Among the central themes emerging during the event were sustainability, technological innovation, access to funding, and the implementation of strategies for more balanced tourism.

A Strategy for Sustainable Tourism by 2026 

Apostolos Tzitzikostas, the first European Commissioner for Tourism and Transport, announced the goal of defining a Sustainable Tourism Strategy by the first quarter of 2026. Among the identified priorities are: 

• Sustainability: Reducing the environmental impact of tourism.
• Rebalancing Tourist Flows: Tackling the phenomenon of overtourism and promoting a more even distribution of visitors.
• Environmental Certifications: Streamlining the process for obtaining sustainability labels, which are currently not easily accessible for SMEs.
• Support for SMEs and Digitization: Facilitating the digital transformation of small and medium-sized tourism enterprises. 
• Strengthening the Europe Brand: Positioning Europe as a sustainable, safe, inclusive, and innovative destination.

Another strategic objective concerns improving access to funding for local players.

The transition to a more sustainable tourism model necessarily requires an efficient transportation system. Among the proposed solutions is the idea of an integrated single ticket for various modes of transportation, which would make tourist travel more convenient and help reduce the ecological footprint. Furthermore, new regulations on vehicle rentals could further optimize the connections between various destinations. 

Between Regulations and New Technologies: The Role of AI 

Glenn Fogel, CEO of Booking.com, emphasized how the adoption of artificial intelligence is profoundly transforming the tourism sector. Advanced digital tools allow travellers to have a “virtual travel agent” at their fingertips, making the experience more personalized and efficient. 

However, Fogel also stressed the need for smart regulations to ensure that technological innovation does not create competitive imbalances in the industry. 

Additionally, a crucial aspect concerns consumer behaviour: although many support sustainable tourism, they often opt for more economical choices. To incentivize responsible decisions, it is essential to make sustainable alternatives more accessible and competitive. 

Regarding lesser-known destinations, Fogel encourages SMEs and local players to develop new strategies and initiatives to create appeal, for instance by focusing on authentic experiences and targeted marketing campaigns. 

Decarbonization and Connectivity: Priorities for the Future 

Priorities such as the decarbonization of transportation, safety, and the improvement of connectivity between destinations have emerged as key focal points. 

George Simon, Executive Vice President of Mastercard, highlighted the growing importance of the “experience economy”, where the value of the lived experience surpasses that of the mere journey. 

A New Narrative for Tourism 

There is a pressing need to monitor the perception of local communities towards tourism, achievable through specific indicators as already envisioned by the UNWTO. It is essential to ensure that tourism infrastructures benefit both visitors and residents, avoiding situations of overcrowding and degradation. 

Eduardo Santander, Executive Director of ETC, unveiled a new narrative for the Europe brand centred on more responsible tourism, promoting off-season travel and visits to less visited destination. The key message is that the travel experience in Europe can represent an “unexpected upgrade,” rendering every journey more authentic and rewarding. 

At Twissen, we observe that the future of European tourism lies in striking a balance between innovation and sustainability. Digitization, smart regulations, simplified access to funding, and a new approach to tourism management will be essential in making Europe a more resilient, inclusive, and environmentally respectful destination. 

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 Destination Europe Summit 2025: Innovation and Sustainability for the Future of European Tourism proviene da Twissen.

Finally, it provides a set of recommendations for European destinations, allowing them to plan and make strategic decisions to enhance tourist experiences and ensure adequate responses to the shifts in tourism demand.

TOPIC 1. TRAVELLING AMIDST AN ECONOMIC SLOWDOWN

When the interviewees are going to choose their next travel destination, the main aspects they will consider are interesting cultures, the price of the trip, and travelling closer to home.

Recommendations:

• Promotion of offers to enable travel on tighter budget constraints due to inflation.
• With “travelling closer to home” being one of the new travel trends, the promotion of hidden urban gems and nature reserves targeted at domestic tourists.
• Focus on “Bleisure” offerings so that business travellers may more easily extend their business trip.

TOPIC 2. MITIGATING THE IMPACT OF COVID-19

50% of the interviewees also stated that COVID-19 has made them focus more on offers providing consumer protection through last-minute cancellations, refunds, or flexibility options. Some interviewees point out COVID-19’s potential significance in the 2022-2023 winter season if a new COVID-19 wave emerges.

Recommendations:

• Keep flexible offers/policies that allow last-minute cancellations or changes, and refunds.
• Continue to offer pre-booked tickets or contactless alternatives to reduce the queue lengths and crowds.
• Enhance the use of visitor management apps to ensure better crowd management.
• Continue to offer hand sanitisers.

TOPIC 3. ENABLING SUSTAINABLE TOURISM

Openness to greener initiatives is observed from the respondents as environmentally-friendly travel initiatives are the primary suggestions for the tourism sector in the future.

Recommendations:

• Promoting and incentivising more environmentally-friendly travel options.
• Provide a guide for environmentally-friendly travel.
• Providing clear and accessible information e.g. on the NTO’s or DMO’s visit-page on sustainable choices at the destination.
• Enable tourists to make active environmental-friendly choices.

TOPIC 4. DESTINATION INFORMATION AND ACCESSIBILITY

Several interviewees mention issues with both the availability of relevant information regarding the destination and what to experience. Others focus on ensuring that the destination is accessible, for example the need to upgrade public transport infrastructure at the destination.

Recommendations:

• Partnering with tour operators to provide better information to travellers.
• Destinations to add QR codes on key signage at tourism hotspots/transport hubs to help with translation into multiple languages and providing tourist information and directions.
• Improve accessibility so tourists of all age groups can get around at the destination with public transportation.
• Developing an official destination-wide website allowing tourists to find relevant information for European destinations about what to experience and the possibility of buying tickets from an official source.

Read full report.

Twissen

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L'articolo ETC recommendations to drive tourism recovery in 2023 proviene da Twissen.

1. Russia’s exit from the market
   Russia’s exit from the market will be a major loss for Europe and will also have a major impact on neighbouring countries. Countries that are heavily dependent on Russian tourism will also suffer a setback. Until before the outbreak of the war, Europe was the preferred holiday destination for Russians, with 56% of the Russian population choosing it over other destinations.
2. Indirect effects
   Despite the likely increase in the domestic market, regions further away from the conflict zones will still suffer from the indirect effects of the war such as higher prices, inflation and slower growth. As a result, consumers will be less inclined to spend large amounts of money on travel.
3. Europe as a safe destination
   A general analysis of online reputation and social sentiment shows that, at present, Europe continues to be seen as a safe destination, despite the ongoing conflict. Suffering the greatest consequences in terms of ‘negative reputation’ are the Eastern European countries, geographically closer to the war.
4. North American market
   The North American population is still uncertain about the actual level of security that Europe can guarantee. Nevertheless, most bookings have not yet been cancelled, so it is possible to continue working on this target with cautious optimism.
5. Air traffic restrictions
   There has been no sign of a further decline in international travel following the initial shock, when there was a 7% drop in the number of flights purchased to Europe within two weeks; transatlantic travel has also returned to pre-war levels.

Source: ForwardKeys

At Twissen, we are observing a slowdown in the recovery of tourism caused by international instability, which will force industry players to re-evaluate their communication and marketing strategies according to the target market. For the year 2022, the staycation trend observed during the pandemic can be expected to continue: therefore, ensuring safety and reducing the level of uncertainty for domestic travellers will be the basic condition for gaining the trust of this segment.

Twissen

L'articolo 5 highlights for European Tourism – From the ETC webinar proviene da Twissen.

Recognising this, the European Travel Commission (ETC) published a report named “Sustainable Travel in an Era of Disruption: Impact of Covid-19 on Sustainable Tourism Attitudes”, which aims at supporting European destinations understand the gap between people’s sustainable values, enhanced by the pandemic, and their related actions.

In the analysis of tourists’ behaviours, four distinct clusters have been identified:

• Frontrunners: Low-footprint travellers with the highest likelihood of adopting sustainable travel behaviour in the future. The cluster with the strongest biospheric and altruistic value orientation.
• Habitual low-footprint travellers with interest in alternative destinations in ones’ proximity and in travelling in low season.
• Entitled Stewards: Medium-footprint travellers who are less likely to compromise on location and time of travel but willing to adjust otherwise.
• Laggards: Habitual high-footprint travellers with the lowest level of likelihood for considering sustainable alternatives in the future. The cluster with the weakest biospheric and altruistic value orientation.

The study shows that travellers are most likely to adopt sustainable practices in the behavioural category of interacting with the local community and immersing in local life. On the other hand, money and time are constraints that were found to have a significant impact on the likelihood of adopting more sustainable travel practices in the future.

At Twissen we have observed that for DMOs and NTOs it is necessary to understand travel trends and expectations in a pandemic world, in order to properly implement destinations’ infrastructures and services. As underlined in the report, cross-sector collaboration is needed to adopt a strategy that stimulates tourists’ sustainable travel behaviour. 
Download the full ETC report here.

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L'articolo DMOs can foster sustainable behaviours by analysing 4 clusters of tourists proviene da Twissen.

The call for proposal “Thematic Transnational Promotional Campaigns for the Promotion of Destination Europe in China” aims to increase awareness of the destination and develop products that can maintain inbound tourism market share.

Proposed campaigns must be transnational, original, creative and target-group oriented, focused on themes, tourist products or services in Europe.
Target audience must be aged 25-44; according to ECT researches, those travellers engage in cultural and passion-based activities and demand for experience.

Main themes are culture and heritage, shopping and high-end travel products, coastal and maritime tourism, nature heritage and outdoors experiences, gastronomy and transnational routes such as cultural itineraries, cycling routes, etc.
Relevant campaigns must balance on-line and off line initiatives, trade and B2B activities and must be completed by 31 March 2019 and must be conceived, executed and completed by a consortium of partner organisations.

The deadline for application is 9 April 2018.

A full range of trade initiatives follows.
A dedicated Europe Pavillion will be present at COTTM 2018 in Beijing from 16-18 April and a multitude of European tourism products and destinations will be showcased.

Registration are open for the following events:

• ITB China 2018, tradeshow in Shanghai from 16-18 May;
• GTEF- Global Tourism Economy Forum 2018, tradeshow in Macao from 23-24 October;
• CITM-China International Travel Mart 2018, tradeshow in Shanghai from 16-18 November;
• Partnership in European Tourism, event in Shanghai in November;
• Partnership in European Tourism, event in Chengdu in December.

At Twissen we record several relevant initiatives for the 2018 EU-China Tourism Year. China is a very competitive and innovative travel market and, in order to succeed, businesses must have sound plans, skilled human resources and a deep knowledge of the customer.

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 Next business opportunities from 2018 EU-China Tourism Year proviene da Twissen.

The declared objectives are clear and consequent to the EU policies such as the promotion of sustainable tourism and the establishment of a favourable environment to increase investments, especially for SMEs. Visa facilitation was one of the main point of interests; the main objective is making them more convenient and easy to obtain, also by using technologies, in order to increase tourism flows to and from China.

Many actions need to be undertaken, and this is the beginning of a programme that may require mutual knowledge and additional skills to smoothen the relationships between the players.
Moreover, the development of partnerships among enterprises will be a priority, also through the scheduling of business events such as trade shows in China and meetings.
By a joint promotion platform, European stakeholders and tourism destinations have the opportunity to increase their visibility, showcasing their attractions. There’s a sufficient awareness that additional direct flights and more visa facilitations could increase tourism flows.

Twissen attended the opening and registered a moderated enthusiasm by the European stakeholders, but at the same time the awareness that there is a gap to be filled concerning the Chinese market, especially for the language. Chinese players were considered prepared and with clear business plans, guided by a uniform strategy. To maximise the results of this programme, Europe will have to act coordinated and focused.

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 EU-China Tourism Year, opportunities and challenges proviene da Twissen.