European Tourism Convention - Call for expression of interest

Following nine consecutive years of growth, the EU tourism ecosystem is among the hardest hit by the global COVID-19 pandemic affecting Europe since early 2020.

The European Commission is organising the European Tourism Convention on 12 October 2020. The Convention will launch a dialogue on sustainable recovery and the strategic orientations for the tourism of tomorrow and guide future work and cooperation on tourism (towards a European Agenda for Tourism 2050).

In the framework of the European Tourism Convention, the European Commission will organise three on-line thematic workshops, which will be held in parallel in the morning of 12 October:

1. Safe and Seamless Tourism Experience
2. Greener Holidays
3. Tourism Powered by Data

The aim of the workshops is to map key issues, generate a discussion about the challenges and opportunities of the EU tourism sector linked with the three topics mentioned above and propose a set of SMART action points to be presented and discussed during the Plenary of the European Tourism Convention in the afternoon.

Each workshop will gather up to 30 participants, including representatives of the EU institutions, representatives of public authorities, European sectoral industry associations of the tourism and travel industry, international organisations, academics, as well as other relevant stakeholders. Places are limited and the selected participants will have a unique chance to guide the future work on tourism recovery and transition. Participants with significant operations in EU countries or serving the EU tourism market will be prioritised.

Selected participants commit to a 3-hour online workshop on the 12 October 2020 (9h00-12h00 CEST) to engage collaboratively and proactively in a guided discussion on the sustainable recovery of tourism and the actions that can transform and shape the European tourism ecosystem for tomorrow.

Selection Criteria

The submitted Expressions of interest for participating in the workshops will be evaluated according to the selection criteria outlined below:

• Criterion 1: Expertise on the subject matter and contribution to the field.
• Criterion 2: Hold a managerial position at the organisation.
• Criterion 3: Organisation located in the EU, with significant operations in EU countries, or a focus on the EU tourism market.
• Criterion 4: Relevance and adequacy of the proposed contribution to the workshop.

Note that responses to criterion 4 of the selected participants may be made public on the Convention website. This will be done in aggregate, without revealing the organisation's name for each response. Criterion 4 entails the following questions: a) What are the three priorities for European tourism for tomorrow, and who are the relevant actors? (Propose an action for each priority). b) Please provide your vision for the future of the EU tourism sector in the next 10-20 years in relation to the theme of the workshop.

For more information about each workshop and to apply please see here. The deadline is 18 September 2020.

For any enquiries please contact workshopstourism-convention [dot] eu (workshops[at]tourism-convention[dot]eu).