NECSTouR celebrated its Annual General Meeting 2021 and Thematic Conference “Building a Better Recovery Towards the Tourism of Tomorrow: Public-Private-Citizens Partnerships”, hosted by the Tirol Region from 21st to 24th of September 2021 in Alpbach.

Manuel Alejandro Cardenete, Deputy Minister at the Regional Ministry of Tourism, Andalusia as newly elected President of NECSTouR said:

As Tourism restarts the European Regions have a clear vision on our common mission to accelerate digitalisation and sustainability in our destinations making them good places to live, work and visit. NECSTouR stands ready to cooperate with the European Institutions to build the Agenda of the European Tourism of Tomorrow. It is in the regional and local level that the transition is being shaped and where one finds the inspiring good practices and energy necessaries to build the partnerships that drive better recovery: Tirol was the best place to offer this debate. We are committed to play our role both as the voice of Regions in Europe and as drivers of change back in our destinations

Florian Phleps, CEO Tirol Tourist Board said:

We are pleased to host the NECSTouR Annual General Meeting this year here in Tirol. This also shows, which important part sustainability plays in tourism in Tirol. With our upgraded tourism strategy, the “Tiroler Weg,” we want to drive forward a responsible development in tourism through a balance of economic, social and ecological sustainability. Our strategy is a process and the close exchange within the NECSTouR network supports us in ensuring the continued future development

As part of the EU-Regional debate that NECSTouR is leading, the conference was an opportunity to debate with approximately 150 senior public and private tourism stakeholders from across Europe about how the future European Tourism Agenda will offer clear transition pathways and solutions developed with all the stakeholders.

The audience particularly appreciated the dialogue with the guest speaker, Ms. Valentina Superti, Director in charge of Tourism in the European Commission who said:

The Commission aims for active cooperation with all the players of the Tourism ecosystem: The Tourism transition pathway is being co-created with all of them as the green and digital transformations are taking place in the destinations. The Commission’s mission is to create the favourable conditions to make those transformations happen, also with the support of the different EU policies and instruments. Joint successful practices like the EU Digital Covid Certificate are to be further capitalised on and for this a holistic approach is also put in place at the European level to gather sound data, work on smart mobility, resilience mechanisms, skills for digitalisation and sustainability to accompany the needed changes in the Tourism ecosystem. The role of regional tourism authorities is key to achieve our common targets

Josef Margreiter, CEO Lebensraum Tirol Holding said:

Tirol is a destination rich in tradition with a clear commitment to a sustainable tourism. This makes our region ideally suited as a framework for an exchange of experience among European regions that want to stand for a modern destination development. Tirol pursuits the goal to take on a pioneering role and become a model region in this area. The exchange in the NECSTouR network is welcomed as an important positioning on this way and a valuable source of inspiration from a highly experienced international audience of experts

Three impulse stations showed the way towards a Better Recovery Towards the Tourism of Tomorrow. With the Digital Tourism Think Thank, we explored which projects will accelerate digitalisation as enabler for sustainability and resilience. With Tourism Declares we discovered how DMOs should be developing a Tourism Climate Action Plan. With the Travel Foundation we found out joint solutions on how to increase the resident engagement on the Tourism governance.

• Website of the event
• PPT Presentations
• Photo Gallery