BSPC Working Group on Sustainable Tourism List of Members
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BSPCBaltic Sea Parliamentary Conference Working Group on Sustainable Tourism Final Report 2017 BSPCBaltic Sea Parliamentary Conference Working Group on Sustainable Tourism Final Report 2017 2 Report of the BSPC Working Group The Baltic Sea Parliamentary Conference on Sustainable Tourism (BSPC) was established in 1991 as a forum for political dialogue between parliamentarians © Schwerin, 2017 from the Baltic Sea Region. BSPC aims at rais- Text: Sylvia Bretschneider ing awareness and opinion on issues of current political interest and relevance for the Baltic Editing: Bodo Bahr, Georg Strätker und Sea Region. It promotes and drives various in- Julien Radloff itiatives and efforts to support a sustainable environmental, social and economic develop- Layout: produktionsbüro TINUS ment of the Baltic Sea Region. It strives at en- Photos: BSPC Secretariat hancing the visibility of the Baltic Sea Region and its issues in a wider European context. Print: Produktionsbüro TINUS BSPC gathers parliamentarians from 11 national parliaments, 11 regional parliaments Print financed by and 5 parliamentary organisations around the Landtag Mecklenburg-Vorpommern Baltic Sea. The BSPC thus constitutes a unique parliamentary bridge between all the EU- and non-EU countries of the Baltic Sea Region. BSPC external interfaces include parlia- mentary, governmental, sub-regional and oth- er organizations in the Baltic Sea Region and the Northern Dimension area, among them CBSS, HELCOM, the Northern Dimension Partnership in Health and Social Well-Being (NDPHS), the Baltic Sea Labour Forum (BSLF), the Baltic Sea States Sub-regional Co- operation (BSSSC) and the Baltic Develop- ment Forum. BSPC shall initiate and guide political ac- tivities in the region; support and strengthen democratic institutions in the participating states; improve dialogue between govern- ments, parliaments and civil society; strength- en the common identity of the Baltic Sea Re- gion by means of close co-operation between national and regional parliaments on the basis Baltic Sea Parliamentary Conference of equality; and initiate and guide political ac- Bodo Bahr tivities in the Baltic Sea Region, endowing Secretary General them with additional democratic legitimacy +49 171 5512557 and parliamentary authority. [email protected] The political recommendations of the an- www.bspc.net nual Parliamentary Conferences are expressed in a Conference Resolution adopted by con- sensus by the Conference. The adopted Reso- lution shall be submitted to the governments BSPC Secretariat of the Baltic Sea Region, the CBSS and the c/o Lennéstraße 1 EU, and disseminated to other relevant na- 19053 Schwerin tional, regional and local stakeholders in the Germany Baltic Sea Region and its neighbourhood. 3 Contents Introduction: The Final Report ............................... 4 Political Recommendations .................................. 6 a) Final Recommendations ............................ 6 b) Mid Way Recommendations ......................... 8 c) Sustainable Tourism in the 25th BSPC resolution. 10 1. Purpose of the report. 12 2. Mandate and Scope of Work .............................. 13 3. Sustainable Tourism .................................... 15 3.1 Definition .................................... 15 3.2 Challenges and Opportunities ...................... 15 4. Working Group Activities ................................ 20 4.1 Meetings ..................................... 20 4.2 Homework .................................... 28 4.3 Especially: Involving youth, the Baltic Sea Youth Forum in Kiel .................. 29 5. A first approach: Implementation of the 25th resolution with regard to Sustainable Tourism ......................... 31 Annex ................................................ 33 A. BSPC Working Group on Sustainable Tourism List of Members ................................. 33 B. Compilation of answers from the governments of the region .. 40 C. Compilation of statements from the governments of the region to the 25th BSPC Resolution ................... 57 4 Introduction I. Introduction Ms Sylvia Bretschneider Dear Ladies and Gentlemen, Promoting the Baltic Sea Region as a comprehensive sustainable tourist destination was and still is one of the most important prior- ities of the Members of the Working Group on Sustainable Tour- ism. Cooperation of all actors at all levels, including the interna- tionalisation of cooperation and the exchange of experiences are the keys to achieve this goal. However, the tourism sector is also a com- petitive market in which every region and every tourism provider still competes for his or her own profit. Realizing this challenge, I am proud that members of parliament from all around the Baltic Sea participated to work intensively on the way to achieve a more sustainable tourism. It was a great opportunity to share informa- tion, ideas, best practices and to learn more about the positioning of the tourism sector of the Baltic Sea Region. This final report is a strategic overview about the efforts of the Working Group since the establishing in September 2015. We pres- ent the elaboration of political positions and recommendations per- taining to sustainable tourism in its economic, ecological, social and cultural aspects. Furthermore, we include the description of oppor- tunities and challenges for sustainable tourism and summarize the Introduction 5 working group activities. Finally, this reports gives a first approach on the implementation of the 25th resolution with regard to Sus- tainable Tourism. My special thanks go to all working group members from the BSPC member parliaments; you can find a compilation in annex A. In two years of intensive work, we already realized a lot together. Yet, there is still much to do for further developing the Baltic Sea Region as a comprehensive sustainable tourist destination. Especially in the year 2017, as the International Year of Sustainable Tourism for De- velopment, declared by the United Nations, it is important to foster the awareness and importance of sustainable tourism in the Baltic Sea Region. On behalf of the Working Group, I encourage all stake- holder to work on this issue. Sylvia Bretschneider President of the Landtag Mecklenburg-Vorpommern Chair of the Working Group on Sustainable Tourism 6 Political Recommendations Political Recommendations Based on its mandate, the Baltic Sea Parliamentary Conference Working Group on Sustainable Tourism proposes the following po- litical recommendations as a main result of its work. Half of the po- litical recommendations were already mentioned in the Midway re- port in 2016 and most of them were integrated in the 25th resolu- tion of the BSPC. a) Final Recommendations The Working Group members adopted the final recommendations on the last Working Group meeting from May 29 to May 30 on the Åland Islands. These recommendations were conveyed to the 26th BSPC in Hamburg 3 – 5 September 2017: The BSPC Working Group on Sustainable Tourism calls on the Governments, and where appropriate the Parliaments, of the Baltic Sea Region: Regarding Cooperation in the Baltic Sea Region, to • elaborate a common programme based on a strategy within the framework of CBSS to develop sustainable tourism in the Baltic Sea Region, considering the following aspects • the reduction as far as it is possible of obstacles in cross border travelling to promote the freedom of travel, • the improvement of sustainable transport and touristic in- frastructure, • support the idea of Baltic Sea Region States creating a common Baltic Sea Brand, based on cultural and natural heritage, to strengthen tourism competitiveness, • the improvement of travel options especially for young people (e.g. interferry). Political Recommendations 7 Regarding Sustainable Tourism, to • make sure that the consequences of tourism are sustainable and for this reason adopt models and methods to save and protect nature; • further examine the use of carbon footprints to improve the comparability and attractiveness of Tourism products and their ecological and economical effects; further improve the transparency of Tourism products as to their quality in terms of sustainability, e.g by using common labels and standards; • promote wastewater facilities at harbours in the Baltic Sea Re- gion; • improve interrailing, promote the use of alternative sources of energy and foster a sustainable multimodal split (sea, road, rail), improve the bike infrastructure including bicycle stands and Ebike charging stations at transport hubs as examples for ecological forms of tourism; • jointly task a Tourism Transport Impact Assessment Study to analyze ongoingly the output of different political actions for increasing the level of sustainability; • counteract the lack of skilled workers in the tourism sector in the Baltic Sea Region, e.g. by establishing an international winter school to increase labour skills, language and intercul- tural skills; • fully use possibilities of the circular and fair sharing economies to create new jobs in the service sectors; • foster a joint promotion of the Baltic Sea Region as a tourism destination by private and public stakeholders especially in new source markets and to foster the cooperation in the re- gion as a main key for the successful development of the Baltic Sea Region; • better use the potentials of digitalization in promoting sustain- able tourism and further support the development of the Bal- tic Sea Tourism Center into a permanent platform for infor- mation and exchange of know-how at