Enterprise Commissioner Erkki Liikanen told tourism ministers at their informal meeting in Bruges on 1 July the very first day of Belgium's EU presidency - that developing tourism in Europe should be more than the simple addition of national efforts. He emphasised that the sector should be presented at the Spring 2002 European Summit in Barcelona as an important economic activity that contributes to Europe's sustainable development.
The 'Tourism for All' conference, which was attended by ministers from EU candidate countries, provided an opportunity to consider recommendations from five working groups. Since early 2000, these had studied various priority areas to boost the industry: information exchange, training, quality, sustainable development and information and communications technology.
Support emerged for greater harmonisation of statistics and for the development of such citizen friendly actions as uniform signposting of entrances and exits for disabled visitors. Although it was acknowledged that financial constraints prevent a sizable part of Europe's population from reaping the benefits of tourism, there was a strong feeling that being able to participate in these activities should be 'as much a right as a privilege
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