Study in support of policy measures for maritime and coastal tourism at EU level Specific contract under FWC MARE/2012/06 - SC D1/2013/01-SI2.648530 Final Report Client: DG Maritime Affairs & Fisheries Rotterdam/Brussels, 15 September 2013 Study in support of policy measures for maritime and coastal tourism at EU level Specific contract under FWC MARE/2012/06 - SC D1/2013/01-SI2.648530 Final Report Client: DG Maritime Affairs & Fisheries Rotterdam/Brussels, 15 September 2013 About Ecorys and Consortium partners Consortium Lead Partner: ECORYS Nederland BV Watermanweg 44 3067 GG Rotterdam P.O. Box 4175 3006 AD Rotterdam The Netherlands T +31 (0)10 453 88 00 F +31 (0)10 453 07 68 E [email protected] Registration no. 24316726 W www.ecorys.nl Study in support of policy measures for maritime and coastal tourism at EU level 2 Table of contents Executive summary 5 1 Introduction and policy context 11 1.1 Background & objective 11 1.2 Definition of the sector 12 1.3 Four models of maritime and coastal tourism 13 2 State of play: Importance of Coastal & Maritime Tourism 19 2.1 Value chain of tourism 19 2.2 Overall size of the sector & industry structure 20 2.3 Sea-basin perspective 29 2.4 Conclusions 31 3 EU-level Problem Analysis 33 3.1 Volatility of demand through years and seasons poses economic challenges 33 3.2 Response capacity is limited: a fragmented and uncoordinated sector 42 3.3 Enduring problems in accessibility and visibility 50 3.4 Current business models are posing growing environmental and social concerns 57 3.5 A structural lack of skills is limiting innovation and access to resources 65 3.6 Some good practices are emerging but are still rather isolated 69 3.7 Review of the regulatory framework 72 3.8 Looking ahead 81 3.9 EU right to act and EU added value 83 4 Objectives, Priority Axes and Policy Packages 87 4.1 Towards general objectives 87 4.2 Priority Axis I: Enhance competitiveness 89 4.2.1 Overview of problems and policy actions 89 4.2.2 Elaboration of selected policy actions 89 4.3 Priority Axis II: Address seasonality and accessibility 93 4.3.1 Overview of problems and policy actions 93 4.3.2 Elaboration of selected policy actions 93 4.4 Priority Axis III: Strengthen sustainability 94 4.4.1 Overview of problems and policy actions 94 4.4.2 Elaboration of selected policy actions 95 4.5 Priority Axis IV: Promote skills, innovation and access to resources 97 4.5.1 Overview of problems and policy actions 97 4.5.2 Elaboration of selected policy actions 97 4.6 Development of Policy Packages 99 4.6.1 Policy package A: Knowledge building and increased visibility 99 4.6.2 Policy package B: Mainstreaming and networking 100 4.6.3 Policy package C: Regulatory measures 100 5 Impact Assessment 105 5.1 Inventory of relevant economic, social and environmental impacts 105 5.2 Assessment of impacts by measure 106 Study in support of policy measures for maritime and coastal tourism at EU level 3 5.3 Substantiation of impacts by policy package 110 5.3.1 Impacts of policy package A 110 5.3.2 Impacts of policy package B 110 5.3.3 Impacts of policy package D 119 5.3.4 Assessment of specific impacts at the level of policy packages 120 5.4 Comparing the Policy packages (Effectiveness, Efficiency, Coherence) 122 6 Conclusions and monitoring arrangements 125 6.1 Conclusions 125 6.2 Monitoring and evaluation arrangements 126 7 Bibliography 131 Annex I Other findings, methodology and sources 133 Annex II Assumptions 147 Annex III Expected developments for (maritime and coastal) tourism 151 Study in support of policy measures for maritime and coastal tourism at EU level 4 Executive summary The general purpose of this study is to support the preparation of policy measures for maritime and coastal tourism at EU level. Specific purposes of the study are: A. To develop a precise definition of maritime and coastal tourism. B. To identify, verify and substantiate the problems. C. To analyse the existing regulatory framework. D. To complement and complete – where possible- data gaps that are important in light of the development of policy packages. E. To suggest policy objectives and support the operationalisation of policy actions. F. To analyse economic, social and environmental impacts. G. Provide policy recommendations. H. Outline possible monitoring and evaluation arrangements. Below the main findings of the report are presented. A. How to define maritime and coastal tourism as an economic activity? Tourism as such is usually not defined as an economic sector in statistics. Rather, use is made of different services sectors identified under the NACE code system such as hotels and accommodation, restaurants, transport services, tour operators, etc. We define maritime and coastal tourism as follows: • Maritime tourism covers tourism that is largely water-based rather than land-based (e.g. boating, yachting, cruising, nautical sports), but includes the operation of landside facilities, manufacturing of equipment, and services necessary for this segment of tourism. • Coastal tourism covers beach-based recreation and tourism (e.g. swimming, surfing, sun bathing), and non-beach related land-based tourism in the coastal area (all other tourism and recreation activities that take place in the coastal area for which the proximity of the sea is a condition), as well as the supplies and manufacturing industries associated to these activities. As much as possible we aim to follow the Eurostat delineation - NUTS-3 regions as the level of analysis. B. Identify, verify and substantiate the problems The general problems emerging from the analysis so far can be summarised as follows: • Whilst coastal and maritime tourism are vital economic activities for a wide range of coastal regions in the EU, its performance – and particularly that of the coastal tourism segment – is under increasing pressure: if we consider the available official statistics the average expenditure by night has been decreasing over time, and so has been the average length of stay. It is expected that this trend will continue, and possibly even become stronger once competing destinations outside the EU gain or regain competitiveness. • The business model of ‘(sun-and-beach) mass-tourism’1 appears to be increasingly problematic and less sustainable, as the EU’s competitiveness in this segment is challenged: it creates volatility as the business model is constantly replicated in low-cost countries outside the EU. Therefore, mass-tourism as a business model limits potential for adding value, and to capture 1 A model based on relatively standard sun, sand and sea leisure products and based on seasonal visits, often marketed as ‘low-cost tourism’ and developing an economy dependent on international tour operators and a small number of tourist- generating countries – therefore based on limited competition. (http://travel4.org/the-analysis-of-tourist-demand-as-a- criteria-in-destination-e1387.pdf; http://www.eib.org/attachments/general/events/11th_femip_sahli_tunisia_en.pdf). Study in support of policy measures for maritime and coastal tourism at EU level 5 this value at the level of coastal communities. This model also creates extensive environmental burdens, including congestion, nature conservation, and problems in processing solid waste and water. • Whilst cruise tourism follows a more successful trajectory in terms of economic performance, coastal regions (including cruise destinations themselves as well as their surrounding regions) struggle to create and capture economic benefits, whilst pressures to invest in port infrastructure go up. • Finally, although good practices has emerged in the past decades, mainstream business models in maritime and coastal tourism still seem to pose increasingly unsustainable challenges – although to different extents – due to persisting negative externalities in relation to social and environmental consequences for local communities, skills and qualifications of workers, consumption and exploitation of local natural resources. Many of the above general problems are driven by specific problems that have been addressed in this chapter: a) Volatility of demand through years and seasons poses sustainability challenges; b) Response capacity is limited by a fragmented and uncoordinated sector; c) Enduring problems in sustainability and visibility; d) Environmental issues challenging the development potentials; e) A structural lack of skills is limiting innovation and access to resources. Although a number of the above problems apply to tourism overall, there is clear evidence that a number of aspects (e.g. the mass tourism business model and the volatility of demand, but also the limited value created locally) apply more so to maritime and coastal tourism. These problems are expected to be structural in nature, and likely to continue or sharpen in the future. C. Analyse the existing regulatory framework Maritime and coastal tourism is essentially a cross-cutting theme and because the inclusion of tourism as EU competence is relatively recent, there is no specific regulatory framework for it. We have examined a number of regulations related to small-scale commercial navigation/recreational boating, the cruise sector, cross-cutting issues and competitiveness, and environment/spatial planning issues. The review concludes that a range of issues are covered by international organisations (e.g. UNECE, IMO) and existing regulations at EU level already (e.g. Visa regime, Bathing Waters Directive, Water Framework Directive, Port Reception Facilities Directive, Marine Strategy Framework Directive, ICZM and several others). Under the ICZM protocol, binding to Mediterranean states, tourism policy must be part of the ICZM strategies. No need for additional EU regulation has been encountered, while the review of the regulatory framework has not led to clear conclusions regarding areas for burden reduction or where scope exists for simplification. D. Complement and complete – where possible- data gaps that are important in light of the development of policy packages The measurement of maritime and coastal tourism is seriously hampered by the available data.