A recent example comes from the Philippines, which in the summer of 2025 opened its doors to Indian travelers. Citizens of India can now enter the country visa-free for stays of up to 14 days, with the possibility of extending their stay to 30 days if holding certain international permits. As reported by India Today, the measure has already shown concrete results: online searches for travel to the archipelago have increased by more than 28%, especially among young couples and first-time international travelers. To reinforce this connection, India has reciprocated by granting free e-visas to Filipino visitors, while new direct air routes will soon link Manila and Delhi. 

South Korea, too, has chosen to enhance its tourism appeal by introducing a temporary visa-free entry scheme for Chinese tour groups between September 2025 and June 2026. The initiative is designed not only to stimulate demand but also to consolidate ties with the region’s largest source market. 

On the Russia-China front, meanwhile, the Russian media agency Tass reports that tourism exchanges are growing “by leaps and bounds.” This is a clear sign of how tourism can act as a tool for rapprochement and collaboration even in complex geopolitical contexts. The Chinese government is heavily investing in strengthening cultural ties, as well as supporting its economy and alliances, through  cooperation agreements that include the tourism sector. 

At Twissen, we have observed that openness and cooperation between countries — enabled by visa policies, bilateral agreements, and new air connections — are becoming decisive levers for the development of tourism. Facilitating international mobility means not only attracting visitors but also building cultural bridges and promoting a more connected and inclusive future. 

Francesco Redi

President and founder at Twissen. Manager in Local Development, Tourism Policies,  EU Funds. He cooperates with several European universities, public bodies, development agencies, DMOs and enterprises.

L'articolo Tourism Policies and Geopolitics: How Countries Are Opening Up to the World proviene da Twissen.

Common Objectives

Both documents highlight the importance of competitiveness, digitalization, sustainability, and governance as key drivers of tourism sector growth. Among the shared priorities:

• Travel Facilitation
  Both manifestos emphasize the need for simplified visa and border control procedures. The UK focuses on streamlining visa applications and introducing more affordable multiple-entry visas, while the EU aims to improve Schengen procedures to attract more international visitors.
• Support for Tourism Businesses
  Both strategies aim to reduce fiscal and administrative burdens on tourism businesses, making the sector more attractive to investors and entrepreneurs.
• Promotion of Sustainable Tourism
  The documents emphasize the importance of environmentally sustainable policies. The EU proposes a strategic plan for eco-friendly tourism, while the UK focuses on reducing disruptions in rail transport and initiatives to improve coastal cleanliness.
• Skills Development
  Both the EU and the UK recognize the importance of training and workforce qualification. The EU promotes cross-border skills recognition, while the UK prioritizes apprenticeship reform and youth mobility programs.

Key Differences in Approach

Despite shared objectives, the two strategies adopt distinct priorities and implementation methods:

• Territorial Focus
  The European Tourism Manifesto takes a pan-European approach, promoting an integrated strategy among EU member states. In contrast, the UK manifesto focuses exclusively on national priorities, addressing post-Brexit challenges such as the need for new mobility agreements with the EU.
• Fiscal Policies
  The UK emphasizes tax reductions in tourism, including a duty-free shopping scheme for international visitors and lower VAT on accommodations and attractions. The EU, on the other hand, aims for greater fiscal coordination among member states to maintain the sector’s competitiveness.
• Digitalization
  Both manifestos recognize the role of digital transformation, but with different emphases. The EU prioritizes financial support for digital innovation in small and medium-sized tourism enterprises, while the UK focuses on optimizing e-visa processes and border control systems.
• Seasonality Management
  The EU proposes strategies to reduce seasonality in tourism, diversifying the offer and improving the distribution of tourist flows throughout the year. The UK, however, does not place particular emphasis on this issue.

Conclusion

At Twissen we observed that while both strategies share fundamental objectives, they are tailored to different contexts and challenges. The EU aims to consolidate its tourism leadership through coordinated policies, whereas the UK focuses on attracting more visitors through targeted reforms and fiscal incentives.

These two approaches offer valuable insights for the future of international tourism, providing models that other regions could adopt in their own tourism development strategies.

Twissen

L'articolo The Impact of Brexit on Tourism: A Comparative Analysis proviene da Twissen.

Despite the incentives coming from relevant stakeholders, over the last year it has been noticed how the crisis has not been tackled by adopting a strategy of cooperation at global level, including public and private stakeholders involved in the tourism industry at both national and international level. Indeed, the approach used by different states in response to the health and economic crisis has usually been based on rapid and isolated actions depending on the evolution of the pandemic. 

Moreover, according to the WTTC, reinforcing the collaboration inside the tourism industry would allow the sector to plan and manage in a more efficient way the future health crisis, which will become more frequent due to globalization, thus requiring a greater capacity for resilience. 

The report “Lessons Learnt” presents the following guidelines to integrate in future strategies of crisis management:

• Focus on risk-based approaches and avoid knee-jerk reactions.
• Collaborate and coordinate with as many related stakeholders as possible.
• Take a holistic view of the crisis and regularly update crisis response measures.
• Coordinate communication with relevant stakeholders, including neighbouring countries.

At Twissen we observed the importance of collaboration among destinations to increase their competitiveness. There are several areas of intervention, but crisis management should be approached on a global scale with involvement and effective communication among all stakeholders in the sector.

Download the full WTTC report here.

Twissen

L'articolo The importance of collaboration in crisis management – WTTC Lessons Learnt proviene da Twissen.

Source: Interreg CE-Terms-of-Reference Call 1 

Eligible proposals must be submitted by a consortium of 5 to 12 public and/or private organisations from at least three different countries, among whom at least two have to be located in one of the Interreg Central Europe regions.

The project budget must be between EUR 1.2 million and EUR 2.4 million for a maximum duration of 36 months.

The programme considers tourism as a strategic topic and emphasizes on its potentiality and development. For this reason, those proposals that can potentially carry a significant impact on the sector should be relevant to the following Specific Objectives.
Specific Objective 1.1 supports the competitiveness of SMEs for the development of economic activities with the objective of economic resilience of the eligible regions and in compliance with ecological and sustainability parameters.
Specific Objective 2.4 stimulates the collaboration of multiple sectors and actors, including tourism, for the protection of biodiversity and the promotion of a more sustainable management of natural resources.
Specific Objective 4.1 sustains the improvement of multi-sectoral governance processes at each territorial level to ensure a prompt response to the challenges that may arise from digitisation, demographic change, public services of general interest and tourism, including culture.

At Twissen, we observed how the proposals on the Travel&Tourism sector can fit into several axes of the Programme contributing to develop and enhance structural areas, such as digitisation, sustainability and governance. The soundness and balance of the partnership is certainly one of the strategic elements to be considered since the preparation phase of the proposal.

Twissen

L'articolo European Funds for tourism: Interreg Central Europe programme launches its first Call proviene da Twissen.

During the COVID-19 emergency, the travel one has been one of the first sectors to be impacted by the restrictions on travels and by the general uncertainty.

We saw how several states launched initiatives aiming to encourage tourists to visit their destinations but, with the advancing pandemic and with stricter politics, these initiatives became strategies to recover the sector after the emergency.

At a European level, the European Tourism Manifesto Alliance, an organisation in which several tourism key players and institutions cooperate, released a statement asking companies and institutions to collaborate in order to implement as soon as possible measures that could stem the impact of the pandemic on the European tourism sector.

The statement follows a press release by the European Commission that, on 13th March, indicated a list of guidelines and measures to follow in order to control the crisis and to revive the economy, inviting everyone to cooperate.
In particular, the Alleance addresses to the European Commission and to the governments of the member states, indicating the most urgent measures that should be implemented in the travel sector. It is then highlighted the importance of state aid for the tourism and travel sector from national governments, with the opportunity to easily access to short- and medium-term loans and fiscal relief such as the deferment of fiscal and social contributions, especially for SMEs.
Regarding the human resources, the Manifesto focuses on the protection of employees, avoiding unemployment and loss of income, also through the launch of the European Unemployment Reinsurance Scheme.
More in detail, the Manifesto proposes initiatives such as immediate passing of temporary airport slots waiver, regarding the airlines.
Finally, the Alliance wishes for a stronger cooperation among the national authorities to send a unified message in terms of travel advice to the affected regions and requirements on travellers returning from those areas.

When the emergency ends, in order to guarantee a fast and effective recovery, it is recommended a simplification of visa rules for long-haul markets, reducing or waiving travellers’ taxes and a full support to destinations, by increasing their budgets for promotion, marketing and product development purposes as soon as they are ready to welcome visitors again.

At Twissen we observed that, at a European level, the proposed initiatives aim to collaboration and cooperation. Facilitations to companies and players of the travel sector, both during and after the emergency, could guarantee a strong and unified recovery in every affected area.

Martina Baldo

She graduated in Intercultural Development of Tourism Systems and she has a passion for foreign languages and cultures. Since 2016 she works as administration and tourism project manager at Twissen.

L'articolo Tourism Manifesto: strategies and initiatives to recover the tourism industry proviene da Twissen.

But the opportunities of the new programme don’t stop here.

“Tourism is a strategic sector” affirms Professor Salvatore Messina of European Foundation to Twissen “and, even if nowadays there are no dedicated programmes, there are several opportunities and they are to be researched with a transverse methodology, both for enterprises and public subjects”.

At Twissen we notice an increasing attention to creating and developing networks in tourism.
Tourism is a complex sector that involves diverse stakeholders such as public institutions, small enterprises, big enterprises, consortiums, associations and several other ones. Operating at a destination level, it is necessary a growing coordination in activities in order to promote a competitive and sustainable offer to the target tourists. “This complexity reflects also on finding funds. Even if they exist and they are significant, they need to be found with a particular methodology. In fact, in tourism industry, creating and developing networks is an essential need in order to accomplish an efficient and competitive system. This involves the coordination of actors with specific roles.”
A multi-fund and multi-beneficiary approach is the method that we, at Twissen, consider to be the most effective. A certain network, after defining its operative plan, should search the right fund for every initiative, being aware that the beneficiary could be different from time to time, depending on the role played in the network.
“There is not a unique model of network. Analysing the current scenario and the present European planning, we notice that the successful networks are the ones that represent both the public and the private component, with the participation of a research institution or a specialised university. Most of all, they engage SMEs of the tourism sector which are able to attract enterprises in the linked sectors. Fundamental prerequisites are an efficient activity of local synergy and a clear and shared strategic and operative plan.”

Francesco Redi

President and founder at Twissen. Manager in Local Development, Tourism Policies,  EU Funds. He cooperates with several European universities, public bodies, development agencies, DMOs and enterprises.

L'articolo Tourism funds to create networks proviene da Twissen.