MEMORIA CEHAT 2016-2017

CEHAT FIRMA INVITADA
CHALLENGES OF HOSPITALITY
main topics at this year’s tourism conference
of the OECD in Paris as well as at the high level
tourism conference of the European Parliament
in Brussels in September.
HOTREC highly appreciates all those initiatives
and the strong focus on tourism but also demands
that governments should even more analyze the
policy implications of megatrends for tourism
and should regularly examine effective policy
approaches to enhance the best possible quality
for a competitive tourism development. It is
of utmost importance that governments work
closely together with the industry keeping a
permanent dialog between public and privat to
guarantee a sustainable tourism growth for all
stakeholders involved.
Mr. President. Dear friends and colleagues of
CEHAT,
A competitive taxation system in tourism,
a fair level playing field, understanding the
key role of training to create jobs, a labor law
with flexible working time arrangements,
support for SMEs in all questions about energy
efficiency, diversification to make sure tourism
is prospering in all destination, the stimulation of
innovative investments and the need for quality
infrastructure are only a few of the areas the
governments have to focus on.
CEHAT IS A
LONGSTANDING
MEMBER OF
HOTREC ANDVERY
MUCH ENGAGED
AND INTENSIVELY
CONTRIBUTING
TO HOTREC’S ACTIVITIES
AND INITIATIVES
Today tourism is one of the largest and fastest
growing sectors of the European economy and
it is expected, that it will continue to grow. With
an average of 4% growth per year in terms of
international tourist arrivals, and even reaching
6% for the 6 first months of 2017 according to
UNWTO, tourism is indeed at the heart of the EU
economy.
Tourism plays a key role in job creation, export
revenue and domestic value added. But tourism
faces also a lot of challenges. Overtourism in
some destinations, safety and security as one of
the highest priorities, shortage of skilled labor,
digitalization and technological transformation
changing the hospitality distribution landscape
and the way we will provide service in our hotels
and restaurants, are only a few of those challenges
we will have to deal with today and tomorrow.
The need of a sustainable and healthy growth for
a competitive European tourism was one of the
HOTREC is the umbrella association of all European
Hotel and Restaurant Associations in Brussels. Its
main aim is to defend our interests towards the
EU institutions and to call attention to the needs
of the hospitality sector, but also being the best
platform for the European Hospitality Industry to
exchange know how and best practice as well as
to discuss future developments and megatrends
having any impact on our sector. HOTREC works
on main topics like a fair level playing field on
all aspects of the collaborative economy, fair
practices within the digital distribution, topics
covered by the umbrella of the European pillar
of social rights and of course HOTREC is the
umbrella for the European classification system,
the Hotel Stars Union.
CEHAT is a longstanding member of HOTREC and
very much engaged and intensively contributing
to HOTREC’s activities and initiatives. CEHAT is
specifically supporting HOTREC’s short term rental
activities to fight for a fair level playing field.
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