Rhodes Forum: Travel and Tourism Commit to Achieving Sustainability Goals

Europe’s travel and tourism professionals at the “EU Tourism: Resilience in the Era of the Climate Crisis” forum. Photo source: ECTAA

Europe’s travel and tourism stakeholders gathered on Rhodes this week for the “EU Tourism: Resilience in the Era of the Climate Crisis” forum committed to working together towards achieving stainability goals.

In this direction, sector representatives from Airports Council International Europe (ACI Europe), Airlines for Europe (A4E), Cruise Lines International Association (CLIA), European Travel Agents’ and Tour Operators’ Association (ECTAA), HOTREC, the European Exhibition Industry Alliance (EEIA), European Regions Airline Association (ERA), the IAAPA, IRU, and Ruraltour signed a declaration pledging decisive action towards more sustainable travel and tourism.

Europe’s travel and tourism professionals on Rhodes. Photo source: ECTAA

The joint declaration will serve as a roadmap to foster collaboration and help “propel the travel and tourism industry towards a more resilient and sustainable future, while advocating for policy support at the European level.”

“With the EU elections just around the corner, we call on decision-makers to keep travel and tourism high on the political agenda and create dedicated budget lines for sustainable tourism initiatives,” the associations said.

Europe’s travel and tourism sector pledged:

– actions towards decarbonization;
– raising awareness and responsibility by sharing best practices and providing expertise to advance decarbonization efforts;
– supporting small and medium-sized enterprises in adapting to climate challenges and accessing funding opportunities;
– supporting initiatives to upskill and reskill the workforce;
– and organizing regular meetings to assess progress and strengthen collaboration among stakeholders.

Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis, who spoke during the forum, said the declaration is important in that it “brings together so many associations and representatives of the tourism industry to highlight what indeed is the most critical issue that tourism is facing today.”

The forum on Rhodes was organized by HOTREC with the support of the South Aegean Region and included the participation of the country’s travel and tourism bodies.