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20/03/2019

NECSTouR inspires the Future of the Short-term Rental and Single Market with the Barcelona Declaration "Better Places to Live, Better Places to Visit"

 

NECSTouR Vice-President, Mr Jan Korthoudt Flanders Region, presented the view of NECSTouR Member Regions on legislative challenges and opportunities linked with the Short-term rental and the Single Market, during a Lunch Debate organised by the European Holiday Home Association (EHHA) at the European Parliament.

 

NECSTouR Vision. The five principles listed in the Barcelona Declaration "Better Places to Live, Better Places to Visit" represents the NECSTouR position regarding the future of the new business models in tourism, since they seeks to demonstrate what tourism and cultural heritage sectors can achieve by working more closely together.

Synergy between Culture and Tourism. "If Europe wants to maintain its position as a top tourism destination in the world - stated indeed Mr Korthoudt during his intervention - a synergy between tourism and culture is fundamentally needed for the benefit of European citizens and cultural heritage sector as well as for businesses, visitors and destinations".

SDGs. "Moreover - continued NECSTouR Vice-President - this Declaration assumes the collective commitment of both sectors towards the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), which shoudl be also at the core of every action on tourism.

NECSTouR and the Collaborative Economy. During his well appreciated intervention, Mr Korthoudt highlighted also the work of the NECSTouR Working Group on Digital Platforms with regards to the European debate on the so-called Collaborative economy. "The Regional and Destination level is indeed the one who is the most challenged by the phenomena of new tourism management models."

Overview on the Working Group. NECSTouR Vice-President provided also an overview on the work that NECSTouR Working Group on Digital Platforms carried out in the last years, mentioning the “NECSTouR Declaration on Tourism and Collaborative Economy: Opportunities for Growth and Jobs in Europe”, resulting by a pan-European debate promoted by NECSTouR in 2016 with the collaboration of all the main stakeholders involved and the Specific Pilot Action to gather experiences and legislative measures among NECSTouR Regions implemented in 2017.

The outcomes of these initiatives inspired the NECSTouR contribution to the open dialogue on Short-term Rental Services lead by the European Commission in 2017 and involving the Parliament, the Committee of the Regions and representatives of the industry and citizens association. Several points presented by NECSTouR has been included in the final report of this initiative, presented last October 2018.

The Lunch Debate has been attended by around 30 people, representing the European Commission, MEPs, the European Committee of the Regions and representatives of the Collaborative Economy sector.
At the end of the event, the EHHA members committed to a roadmap of actions to contribute to a sustainable future for the sector.