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Europe’s coastal tourism areas have suffered “anarchic” development and misuse of resources and are in need of improved planning.
Isabel Garana, UN World Tourism Organisation (UNWTO) regional director for Europe told an EU Conference on Coastal and Maritime Tourism in Athens: “We had a certain lack of regulation up to now and strong competition between destinations, which has led to misuse of resources.
“This requires integrated planning and management, linked to destination management.”
The conference focused on the Mediterranean, which drew 334 million visitors last year according to the UNWTO – one third of all tourists worldwide, making it by far the world’s leading destination and numbers are forecast to rise by 10 million a year up to 2030.
Garana said: “Often communities have been neglected by the approach of mass tourism. We need to take account of stakeholders.”
Michel de Blust, chairman of the European Travel Agents and Tour Operators Association (ECTAA), agreed, saying: “Our industry has been party to fast and anarchic developments in the past, particularly in coastal areas.”
Ulrike Guerin of Unesco told the conference: “Our coastal and maritime heritage is very rich. But cultural heritage is not just the responsibility of the authorities. Tour operators and travel agents should care about heritage.”
The conference took place alongside a summit of European tourism ministers which saw European Commissioner for Maritime Affairs Maria Damanaki call for “a sea alliance among Mediterranean countries”.
Damanaki said: “We are trying to create a common framework of principles for tourism.”
Greek tourism minister Olga Kefalogianni said: “It’s important Europe as a whole should be ready to upgrade facilities. Greece considers qualitative upgrading the basis of our policy. Unfortunately, we do not see the same acceptance by all member states.”