Acting Minister of Industry, Commerce and Tourism, Reyes Maroto met today with the Croatian Minister of Tourism, Gari Cappelli, who has proposed to ask the Commission to change the denomination of the Transport portfolio by choosing “Transport and Tourism ”and a General Directorate of Tourism is created within the European Commission.
Croatia will preside over the Council of the European Union from January 1, 2020, so Maroto has proposed to Cappelli to bet firmly on introducing tourism between the priorities of the next semester, and in this regard has raised the possibility of creating a general management that deals with tourism in a transversal way and establishes a common strategy, trying to reinforce the growth of a sector that represents 10.3% of the GDP of the EU and 11.7% of employment.
In the bilateral meeting -which has taken place in the Turespaña area within the London World Travel Market London Fair-, the Spanish minister has transferred to her Croatian counterpart the need to carry out an evaluation of the operation and application of the Directive 2015 / 2302 on Combined Travel and Related Services, especially after the bankruptcy of global tour operator Thomas Cook.
They have also addressed the possibility of regulating platforms and the digital economy in the tourism sector at European level. Cappelli has expressed his intention to launch an initiative in this regard, which will be supported by Spain.
Finally, they have discussed the possibility of the Commission establishing its own budget line -aligned with the resolution recently approved by the full European Parliament- to minimize the consequences of possible crisis situations, especially in relation to the maintenance of employment in the sector.