The 10th meeting of the European Tourism Forum, which is held in the country holding the rotating presidency of the European Union each year, took place this year in the city of Krakow, Poland, between October 5-7. Board member Levent Alanya attended the forum, which we participated in alongside Alanya Municipality, representing our association.
The opening speech of the forum was delivered by Katarzyna Sobierakska, Member of the European Parliament and Undersecretary of the Polish Ministry of Tourism and Sport. Beginning her speech by thanking all the country representatives participating in the forum, Sobierakska drew attention to cooperation between tourism countries, the issue of safe accommodation, the changing perspective in cultural tourism, and the importance of the stimulating competitiveness of the European tourism sector at the forum where the future of European tourism would be discussed. The forum meeting held on the first day at the Juliusz Slowacki Theatre was moderated by Pedro Ortun (European Union, Commissioner for Consumer Affairs and Tourism). In the first session, Kostas Andropoulos (European Commission, Head of the Unit for Cooperatives, Partnerships, CSR and Tourism Industry Support) explained the EU Perspective. In the same session, speeches were made by Flemish Government Deputy Minister Bourgeois Geert, Hungarian EU Presidency Director General for Tourism Andrea Nemes, President of the European Travel Commission Petra Hedorfer, Head of the Production, Consumption and Internal Market Department of the European Economic and Social Committee Bryan Cassidy, President of the European Hotel, Restaurant & Cafe Association Kent Nystrom, and Chair of the European Tourism Trade Association Liaison Committee Marie Kihlberg Nelving. On the second day of the forum, while Pedro Ortun (European Union, Commissioner for Consumer Affairs and Tourism) moderated the morning session on the consolidation of the knowledge base in socio-economic tourism at the Auditorium Maximum, speakers on the panel included World Tourism Organization Regional Director for Europe Cordula Wohlmuther; EUROSTAT Head of Tourism Statistics Christophe Demunter; OECD Director for Entrepreneurship, SMEs and Local Development Sergio Arzeni; President of the Italian Statistical Tourism Observatory Alfredo Zini; and Professor of Warsaw School of Economics Ewa Dziedzic. Following the speeches, when the session moved to the question-and-answer period, a question was selected as the forum's question and answered by the subject matter expert, European Commission Head of the Unit for Cooperatives, Partnerships, CSR and Tourism Industry Support Kostas Andropoulos; the question concerned the brief evaluation made by Alanya Municipality representative Münir Altıoğlu regarding the future of European tourism and the need for new opening policies in potential markets, stating that the current Lisbon strategy is insufficient and that the 80 million disabled tourists in Europe and 85 million in America could easily fill the market's open potential, and therefore, what kind of changes should be made within this framework in the concept of the future Hotel and City Tourism. The forum concluded on October 7 with a closing gala hosted by the Polish Ministry of Tourism and Sport at the Wieliczka Kopalinia Salt Mine.