MARE to gather all the cruise sector stakeholders.During the interventions of political representatives from CPMR Geographical Commissions, Mr HarryBouveng, Vice-Chair of the Maritime Working Group of the CPMR Baltic Sea Commission and Region-al Councillor of Stockholm, shared experiences from Region Stockholm and presented key points on sup-porting sustainable, resilient, and competitive tourism in a post-COVID-19 context in the Baltic Sea re-gion. Mr Bouveng highlighted how the tourism industry in the Baltic Sea region had been significantlyimpacted by the loss of international arrivals due to the pandemic. Nevertheless, the region was facing aslow recovery and had a positive outlook for 2022. He underlined that Stockholm had supported the in-dustry via funds for municipalities, EU-funded projects that supported SMEs within the tourism indus-try, and through business coaching. Mr Bouveng stressed the importance of funding, innovation, and sus-tainable development, in particular in the context of the post-pandemic recovery.The second session was dedicated to sustainable tourism and integrated management on islands. As partof the interventions by regional representatives/territorial stakeholders from island member regions of theCPMR belonging to different sea basins, Mr Mats Jansson, Business Development Strategist at RegionGotland (Sweden) and member of the CPMR Baltic Sea Commission, presented the key tourism areasthat Gotland was developing. These included food and drink as well as outdoors experiences based on is-land nature and culture. Moreover, he described how stakeholders worked together in each area to focuson new innovative and sustainable solutions, working with local raw materials and circular economy toachieve change.During the exchange between key organisations and participants, Ms Virginia Fernandez-Trapa, Pro-gramme Officer at the United Nations World Tourism Organisation (UNWTO) highlighted that theGlasgow Declaration on tourism and climate aimed to secure strong action in the framework of COP26.She underlined that signatories signalled their intention to supporting the global commitment to halveemissions by 2030 and reach Net Zero as soon as possible and before 2050, delivering climate action planswithin 12 months from becoming a signatory and implementing them, reporting publicly on an annualbasis on progress on targets and actions, and working in a collaborative spirit. She stressed the importantrole played by the tourism sector, and thus the importance of the tourism stakeholders’ subscription tothe Glasgow Declaration on Climate Action to work urgently together within a consistent wide sector ap-proach to accelerate change.III. Meetings and Events 213. European Tourism Forum 2021, 17 November 2021On 17 November 2021, the 20th European Tourism Forum was organised by Slovenia as then presidingcountry of the EU Council in cooperation with the European Commission.28 The event followed an in-formal meeting of EU tourism ministers on 16 November 2021. The central topic discussed was thepreparation of the Transition Pathway for Tourism to increase resilience and achieve sustainability goalsby 2030. The Transition Pathway for Tourism document, which was in its final stages of preparation atthat time, was expected to provide the basis for the European Agenda for Tourism 2030/2050.Participants were greeted by then Slovenian Minister of Economic Development and Technology MrZdravko Počivalšek, Commissioner for Internal Market Mr Thierry Breton, Director of Tourism andProximity at the European Commission’s Directorate-General for Internal Market, Industry, Entrepre-neurship and SMEs (DG GROW) Ms Valentina Superti, and Vice-Chair of the Committee on Transportand Tourism (TRAN) in the European Parliament Dr. István Ujhelyi. Secretary General of the UnitedNations World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) Mr Zurab Pololikashvili delivered his welcomingwords as a special guest. Speakers highlighted the first signs of recovery of European tourism in the sum-mer of 2021 and the great importance of the global COVID certification and vaccination in the recoveryof tourism. They stressed the importance of restoring tourist confidence in travel for the successful recov-ery of tourism. They emphasised the need for a sustainable and digital transformation of European tour-ism for more successful and resilient tourism in the future. The inclusive mode of operation was also seenas a crucial element for the success of tourism.The first part of the meeting was dedicated to good practices implemented by tourism stakeholders to sup-port the sustainable transition of EU tourism. The importance of training for sustainability and acquiringappropriate staff to work in tourism was also addressed. In addition, participants underlined the impor-tance of considering the quality of life of the local population.The second session addressed issues of monitoring and documenting the development of the tourist eco-system. Participants presented innovative best practices in tourism data collection and reporting. Repre-sentatives of Eurostat and the Statistical Office of the Republic of Slovenia emphasised that statistical of-fices were not only collecting and analysing data, but could also help identify and monitor indicators ofthe impact of tourism on the environment and the local population.The third session presented the advantages of digital innovations in tourism. Bordeaux and Valencia pre-sented their activities as the winners of the European Capital of Smart Tourism 2022 project. Thus, Va-lencia shared its experience in developing the public-private partnership and the tourism foundation.They worked closely with airlines and jointly planned the promotion of specific destinations. In addition,Slovenian capital Ljubljana presented its successful practices in the field of digitalisation, sustainability,and innovative tourist products.28 European Tourism Forum 2022, https://single-market-economy.ec.europa.eu/events/european-tourism-forum-2022-2022-11-15_en; Slovenian Tourist Board, European tourism industry and destinations on the path to sustainableand digital transformation, https://www.slovenia.info/en/press-centre/press-releases/18079-european-tourism-industry-and-destinations-on-the-path-to-sustainable-and-digital-transformation.III. Meetings and Events 22State Secretary Mr Simon Zajc and Head of the Tourism and Textiles Unit of DG GROW of the EuropeanCommission Ms Marie-Helen Pradines delivered their closing remarks at the end of the event. State SecretaryZajc underlined his conviction that the discussions at the 20th European Tourism Forum would contributeto further cooperation and work for climate neutral, smart and innovative, responsible and inclusive tourismof the future, which would keep Europe at the forefront of the world tourism market in the long run.Ahead of the forum on 16 November 2021, an informal meeting of EU tourism ministers was organisedvia an audiovisual link. The discussion focused on the Transition Pathway for the green and digital trans-formation of the European tourism ecosystem by 2030. At the meeting, ministers discussed key measuresfor the preparation of a concrete set of measures for the recovery of the tourist ecosystem. They agreed thatthe essence of tourism recovery must be a green and digital transition and that Europe needed to establisha sustainable and resilient tourism ecosystem. They emphasised the need to strengthen the resilience ofEuropean companies and industry in the light of future crises. They also emphasised the need to re-estab-lish safe tourist travel and restore consumer confidence. In addition, EU tourism ministers underlined theimportance of an open and well-functioning single market, which would ensure open transport routes,and spoke about the importance of financing the recovery of the tourism sector. EU ministers also high-lighted the importance of education, training, retraining, and further training in the tourist ecosystem. Itwas crucial to provide the right skills to meet the challenges of digitalisation and the green transition.The importance of developing adequate databases and common data spaces for data exchange was seen as animportant part of recovery and the green and digital transition. The need to strengthen innovation for the tour-ism ecosystem and accelerate business processes was also emphasised. In the discussion, EU ministers under-lined that the differences between member states and regions should be taken into account, since remote andisland regions also need sustainable and digital solutions. The ministers also stressed the importance of partic-ipation and cooperation of all stakeholders in the recovery process at all levels. They emphasised the impor-tance of sharing good practices and the need to provide sufficient time to prepare for recovery measures.At the end of the debate, EU ministers agreed that the Transition Pathway for Tourism would provide agood basis for preparing a European Agenda for Tourism 2030-2050.4. “Branding of the Baltic Sea Region as a Single Maritime Destination forSustainable Coastal Tourism”, Project Final Conference, 22 February 2022On 22 February 2022, the Council of the Baltic Sea States (CBSS) welcomed all interested participantsto the final conference of the Baltic Sea Boating (BSB) project with a focus on “Branding of the Baltic SeaRegion as a Single Maritime Destination for Sustainable Coastal Tourism.”29 The BSB project was sup-ported through Baltic Sea region seed funding from the Swedish Institute and ran from September 2020to September 2021, with the CBSS acting as project coordinator.At the event, project partners presented the outcomes of the project and discussed the development of a29 Conference: Branding the Baltic Sea Region as a Single Maritime Destination for Sustainable Coastal Tourism, https://cbss.org/event/conference-branding-the-baltic-sea-region-as-single-maritime-destination-for-sustainable-costal-tourism/.III. Meetings and Events 23common branding approach to support and develop sustainable maritime tourism in the Baltic Sea re-gion, with a special attention to small harbours and marinas.In his inspiration speech at the beginning of the event, Mr Marcus Andersson, Co-Founder and CEO ofFuture Place Leadership, analysed existing and successful regional brands with a view to creating a com-mon brand for the Baltic Sea region as a green tourist destination. Mr Andersson underlined the impor-tance of highlighting the region’s contribution to the world, being timely and innovative, building a goodreputation, and “outsourcing the marketing,” i.e. letting others convey the message for oneself (e.g.through youth ambassadors). Imagining the Baltic Sea region as a brand, he proposed to think about acommon identity or common decision-making. Whereas the economic identity had allegedly weakened,the political identity in the BSR became stronger. Common policies and a common approach to addressthe climate emergency in the BSR could therefore become an important and powerful part of the BalticSea region’s brand. To this end, Mr Andersson suggested the following ideas:• need for a common purpose with a global reach,• challenge-driven place branding with the need for a credible plan to save the environment foreffective green branding,• destination enlargement and slow cruising,• developing ports as hubs for sustainability.In the closing panel discussion of partner countries’ representatives, participants underscored the impor-tance of working together despite the competitive nature of the tourism industry. Participants also stressedthe value of experience exchange as well as sharing ideas.5. “The Road to Sustainable Cruise Tourism”, Second Pan-European CruiseDialogue, 1 March 2022On 1 March, the European Commission’s Directorate-General for Maritime Affairs and Fisheries (DGMARE) organised the second Pan-European Cruise Dialogue.30 It focussed on measures the EU was un-dertaking in order to support the sector in its recovery from the COVID crisis and align it with the ob-jectives of the European Green Deal with the aim of developing a more sustainable and resilient cruisetourism sector in Europe.The event featured speakers from the European Commission, the European Parliament, the Cruise LinesInternational Association (CLIA), the European Sea Ports Association (ESPO), the European TravelCommission (ETC) and other cruise tourism stakeholders. In four panels, participants addressed sustain-able cruise destinations management, green transition as well as specific measures in the Baltic Sea and inthe Mediterranean regions. Cruise tourism’s governance structures and respect for local cultures were alsoissues on the agenda. The conference brought together the entire cruise tourism sector, including the30 2nd Pan-European Cruise Dialogue, https://commission.europa.eu/events/2nd-pan-european-cruise-dialogue-2022-03-01_en.III. Meetings and Events 24industry, ports, destinations, tourism authorities, countries, regions, towns as well as European institu-tions and agencies.European Commissioner for Environment, Oceans and Fisheries Mr Virginijus Sinkevičius, who hostedthe event, underlined that the Commission had acted strongly to help the sector recover. The develop-ment of the EU’s Health and Safety Seal for tourism establishments and the Digital COVID Certificatein particular had reportedly been a success story. However, in order to become more resilient in the fu-ture, the cruise tourism sector would need to reinvent itself, by reducing its environmental impact whilegenerating value for consumers. Through NextGenerationEU, a 800 billion euro recovery plan, the EUintended to support the green and digital transition plans of the industry.As Commissioner Sinkevičius pointed out, the cruise sector may not return to its pre-crisis state. A newgeneration of tourists supposedly had new expectations – in terms of the impact on the climate, the envi-ronment and on coastal communities. According to the Flash Eurobarometer Report on the preferencesof Europeans towards tourism 2021, over 80% of EU citizens were prepared to change their travel andtourism habits to be more sustainable and environmentally friendly.At the event, sustainable cruise tourism for the coming years was examined with the aim to highlight good prac-tices that leveraged partnerships of cruise tourism stakeholders and amplified their joint efforts. There was strongconsensus that a European framework for sustainable tourism was needed. The conclusions of the Pan-EuropeanCruise Dialogue were expected to feed into then ongoing work on devising a common EU Agenda for Tourism2030 as well as the Commission’s new approach to a sustainable blue economy from May 2021.6. Conference of EU Tourism Ministers, 17–18 March 2022On 17–18 March 2022, the French Presidency of the Council of the European Union organised the firstin-person meeting of EU tourism ministers since the start of the pandemic.31 The meeting was held in Di-jon, France, and chaired by Mr Jean-Baptiste Lemoyne, Minister Delegate for Tourism, alongside Mr Thi-erry Breton, European Commissioner for the Internal Market.This conference focussed on the best practices implemented by member states while demonstrating theimportance of action at EU level in order to support and transform the sector, by encouraging intra-Eu-ropean tourism and promoting Europe as a destination within Europe and beyond. The discussions aimedto create shared areas of work in order to draw up a an EU Agenda for Tourism 2030.The first round table focussed on domestic tourism in Europe. The European Commission, the UNWorld Tourism Organization (UNWTO) and the World Travel & Tourism Council presented their vi-sion for the recovery of international tourism and the opportunities provided by increased tourism of Eu-ropeans in Europe. In his address to EU tourism ministers, UNWTO Secretary-General Mr Zurab Polo-likashvili warned of the “triple threat” of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, the climate emergency, andthe war in Europe. He stressed that tourism had an active role to play in reasserting shared values and31 The Conference of Tourism Ministers (17-18 March 2022), https://www.diplomatie.gouv.fr/en/french-foreign-policy/europe/the-french-presidency-of-the-council-of-the-european-union/article/the-conference-of-tourism-ministers-17-18-march2022.III. Meetings and Events 25promoting peace, and underlined the need for enhanced cooperation and solidarity. Mr Pololikashvilicalled on the EU governments to provide tourism with the support it needed to make a difference, whilealso commending the recovery plans of many EU member states. Subsequently, EU tourism ministers andMr Thierry Breton discussed the work carried out by the European Commission as part of the transitionand transformation of the sector. The intention was to identify best practices from each member state topromote intra-European and sustainable tourism.The second round table featured discussions about the ways to make Europe a global destination for sus-tainable tourism. The French Presidency chose to address this issue from the perspective of transformingthe industry and promoting sustainable transport.7. European Tourism Forum 2022, 15 November 2022The 2022 edition of the annual European Tourism Forum was organised by the Czech Presidency at theCouncil of the EU on 15 November 2022 in Prague.32 The forum brought together tourism authorities,representatives of the tourism industry and destinations, international tourism organisations, and EU in-stitutions as well as heads of national tourism boards to discuss a broad array of topics ranging from theimplementation of the Transition Pathway for Tourism, proposals for short-term rentals (STR) regula-tion, to current trends in tourism.The conference was opened by the Vice-Prime Minister for Digitisation and Minister of Regional Devel-opment of the Czech Republic, Mr Ivan Bartoš, who underlined that tourism was going through a chal-lenging period. The COVID pandemic and the aggression of the Russian Federation against Ukraineshowed the need for cooperation and partnership. Mr Bartoš noted that the European Agenda for Tour-ism 2030 was in its final stage at that point and that the European Tourism Forum 2022 would mainlyfocus on the lessons learned from the pandemic. He also described the Czech priorities for tourism, whichincluded sustainability, resilience, and digitalisation.In his video message at the beginning of the conference, Mr Thierry Breton, Commissioner for the Inter-nal Market, also referred to the immense challenges the tourism industry was facing against the backdropof the pandemic, the ongoing geopolitical tensions, security concerns, the energy crisis, and inflation. Hethen outlined the initiatives and activities the European Commission was undertaking to support the Eu-ropean tourism ecosystem, specifically the Transition Pathway for Tourism. He noted that much progresshad been achieved on the EU Tourism Agenda 2030. One of the key activities of the Commission wasdata collection and information sharing on short-term rental accommodations. Finally, he addressed la-bour shortage as another major challenge for tourism and mentioned that the Commission would an-nounce 2023 as the European Year of Skills. Mr Breton suggested that this could be an opportunity to at-tract skilled workers to the European tourism ecosystem from within the EU and beyond.From the UNWTO, Secretary General Mr Zurab Pololikashvili welcomed the development of the32 European Tourism Forum 2022, https://single-market-economy.ec.europa.eu/events/european-tourism-forum-2022-2022-11-15_en.III. Meetings and Events 26European Agenda for Tourism and underlined the importance of youth participation. In this regard, hementioned that UNWTO was organising the first Global Youth Tourism Summit from 27 June to 3 July2022 in Sorrento, Italy. He also pointed out the need for motivated and qualified tourism professionals.Subsequently, Prof. Alessandra Priante, UNWTO Regional Director for Europe, outlined the current situ-ation in the tourism industry. Prof. Priante noted that the tourism situation in Europe and in the MiddleEast was improving compared to the years 2020–2021. In Europe, Albania was performing especially welldue to lower prices. She then described the double challenge European tourism was facing. This includedwidespread workforce shortage and the need for reinventing the mode of communication between poli-cy-makers and tourism stakeholders. The latter meant adapting to the demand with a view to developingenvironment conscious travel packages, particularly for the youth, and improving supply, e.g. with attrac-tive service-oriented jobs, addressing the issue of seasonality, etc. Prof. Priante then stressed that sustainabil-ity, jobs and skills, investment and innovation as well as tourism for rural development were the core pillarsof recovery.Closing the opening session, Mr István Ujhelyi, Vice-Chair of TRAN Committee of the European Par-liament, noted that tourism lay within the competence of member states. However, the COVID-19 crisishad shown that it was indeed a European issue. Mr Ujhelyi stressed the need for short-term support andlong-term funding and underlined that tourism was an industry of peace, the potential of which couldonly be realised in times of peace. He then outlined three areas that the European Parliament was plan-ning to focus on in the upcoming months. These included the implementation of the European GreenDeal, especially with a view to the social aspect of tourism, training and education, and support for localSMEs. In conclusion, he called for a separate budget line to support tourism in the future, a clear strate-gy with a crisis management mechanism, and stronger governance at the European level.The first session of the European Tourism Forum 2022 then focussed on the application of the PackageTravel Directive (EU Directive 2015/2302), in particular with regard to the problems encountered duringthe COVID-19 pandemic, the safeguard mechanisms, as well as possible changes to the Directive. The sec-ond session was dedicated to the proposal for a regulation on short-term rentals, which the European Com-mission planned to publish in the autumn of 2022. The session also included the views of professional as-sociations in the context of creating an appropriate regulatory framework for STR. In the third block, MsMarie-Hélène Pradines from the European Commission’s DG GROW spoke about the Transition Pathwayfor Tourism with a focus on sub-areas such as digitalisation of the operations or services and a green dimen-sion of tourism and carbon footprint calculation. The final fourth block took a look at trends in tourism,focussing on practical examples of how to develop tourism in a sustainable and resilient way.8. Baltic Sea Tourism Forum 2022, 1 December 2022On 1 December 2022, the new EUSBSR Policy Area Tourism Coordinators from Pomorskie TouristBoard and Oulu Region brought back the Baltic Sea Tourism Forum (BSTF),33 last organised in Novem-ber 2020 in the form of a digital conference. Similar to the 13th BSTF, the 14th Baltic Sea Tourism33 Baltic Sea Tourism Forum 2022 webinar, https://www.eusbsr.eu/pa-tourism-news/591411-watch-the-baltic-sea-tourism-forum-2022-webinar-here.III. Meetings and Events 27Forum was held online. It attracted over 115 participants and included three sessions dedicated to a widerange of topics. These included introducing the priorities and plans of PA Tourism, presenting inspirationand experience with innovative approaches to tourism from the city of Tel Aviv, outlining the main trendsin Baltic Sea tourism, presenting youth recommendations to PA Tourism, exchanging views with the rep-resentative of the Baltic Sea Commission of the CPMR on coastal tourism, and displaying local practicesfrom the Baltic Sea region.The 14th BSTF was addressed by the Vice-Marshal of Pomorskie Region, Mr Wiesław Byczkowski, fol-lowed by the Mayor of Oulu Region, Mr Pauli Harju. Mr Byckowski noted that the COVID-19 pandem-ic had highlighted the transnational dimension of the tourism industry as well as the need for concertedtransnational tourism policies and expressed his intention to closely cooperate with the Oulu region todevelop a platform to exchange information, experience, and knowledge on tourism in the BSR. Mr Pau-li Harju, Mayor of Oulu Region, also stressed the consequences of the pandemic for the tourism industry,noting that the industry had not yet returned to the pre-pandemic level, but emphasising the generaltrend was upward. He stressed that the energy crisis, the war, and inflation would further challenge theindustry.Following the opening remarks, EUSBSR PA Tourism Coordinators Ms Magda Leszczyna-Rzucidło fromPomorskie Tourist Board and Ms Anna-Maija Toivonen from the Council of Oulu Region shortly intro-duced the EUSBSR and its objectives and provided an overview of the priorities of Policy Area Tourism.Subsequently, Ms Marta Chelkowska, Director of Tourism Department, Marshal Office of Pomorskie Re-gion, introduced the Pomorskie woiwodship and its focus on building knowledge about Baltic identity,maintaining regional identity, and strengthening international cooperation. Ms Tina Rajala, Develop-ment Director at the Council of Oulu Region, then presented the regional strategy of the Oulu region,which was updated in 2022 and focussed on “international growth, competence and solutions, as well ashappy and active people.” Ms Rajala stressed that due to the current geopolitical situation, the BSR hadbecome more important than ever. She summarised the key values of the BSR as courage, trust, andequality.The opening session was followed by keynote speeches and a Q&A session open to all participants. Thefirst keynote speech was delivered by Ms Yael Froman-Ideses, Tourism Director at Tel Aviv Global &Tourism (R.A) Mayor’s Office. Ms Froman-Ideses described the initiatives of the city of Tel Aviv in devel-oping its own brand as a start-up city. The intention was to activate the potential of young and talentedpeople, tech companies and multinationals and to attract business tourism. The city was working on de-veloping individualised offers to support personalised city experience.In his presentation on “Tourism 2023: Trends and Implications for Baltic Sea Tourism,” Dr. Eran Kettertook a closer look at the contemporary dynamics of tourism transformation. He outlined ten most prom-inent trends using the year 2019 as a benchmark:• The rise in ‘revenge travel’ to compensate for the lockdown years. Dr. Ketter predicted that thistrend would continue throughout 2023.• Financial concerns. The energy crisis and high inflation were prompting tourists to seek value formoney, while economic and geopolitical uncertainties influenced certain travel decisions.III. Meetings and Events 28• Health concerns against the backdrop of the pandemic. Many people, especially travellers over 55,reportedly paid closer attention to precaution and safety regulations.• The rise of ‘next-door’ travel. In this regard, Dr. Ketter noted that in the Baltic Sea region,connecting travel in the region could offer good opportunities.• Attractiveness of urban getaways. Cities were reportedly especially popular among Europeans.• Rising popularity of culinary travel.• Desire to experience other cultures and traditions. Dr. Ketter suggested that this could stimulatefamily stays and agricultural tourism.• Increased interest in nature tourism. Here, it was noted that interest in hiking and camping wasrising, which brought Dr. Ketter to the suggestion to make nature more accessible to tourists.• Interest in active holidays.• Increased concern for one’s emotional wellbeing.The second session, dedicated to tourism insights from the Baltic Sea region, was opened by Mr LokHang Abraham Chan, who presented the Baltic Sea Youth Declaration 2022.34 The document represent-ed a list of youth inspired and driven recommendations for policy-makers in the Baltic Sea region. Youthrepresentatives formulated a total of 12 recommendations for EUSBSR Policy Area Tourism with a spe-cific focus on:• affordability – reducing the cost of travel for young people,• connectivity – connecting sites through infrastructure,• sustainability – paying attention to environmental protection.The document was presented at the EUSBSR Annual Forum, where youth representatives expressed theirhope that their recommendations and ideas would be taken up by policy-makers and stakeholders.Subsequently, the Chair of the CPMR BSC Maritime Working Group and Member of Region StockholmAssembly, CPMR Baltic Sea Commission Tourism WG, Mr Harry Bouveng shared the experience of theCPMR Baltic Sea Commission on the topic of coastal tourism. Mr Bouveng noted that the MaritimeWorking Group was focusing on supporting the transition to sustainable coastal tourism, encouraging therecovery of the sector, promoting the BSR as a coastal tourism destination, and promoting the extensionof the coastal tourism season. The WG had pointed out the importance of promoting sustainability, dig-italisation, and skills in the tourism sector. He stressed that tourism companies were dependent on stabil-ity, therefore the recent crises had heavily affected the industry. The number of visitors decreased drasti-cally in 2020–2021. The numbers were slowly returning towards normal levels but were still short of the2019 level. The negative effects of the pandemic had been especially visible in international tourism. Ac-cording to Mr Bouveng, the Maritime WG had been discussing ways to promote sustainability of coastaltourism, which was especially relevant for the Stockholm archipelago. The archipelago traditionally34 Baltic Sea Youth Declaration 2022, https://cbss.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/baltic-sea-youth-declaration-2022.pdf.III. Meetings and Events 29attracted many visitors during the summer season. Therefore, attempts were made to reduce over-tourismin summer and promote the archipelago as a yearlong destination. In conclusion, Mr Bouveng underlinedthe importance of joint projects and initiatives to promote the goals of the EUSBSR.Closing the session, Mr Matti Pollari, Project manager at Visit Tampere, spoke about sustainable tourismand development in the city of Tampere and presented the REACT EU project on sustainable tourismmobility. Mr Pollari first spoke about the objective of carbon-neutral destination development in TampereRegion with the goal of reaching carbon neutrality by 2030. Visit Tampere was focusing on providingtourists with an opportunity to visit the area in a carbon neutral manner. This work was conducted in fourkey areas: low-carbon tourism companies, the carbon footprint of mobility in the context of tourism, na-ture, biodiversity and carbon sinks, financial and social sustainability. He then outlined the aims of theREACT EU project to develop and pilot sustainable travel chains and mobility services for domestic andinternational tourists in Tampere. The project cooperated with key tourist attractions in the region andpromoted bike and rail, outdoor express, and e-car adventures. Mr Pollari concluded, that if done prop-erly, sustainable tourism mobility services could provide a more sustainable and better tourism experience.9. SusMarTour Final Conference, 7 December 2022The final conference of the Sustainable Maritime Tourism (SusMarTour) project was held on 7 December2022 at Värtaterminalen, Ports of Stockholm.35 The project was supported by the Council of the BalticSea States (CBSS) and ran from September 2021 to December 2022. Its aim was to develop a methodol-ogy and institutional framework for more sustainable, resilient, and inclusive maritime tourism and hos-pitality sectors in the BSR. It was carried out by the Motus Foundation from Poland, in cooperation withthe Baltic Ports Organisation from Estonia and Klaipeda Shipping Research Centre from Lithuania. Thefinal conference of the SusMarTour project invited experts from maritime organisations and institutionsacross the region to present their concluding remarks on issues related to tourism in the Baltic Sea region.At the beginning of the conference, Ms Joanna Kniter, Project Manager at the Motus Foundation, intro-duced the SusMarTour project and gave an overview of the main project activities. Subsequently, Ms OlgaZuin, Programme Coordinator at the Council of the Baltic Sea States, held a keynote speech highlightingthe importance of tourism for the Baltic Sea region. Ms Ewelina Ziajka from the Baltic Ports Organisa-tion presented the first part of the final project report dedicated to the current market situation in ferryand cruise transport, sustainable solutions in ferry transport, and major developments in ferry and cruiseterminals in Baltic ports. Prof. Vytautas Paulauskas from the Klaipeda Shipping Research Centre, then in-troduced the second part of the report focusing on transport modelling using graph theory and present-ing possible future RoPax lines in the Baltic Sea region. A summary of the project final report on the so-cial, economic, and environmental factors and the main trends influencing future maritime tourism inthe Baltic Sea Region is provided in Section IV of the current report.The second conference session featured presentations by Mr Eike Otto, consultant for tourism and35 SusMarTour Final Conference in Ports of Stockholm, https://motusfoundation.com/susmartour-final-conference-stockholm/.III. Meetings and Events 30regional development, Ms Egle Lizaityte from the Lithuanian Hotel and Restaurant Association, and MsIwona Slojka from the Cross Baltica Sweden AB.x10. European Tourism Day, 5 May 2023After five years, the European Tourism Day (ETD) 2023 was held on 5 May in Brussels.36 The aim ofthe European Tourism Days is to provide a communication platform for European tourism stakehold-ers. In 2023, the ETD focussed on the green and digital transition, resilience of the ecosystem, and up-skilling.The participants were greeted by Mr Thierry Breton, European Commissioner for the Internal Market,who noted that in the European Union, tourism was understood as an ecosystem. This ecosystem was par-ticularly badly hit during the pandemic, which prompted the European Commission to take quick stepsin order to support the industry, and in particular SMEs. Mr Breton then emphasised that the crisis hadshown how important and helpful digital tools, such as the EU Digital COVID Certificate, could be fortraveling. He emphasised that the Commission made sure that significant funding from NextGenera-tionEU would be used to support the dual (green and digital) transition of the tourism ecosystem. TheTransition Pathway for Tourism represented another important tool to assist the industry in its transfor-mation towards more sustainability and resilience. He concluded by saying that the pandemic had raisedmany questions, in particular the employability in the sector. The challenge was finding qualified and mo-tivated staff.Following Commissioner Breton, Ms Karima Delli, Chairwoman of the Transport and Tourism Commit-tee of the European Parliament, delivered her welcoming words and emphasised the economic impor-tance of the tourism sector, which needed a safety net in crisis times. High inflation, the energy crisis, theRussian war of aggression against Ukraine have allegedly prompted a shift in the geopolitics of tourism.Against the backdrop of the green and digital transition goal, Ms Delli underlined the importance of in-volving stakeholders and having a clear and well-balanced roadmap. The European Agenda for Tourism2030, published in December 2022, represented such a plan. The next important step was its implemen-tations. Here, member states played a key role. At this point, Ms Delli emphasised that tourism did notfall into the competences of the European Union and called for a special EU budget line for tourism. Fur-ther, Ms Delli touched upon the specific legislation on tourism. The European Parliament was reportedlypushing the Commission to set up multimodal integrated ticketing in Europe. Another issue that the Eu-ropean Parliament was dealing with was the question of regulation of accommodation platforms. Europeneeded a more sustainable tourism ecosystem for the future, one that would be well regulated. The devel-opment of sustainable mobility represented another central area. In conclusion, she emphasised the grow-ing interest for local and eco-tourism.The opening session was followed by an orientation debate on how to create a resilient, world-leadingtourism ecosystem with innovative SMEs and thriving communities. During the next session, dedicatedto the Transition Pathway for Tourism, Ms Valentina Superti from DG GROW reported on its state of36 European Tourism Day 2023, https://single-market-economy.ec.europa.eu/events/european-tourism-day-2023-2023-05-05_en.III. Meetings and Events 31progress. This progress report was followed by three roundtables, each focusing on the digital transition,the green transition, and skilling and upskilling of tourism actors. In the second round table, dedicated toecological sustainability, best practices from the Baltic Sea region were presented by Ms Nina Forsell, Ex-ecutive Manager at the Finnish Lapland Tourist Board, and Ms Eglė Bausytė Šmitienė, Marketing Strat-egist at Hotel Romantic, Lithuania.IV. Notable Publications 32IV. Notable PublicationsPreferences of Europeans towards Tourism –Flash Eurobarometer Report 2021After five years, the ninth Flash Eurobarometer Report on the preferences of Europeans towards tourism37was published in November 2021. The survey was conducted across Europe in October 2021. The topicscovered by the report included:• travel behaviour, accommodation preferences, and the impact of the pandemic on travelbehaviour,• preferred booking channels and information sources for travel arrangements,• reasons behind destination choices, and• opinions and information on sustainable travel.The survey showed that the COVID-19 pandemic would likely have long-term impacts on EU citizens’travelling behaviour, while also demonstrating the growing importance of sustainable tourist offers for therecovery of tourism. According to the survey, 38% of European respondents were expecting more domes-tic travel in the future. A large majority of EU citizens (82%) were prepared to change some of their hab-its to support more sustainable tourism, for example, by consuming local products (55%), choosing eco-logical means of transport (36%) or by paying more to protect the natural environment (35%) or to ben-efit the local community (33%).Furthermore, the survey demonstrated that EU citizens based their destination selection on three aspects:the cultural offer (44%), the natural environment (43%), but also the price of the overall trip (43%). Al-most one third of the respondents (31%) preferred to use online platforms for professional accommoda-tion services and another 25% relied on online platforms combining different travel services. When plan-ning their travel, Europeans largely relied on recommendations from friends, colleagues or relatives (56%),which made personal recommendations the most important source of information on tourist destinationsby far.37 Flash Eurobarometer 499, Attitudes of Europeans towards tourism, October 2021, https://europa.eu/eurobarometer/api/deliverable/download/file?deliverableId=78708.IV. Notable Publications 33SusMarTour Final Report:The Future of Maritime Tourism in the Baltic Sea Region 2022The SusMarTour (Sustainable Maritime Tourism) project financed by the Council of the Baltic Sea States(CBSS) ran from September 2021 until December 2022. The final project report focussing on the social,economic, and environmental factors and main trends influencing future maritime tourism in the BalticSea region was published in November 202238 and presented at the final conference of the project in De-cember 2022. The report provided a comprehensive and rich overview of the current economic situationwith maritime tourism in the Baltic Sea region. It presented existing ferry lines, top ferry ports as well asthe main cruise destinations in the region and sketched out the impact of maritime tourism on the locallabour market. The second part of the report was dedicated to the future development of maritime tour-ism in the Baltic Sea region. It also proposed a possible RoPax lines network, which could be used for thedevelopment of maritime tourism.The report concluded that the cruise and shipping markets were subject to dynamic changes in recentyears. Before the pandemic, market dynamics were more predictable and not strongly affected by externalfactors. The COVID-19 pandemic and the Russian war of aggression against Ukraine had a major impacton the transport sector in the BSR. Due to restrictions in passenger transport on the majority of ferry andRoPax routes, traffic decreased by approximately 70–80% in 2020. While the pandemic situation had be-gun to stabilize in 2022, the aggression of the Russian Federation against Ukraine in February 2022 hada strong impact on transportation and tourism in the BSR. For many years, St. Petersburg used to be oneof the busiest ports in terms of cruise traffic. After the start of the war, the majority of cruise ships opera-tors stopped calling at Russian ports and at ports in the close vicinity of Russia. This prompted somecruise operators to change the routing in the eastern part of the Baltic Sea. As a result, some of the shipsdid not call the Port of Helsinki and the Port of Tallinn. While the report emphasised that future forecastswere hard to make, the report observed that before the pandemic, Baltic ports had been receiving a grow-ing number of tourists from ferries and cruise vessels. The report therefore suggested introducing new fer-ry connections between Baltic Sea ports for easier access not only to the ports, but also to port cities. Thiscould increase the popularity of the Baltic Sea region and promote its attractiveness among tourists.38 SusMarTour Project, Social, economic, and environmental factors and the main trends influencing future maritime tourism inthe Baltic Sea Region, November 2022, https://motusfoundation.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/SusMarTour-Report.pdf.V. Prospects and Outlook 34V. Prospects and OutlookLooking back at the developments of the past two crisis years since the publication of the previous Reporton Sustainable Tourism in the Baltic Sea Region 2021, multiple meaningful initiatives to support thegreen, innovative, and resilient development of the tourism ecosystem have been undertaken at the EUlevel and in the Baltic Sea region.In the future, the implementation of the EU Transition Pathway for Tourism and the EU Agenda forTourism 2030 would represent central political priorities in the field. In line with the recommendation to“promote sustainable tourism, inter alia by improving cross-border rail transport to enable more cli-mate-friendly travel” contained in Item 14 of the 30th resolution of the Baltic Sea Parliamentary Confer-ence, the BSPC will also closely follow the initiative on EU-wide multimodal travel, currently in prepa-ration.39In the Baltic Sea region, multiple projects with a focus on sustainable tourism services implemented orplanned within the 2021–2027 Interreg Baltic Sea Region and Interreg South Baltic programmes wouldcreate additional and new ideas, synergies, and partnerships among regional stakeholders. In line with theobjectives of the updated EUSBSR Action Plan, they would help to develop a more sustainable Baltic Seatourism ecosystem of tomorrow with a view to remote areas, people, skills, and technology, as well as theprotection of national environment and cultural heritage. It would also be important to take stock ofcompleted and continued projects, such as SusMarTour (Building resilient and inclusive sustainable mar-itime tourism in the Baltic Sea region) and BaltSusBoating 2030 (Baltic Sustainable Boating) in order tomake the best out of the already accumulated knowledge and experiences.Against the backdrop of the ongoing war, closer cooperation, promoting understanding and trust in theBaltic Sea region become more important than ever. The 15th Baltic Sea Tourism Forum in October 2023in Tallinn will once again gather key regional tourism stakeholders from the BSR and beyond to exchangeexperiences and best practices and elaborate on future activities and initiatives.For its part, the BSPC will continue closely following these developments following its commitment topromoting sustainable tourism and climate-friendly travel in the region.39 EU-wide multimodal travel – new specifications for information services, 15 June 2023, https://ec.europa.eu/info/law/better-regulation/have-your-say/initiatives/12912-EU-wide-multimodal-travel-new-specifications-for-information-services_en.Sources (Selection) and Useful Links 35Sources (Selection) and Useful Links14th Baltic Sea Tourism Forum, 1 December 2022,https://www.eusbsr.eu/pa-tourism-news/591411-watch-the-baltic-sea-tourism-forum-2022-webinar-here.Baltic Sea Youth Declaration 2022,https://cbss.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/baltic-sea-youth-declaration-2022.pdf.Davide Pernice, Ariane Debyser: Fact Sheets on the European Union – 3.4.12. Tourism,https://www.europarl.europa.eu/factsheets/en/sheet/126/tourism.EU Tourism Dashboard,https://tourism-dashboard.ec.europa.eu/?lng=en&ctx=tourism.European Agenda for Tourism 2030 – Council conclusions (adopted on 1 December 2022),https://data.consilium.europa.eu/doc/document/ST-15441-2022-INIT/en/pdf.European Commission, Transition Pathway for Tourism,https://ec.europa.eu/docsroom/documents/49498.European Council conclusions on “Tourism in Europe for the next decade: sustainable, resilient, digital,global and social”, 27 May 2021,https://www.consilium.europa.eu/media/49960/st08881-en21.pdf.European Parliament resolution of 25 March 2021 on establishing an EU strategy for sustainable tour-ism (2020/2038(INI)),https://www.europarl.europa.eu/doceo/document/TA-9-2021-0109_EN.html.EUSBSR Action Plan 2021,https://balticsea-region-strategy.eu/action-plan.EUSBSR Policy Area Tourism,http://www.baltic-sea-strategy-tourism.eu/pa-tourism/.Flash Eurobarometer 499, Attitudes of Europeans towards tourism, October 2021,https://europa.eu/eurobarometer/api/deliverable/download/file?deliverableId=78708.Guide on EU Funding for Tourism,https://single-market-economy.ec.europa.eu/sectors/tourism/eu-funding-and-businesses/funding-guide_en.Interreg Baltic Sea Region, Projects,https://interreg-baltic.eu/projects/.Interreg South Baltic Programme 2021-2027,https://southbaltic.eu/interreg-south-baltic-2021-2027.Report on Sustainable Tourism in the Baltic Sea Region 2020, BSPC,https://www.bspc.net/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/BSPC_WorkingGroupSustainableTourism_2020-2.pdf.Sources (Selection) and Useful Links 36Report on Sustainable Tourism in the Baltic Sea Region 2021, BSPC,https://www.bspc.net/bspc_workinggroupsustainabletourism_2021/.SEArica Intergroup, Minutes – Sustainable Tourism,http://www.searica.eu/documents/category/79-event-01-10-21?download=519:minutes-searica-sustainable-tourism.SEArica Intergroup, Towards an EU Strategy for Sustainable Tourism: building forward smarter andgreener in the EU coastal & insular regions,http://www.searica.eu/2020-2024/events-2019-2024/towards-an-eu-strategy-for-sustainable-tourism-build-ing-forward-smarter-and-greener-in-the-eu-coastal-insular-regions.SusMarTour Project, Social, economic, and environmental factors and the main trends influencing fu-ture maritime tourism in the Baltic Sea Region, November 2022,https://motusfoundation.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/SusMarTour-Report.pdf.UNWTO World Tourism Barometer, Volume 19, Issue 4, July 2021 (Excerpt),https://webunwto.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/s3fs-public/2021-07/UNWTO_Barom21_04_July_excerpt.pdf?VBGz_hsTz2fvBSOn3i1w7kv0qhI2rTgY=.List of Abbreviations 37List of AbbreviationsBSC Baltic Sea Commission of the Conference of Peripheral Maritime Regions (CPMR)BSPC Baltic Sea Parliamentary ConferenceBSTC Baltic Sea Tourism CenterBSTF Baltic Sea Tourism ForumBSR Baltic Sea RegionCBSS Council of the Baltic Sea StatesCoR European Committee of the RegionsCPMR Conference of Peripheral Maritime RegionsDG Directorate-GeneralDG GROW Directorate-General for Internal Market, Industry, Entrepreneurship and SMEsDG MARE Directorate-General for Maritime Affairs and FisheriesDG REGIO Directorate-General for Regional and Urban PolicyERDF European Regional Development FundETC European Travel CommissionEU European UnionEUSAIR EU Strategy for the Adriatic-Ionian RegionEUSBSR EU Strategy for the Baltic Sea RegionGDP Gross Domestic ProductINI Own-initiative procedure (Report by European Parliament)NGO Non-governmental OrganisationOECD Organization for Economic Cooperation and DevelopmentPA Policy AreaPSF Project Support FacilitySDG Sustainable Development GoalsSME Small and Medium EnterprisesUN United NationsUNWTO United Nations World Tourism OrganizationBaltic Sea Parliamentary Conferencewww.bspc.netBSPC SecretariatSchlossgartenallee 1519061 SchwerinGermany