European Networks Tourism Working Group meeting

1. 1
EUROPEAN COMMISSION
ENTERPRISE AND INDUSTRY DIRECTORATE-GENERAL
Service Industries
Tourism Policy
Brussels, 17 Dec 2014
ENTR/E1
NOTE FOR THE FILE
Subject: European Networks Tourism Working Group meeting
11 December 2014
Brussels, NECSTouR Permanent Secrétariat
Participants:
Experts:
 NECSTouR: Mrs Cristina Núñez (CN)
 ERRIN: Mrs Annett Ruszanov (AR), Mr Gustavo Martinie (GM)
 ENRD: Ms Ines Jordana (IJ)
 FARNET: Ms Urszula Budzich-Tabor (UBT)
For the Commission DG ENTR
 Tourism Policy Unit (ENTR/E1): Ms Cinzia de Marzo (CdM), Mr Alain Libéros
(AL), Mr Oscar Almendros (OA)
 Enterprise Europe Network (D2) - Nicola-Elizabeth ('Nic') Morris (NM)
 EASME – Virginie Perron (VP)
For the Commission DG MARE:
 Structural policy and economic analysis Unit A3 - Marta Quinonero Candela (MQC)
For the Committee of the Regions (CoR)
 Ms Dorota Tomalak (DT)
1. Welcome and introduction
The session was opened by CN welcoming the participants to the premises of the
NECSTouR Permanent Secretariat.

2. 2
AL chaired the meeting.
2. Approval of the agenda and the minutes of the last meeting (24 March 2014)
The agenda for the meeting was approved as well as the minutes of the last meeting.
3. General information
The Commission informed on the following files:
 DG GROWTH new organisation: AL informed all participants about the
challenges of this particular transition period. He announced the merge of both
tourism Units on 1st
January 2015 and informed that a meeting with Mr Pedro
Ortún (Director for Service Industries) is scheduled next week to raise the
importance of the coordination of the European tourism networks within the
future tourism dossier. The main approach would be bottom-up emphasizing the
focus on lessons learned notably from Operational Programs and Macro-regional
Strategies.
 ETD: with a view to discuss the future of the EU tourism policy, AL underlined
the 4 main topics developed during the European Tourism Day, held in Brussels
on 1 December 2014: “European destinations brand initiative”; “digital tourism”;
”streamlining the regulatory and administrative framework”; “bottom-up tourism
services quality initiative”.
A questionnaire was proposed to participants with indicative data gathered during
the Conference regarding those 4 topics for brief analysis (the result of this
informal enquiry is attached to these minutes with the typology of participants,
the question on the setting up of a high level group in digital tourism or the
confronted opinions on the proposal for a European brand initiative.
OA also informed on Mr. Ortún announcement at the end of the ETD conference
to continue to work on different topics: skills, training and education systems;
sustainable tourism and diversification of the offer; synergies between tourism
and creative industries; reducing seasonality; sustainable mobility and
accessibility; access to finance and governance. This particular issue was
emphasized (as to encourage a more active role of the industry, the regions –
through the Committee of the Regions -, the MS - through the Tourism Advisory
Committee-, and the EP through the support of the Vice-President of the TRAN
Committee, Mr István Ujhelyi, as well as the Inter-group set up on “European
Tourism development, Cultural Heritage, Way of St. James and other European
cultural routes”.
 Coastal and Maritime Tourism: CdM announced the celebration of the European
Conference on “Smart cooperation in coastal and maritime tourism: encouraging
transnational partnerships through clusters and networks” to be held in Brussels
on 20 January 2014 as part of the Action 4 of the “European Strategy for more
growth and jobs in coastal and maritime tourism”. The purpose of this conference
is to raise awareness and improve knowledge of networks and clusters working in
the field of coastal and maritime tourism at all territorial levels with a view to
improve their cooperation at EU level.

3. 3
 On 5-6 March another conference will be held to implement action 3 of the
Strategy: the Pan-European dialogue, which will be a high political level
conference involving cruise and port authorities and stakeholders related to
coastal issues, with a view to create a Steering Committee with mainly CEO
members. UDS asked whether there is any dialogue foreseen with actors during
the Conference. CdM explained that we are still in a pilot phase to map the
different actors and to get knowledge about their work.
 On the other hand CdM informed on the Macro Regional strategies, mainly
EUSAIR (European Strategy for the Adriatic and Ionian Region) and the
EUSALP (European Strategy for the Alpine Region). The EUSALP will be
operational next year. EUSAIR is already ongoing and includes sustainable
tourism in its pillar 4. This pillar mentions EEN and the cooperation with clusters
at national and regional level. The role of networks is also crucial since some
members, especially non EU, need to learn from good models and good practices.
This Strategy has 4 non EU and 4 EU members. The discussion is currently
focused on the governance to create a steering group at national and regional
level. The funds come from ESIF aiming at setting up transnational cooperation
projects.
 COSME 2015: AL explained briefly the plan for 2015 with 5 main topics. There
will be one main Call with three different strands: transnational tourism thematic /
cultural and sustainable products, increasing tourism flows in low season and
accessibility. According to VP the Call will be published between March and
May 2015. AL also recalled the Commission´s intention to launch a Call on
clusters and networks in 2016. During 2015 the mapping of clusters active in
tourism will continue to reach a solid base to prepare the possible Call 2016. He
asked the Networks to support this exercise providing information and feedback
to the EC with the objective to discuss this issue with TAC members and the
CoR.
GM asked for any information related to INTERREG projects in 2015. AL
announced DG REGIO will be invited next ENTWG meeting in February 2015 to
provide proper information. OA informed of the creation of an Inter-service
group on tourism to get cross-sectorial information on tourism related activities
within different DGs.
VP reminded that currently there is still an open Call on Low Season with a
deadline for submission on 15 January 2015.
4. 4. European networks´ activities
a) European Fisheries Areas Network (FARNET)
UBT presented the European Fisheries Areas Network (FARNET) updates and
distributed a copy in different languages of the Guidelines addressed to FLAGS to
develop tourism activities in fishing areas. She announced 2 upcoming events:
 “Atlantic Forum” in Porto on 20 January 2015, organised by DG MARE where
some FLAGS (from Spain, Portugal…) will show smart cross-border
cooperation in fishing villages.

4. 4
 High Level Conference “Sailing towards 2020” in Brussels on 2-3 March 2015,
on the results of Axis 4 of the European Fisheries Fund and the future of
Community-Led Local Development in coastal communities. This will be a big
event of 450 people (under restricted invitation) with a presentation of 42
thematic projects on fishing, but linked to tourism, along with a stand exhibition.
Those projects started from 2010-2011 and the idea is to present what has been
achieved so far. (The Agenda is attached to the minutes)
b) State of Play: new ENRD
IJ announced that, on 20 November 2014, the European Commission Decision specifying
the setting-up and organizations structure of the new EU Networks’ Assembly, which
will comprise 200 members from Management Authorities, Paying Agencies, the Civil
Dialogue Group on Rural Development (which includes EUROGITES) and others, aimed
at advising the European Commission on how to better put Rural Development programs
into practice. The Assembly will hold its first annual meeting 26 January 2015. Further
steering committees will be established, and she will inform the ENTGW in case
Assembly´s members express interest in giving a higher attention to the tourism sector
within this year of ENRD activities.
IJ also informed that the EU Guide on Funding opportunities in the tourism sector was
promoted through ENRD CP communications channels (including the monthly
Newsletter), as this topic is of relevance for the ENRD stakeholders. She also stressed the
network interest in cooperation with clusters. They need to follow-up what activities are
focused on tourism to support in the mapping exercise and the information dissemination
among members and stakeholders.
c) State of Play: new EEN 2015
NM mentioned latest developments with the Enterprise Europe Network regarding a few
general events and 2 calls.
Following the first call for proposals designed to select Enterprise Europe Network
consortia, Framework Partnership Agreements are in the process of being awarded to
consortia covering the majority of the territory of the European Union and some non-EU
countries participating in the COSME program under Article 6 of the COSME
regulation. Nevertheless a second call has been published with a view to establishing the
Network for the period 2015-2020 in geographic areas where no Enterprise Europe
Network consortia have emerged from the first call (i.e. Nord-Pas Calais and Balearic
Islands in the EU and Turkey, Albania, Serbia, Montenegro, Kosovo, Azerbaijan, Egypt,
Algeria, Jordan, Palestinian Authority and Tunisia outside de EU). The deadline is on 29
January 2015.
There is also an ongoing call for expressions of interest for selecting Business
Cooperation Centers in third countries, which is aimed at cooperation with third countries
(including those not previously in the EEN) to help them foster cooperation between
European SMEs and partners in these third country markets. The Commission is looking
for consortia that have experience in Europe. The next cut of date is on 15 March 2015.
NM explained that there was another cut-off date in October 2014 open to all countries,
but primarily targeted at countries already in the EEN within the last period.
With regard to control activities, evaluation and monitoring of the different activities is
foreseen under the new Partnership Agreements as well as regular reporting.

5. 5
NM announced the organization of the EEN annual conference in Brussels in early June
next year but the precise date and venue are still to be decided. NM suggested holding a
meeting on tourism with the new Tourism and Cultural Heritage Sector Group (TCH SG)
as early as possible in 2015 (in Brussels) to boost innovation and business partnerships
already in 2015. Timing would depend on the time-frame for setting up the future sector
groups.
Next year 2015, EEN will be also involved in actions in Milano and at EU-CELAC
(Community of Latin American and Caribbean States) joint cooperation in Latin
America.
AL suggested including EEN events in the minutes and NM explained that all this
information is in their web site browser.
VP briefly explained the situation of the TCH SG. With 30 members in 16 countries, the
SG had a special situation in 2014 with the departure of 2 chairs. A call for expression of
interest will be held early in 2015 to select the new SGs and their members. It will be
made clear that all members are expected to participate actively. This will be re-inforced
by guidelines for the SGs and animation by the chairs and EASME. Efforts will be made
to enhance geographical balance of SGs wherever possible.
On September 2014 the SG met and VP tried to encourage their active participation. A
new chairwoman was appointed, Ms Maria Cristina Raffone, from the Chamber of
Commerce of Napoli. VP highlighted that their support could be in disseminating
information on EU activities and providing assistance in building business and
innovation partnerships (by collecting and disseminating cooperation offers and demands
from tourism actors, organising brokerage events, company missions, finding partners for
calls for proposals, etc)..
OA, signaled that, since there are other interrelations with different SGs as agro-food, it
would be welcomed to find synergies and suggested organising an info day with the
Commission once the Group is set up to raise awareness of the importance of
partnerships on tourism activities.
AL proposed two measures to incentivize the TCH SG:
- to send the minutes of these coordination meetings to all stakeholders (make it public);
- to discuss early 2015 within the EC and EASME, the best way to support the new TCH
SG on the basis of the Guide on SGs, cooperating /exploiting synergies with operational
programs at regional level and with macro-regional strategies, and contributing to the
implementation of DG GROWTH priorities.
d) ERRIN
AR explained the Network´s main objectives, organisation and activities. ERRIN is a
platform of Research and Innovation Organisations and Stakeholders in Regions,
composed by 13 working groups (smart cities, tourism, innovative growth…) on
different thematic areas and policies (covering cross-sectorial activities as ICT, transport,
Biotech…) and over 120 members from 29 countries (EU except LV, LT and PT +
Norway, Serbia and Turkey). ERRIN facilitates contacts between regional offices and
regional authorities so that they can enhance their knowledge of European policy in
Research and Innovation and develop strategic European projects to strengthen regional
competitiveness (e.g. facilitating consortia building, lobbying, engagement in policy
issues overarching other innovation topics, drafting policy papers on the mid-term review
HORIZON2020, etc…).
CdM asked whether they make a follow-up of their members´ applications but this is a
difficult exercise and ERRIN missed this info.

6. 6
AR informed of a whole week of brokerage events on thematic areas (ICT, Biotech,
water, health…) were regional experts showed their projects and ideas.
As ERRIN Secretariat, they are members of 6 projects (e.g. FP7 to facilitate learning on
Smart Specialisation, with 10 Regions involved; project on Regional innovation
monitoring through the Horizon2020; project on the support for a coordination action of
the 6 groups on AHA; or a tender on creativity and design in cities).
CdM proposed ERRIN to kick on the blue growth innovation.
GM informed of an assessment meeting on 17 December to evaluate and assess what has
been achieved so far and to discuss the action plan for next year. The working plan for
2015 will focus on the following topics: digitalisation, clusters, thematic groups
(innovative), ICTs, design and innovation groups. Cooperation with NECSTouR is
foreseen.
As Valencia Region, GM informed of the participation of the region in the PIP
exchanging program on climate kick and announced the Region´s hosting of the
innovation festival of the climate kick in 2014.
e) NECSTouR
CN informed of the 2014 main activities of three working groups: indicators, accessible
destinations, and climate change, in order to cover transversal fields on sustainable and
responsible tourism. NECSTouR has also received feedback on the 21 actions of the
tourism Communication in which members have being involved.
NECSTouR covers 15 countries in Europe with 32 member Regions and 35 associated
members from academia, or business and sustainable tourism associations. The territorial
coverage is higher than the Regional level.
With regard to the European System of Tourism Indicators (ETIS), CdM suggested
motivating the participation of Germany (which is not in the Network) through the group
of indicators, but CN pointed that members are Regions and not local destinations.
Nevertheless, NECSTouR wants to encourage ETIS in Regional coastal destinations.
In terms of accessibility, a roadmap for accessible destinations has been launched (with 3
peer-reviews in Catalonia, Veneto and Scotland) and presented in the Parliament in
September 2014.
A project related to climate change has been lunched (NESE) from 2014-2016 with an
involvement of the UNWTO. Currently the Network is looking for hotels to make a pilot
test of energy efficiency actions. A Conference is organised for next October 2015, with
stakeholders who want to cooperate in this pilot phase. CdM informed that both
accessibility and climate change are two topics highlighted as priorities for the EUSALP
in a Conference held in Milano this December 2014.
CN also announced NECSTouR participation in a tender related to education and tourism
with DG ENTR E2 with a view to map e-skills in health systems. A Conference is
scheduled for October 2015 but more details will be shared further.
Finally CN announced the Networks intention to develop a 2 years action on innovation
and tourism focused on the digital agenda. CN express the Network´s will to participate
in the High Level Group proposed by the Commission.
NM signalled that connecting businesses to resolve energy services is one of the
priorities of the new EEN.

7. 7
5. Other issues
CM and GM proposed organising a joint brokerage event regarding tourism innovation
projects between NECSTouR and ERRIN sharing info on cross-cutting activities with all
the Networks. The first idea is to combine projects financed by COSME and INTEREG
calls by the end of April or May, to be decided with the Commission once the publication
of the common Call 2015 is published.
6. Closing session
AL closed the session thanking the participants.
The next ENTWG meeting will take place on 24 February 2015.