The European Parliament has proposed a separate, €300 million budget line for tourism, and the inclusion of tourism in the Council of the EU programme proves that Croatia's lobbying and emphasising the importance of tourism for the economy was justified, the Tourism Ministry said in a press release on Sunday.
The initiative to better position the tourism industry in the EU institutions was initiated early this year by Croatian Tourism Minister Gari Cappelli.
“I am pleased that our initiative has been recognised in the EU, and we also have strong support for it from Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovic and the Croatian government,” Cappelli said in the press release.
“In the EU economy, tourism provides 24 million jobs, in other words, one in eleven workers is employed in jobs directly related to tourism. Considering the fact that tourism is one of the fastest growing economic activities in the EU, with a major impact on growth, society, development and employment, and that tourism and travel account for about 10 percent of the EU’s GDP, it is acknowledged that tourism deserves a better position in the EU institutions,” said Cappelli.
“This will eventually be of vital importance for tourism in all EU member states, including Croatia,” he noted.
The future Council of the European Union presidency trio, comprising Romania, Finland and Croatia, have prepared, in cooperation with the Council’s Secretariat General and the European External Action Service, the 18-month programme of the Council for the period from 1 January 2019 and 30 June 2020, which was endorsed in Brussels this month.
The programme for the first time explicitly mentions tourism, in a section entitled “A Union for Jobs, Growth and Competitiveness” which emphasises the need for better positioning of tourism on the EU agenda in order to encourage growth and employment.
In addition, the European Parliament has called on the European Commission to prepare a legislative framework to establish a programme for sustainable tourism, which would be part of the Single Market Programme.
To date, 14 of the 28 member states have supported the Croatian initiative, the Tourism Ministry said.
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