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208 European Travel Commission
relativism, a non-condemnatory assessment of
other societies, is a hallmark of ethnology not
accepted by all tourists. However, many museum
and `living history' exhibits that draw tourists are
based upon ethnology.
ROLAND S. MOORE, USA
European Travel Commission
The European Travel Commission �ETC) is
composed of twenty-six member national organisations.
One of its major activities is to conduct joint
all-Europe promotional activities �see advertising).
It is also involved in governmental tourism
statistics and national and international tourism
research. Its headquarters is located in Brussels,
Belgium.
European Union
ORHAN ICOZ, TURKEY
Founded in 1957 with the signing of the Treaty of
Rome by six European nations �Belgium, France,
Germany, Italy, Luxembourg and the Netherlands),
the European Economic Community
�EEC) was subsequently enlarged in 1973 to
include Denmark, Ireland and the United
Kingdom; 1981 saw the admission of Greece,
1986 the admission of Portugal and Spain, and
1995 the admission of Austria, Finland and
Sweden). The Treaty of the European Union,
signed in Maastricht �Netherlands) in 1992,
changed the name to European Union and
established its new goals of monetary and
economic union and strengthened intergovernmental
cooperation.
At present, government policy making and
implementation in the European Union is exerted
by five institutions: the European Parliament,
elected by voters in all member countries, but with
no legislatory powers; the Council, representing
member states; the Commission, holding executive
and legislatory powers; the Court of Justice; and
the Court of Audit, in charge of financial control.
In addition there are several consultative bodies,
representing social, economic or regional interests.
The Union makes use of several policy-setting
legislative instruments; some are of a compulsory
character such as the Reglaments, Directives and
Decisions, while others constitute voluntary frameworks,
such as the Recommendations and Communications.
All these instruments may be strictly
normative or of an operative nature �action plans,
operative programmes and so on).
Although the Treaty of Maastricht mentions
tourism for the first time in the acquis communautaire,
recognising that tourism should be a matter for
European Union action �article 3), the Commission
has failed to approve its inclusion as an area of
direct concern for European Policy. Thus, tourism
policy initiatives can be enacted by the European
Union only in a subsidiary way, when the
individual policies of member states are insufficient
to achieve the commonly intended objectives. This
situation is in striking contrast to the importance of
tourism in Europe as recognised by the Commission
itself: `tourism represents on average a 5.5% of
the Union GDP, and more than doubles that figure
in some member States . . . '. With regard to
employment, `It is estimated that 9 million people
work in tourism in the Union . . . and that direct
employment in tourism constitutes 6% of total
employment.' �Commission of the European Union
1995: 5, 7).
Taking the figures for the whole of Europe,
tourist arrivals from abroad totalled 360 million
in 1997 �58 per cent of the world figure).
International tourist nights in hotels and similar
establishments were 627 million �also 58.8 of the
world's total) and in other establishments 1,454
million �49.9 of the world's figure). The number of
trips abroad was 330 million in 1996, equivalent to
63.7 per cent of the world's total of 518 million.
International tourism receipts, excluding international
transport, were 218 billion $US in 1997,
or 49.2 per cent of the world's total receipts.
However positive these figures appear to be,
amounting in most cases to 50 per cent or more
of the world tourism market, they have been
declining rather steadily, at a rate close to 0.5 per
cent of world market share per year. Of course this
decline is due to rapid growth elsewhere, most
notably in the Asia-Pacific region, but it is nevertheless
a worrying trend for one of the largest
industries in Europe.