European Realities of Responsible Tourism, 2/12/2013, Brussels

Our European network for responsible tourism EARTH (European Alliance for Responsible Tourism and Hospitality) is organizing a conference titled “European Realities of responsible tourism,” on Monday 2^nd of December 2013 in Brussels.

The event aims to bring together European experts in responsible tourism, who will present their proposals to the European institutions, on how to include the principles of sustainable and responsible tourism in all the European tourism policies. Experts will establish a statement of responsible tourism in Europe thought testimonies of experiences, case studies, good practices and projects.

Anticipating the European elections of the European Parliament in May 2014, the members of EARTH and its partners will present to the European institutions (European Commission, European Parliament, Council of the European Union), a memorandum listing their demands and proposals.

Various themes and topics will be addressed and discussed during this half-day event, in particular: environmental, socio-economic and cultural impacts of tourism, coastal tourism, gender issues in tourism, the place and the role of tourism in the social economy (in particular for cooperatives), the application of corporate social responsibility, the interpretation of heritage in responsible tourism, how to measure the efficiency of responsible tourism as a tool for local development.

In addition, 2^nd December date has been carefully chosen by EARTH’ members. Indeed, the European Commission in Brussels is celebrating the European Tourism Day on Wednesday 4^th of December in Brussels, choosing this year the theme ofaccessibility in tourism, which will be preceded by the European Day for People with Disabilities on the 3^rd of December.

To link and connect the European Day of Tourism and “European realities for responsible tourism”, EARTH will also focus on the accessibility in the tourism sector, in social tourism and finally in the responsible tourism sector. Is responsible and social tourism accessible for the citizens? Are the tourist organizations contributing to make tourism accessible?  The answer should be “Yes”, because responsible tourism is a vector of accessibility to the workers in situation of social exclusion (for example: disabled people, individuals who are socially excluded, women, ex-detainees…).

But when this citizen becomes a tourist, what are the limits and the reasons to make it possible to access to the tourism experience?  Indeed, responsible travelers represent a minority (about 5% according to OMT), even if many tourists know what are the negative impacts of tourism on the hosting territories.

Many international experts from Germany, Italy, Spain, France, Austria, and Ireland … will participate as speakers at the conference to propose their points of view regarding the current issues that tourism is facing.  The European institutions will also be present to discuss with the Assembly their policies supporting sustainable and responsible tourism.

The day is meant to create the debate and to confront different opinions by bringing together citizens, tourism organizations, associations and NGOs, national and European networks and European public authorities in order to encourage a constructive exchange on the issues of responsible and sustainable tourism.

The official registrations to participate in the “European Realities of responsible tourism» conference are now available here.

The detailed event program in English can be found here.

The conference location: Provence-Alpes-Côte-D’Azur Premise and NESCTouR headquarter, 62, Rue du Trône, Ground floor, Brussels (1050)

More info :

Maurizio Davolio, president of EARTH : presidenteaitr@aitr.org
Marie Secrétant, coordinator of EARTH : coordination.earth@gmail.com
Square de Meeûs 18
Brussels, 1050
Belgium
EARTH (European Alliance for Responsible Tourism and Hospitality)
EARTH Tourism
Linkedin: European Alliance for Responsible Tourism and Hospitality

Period	01/12/2013
Event location	Provence-Alpes-Côté-d'Azur premises square de Meeûs 18
Event URL	http://earth-net.eu/eu-conference-2013/
Contact person	Marie Secrétant Email address: coordination.earth@gmail.com Phone: 003225431043
Type	(NGOs, Partnerships, Networks, Projects)
Keywords	responsible tourism, EU policy, European conference, civil society,
Target group(s)	Businesses , NGOs, Partnerships, Networks , Governments & Administrations
Topics	Knowledge Networking, Training and Education , Human Rights & Labour Rights