Recovery for the European tourism sector
May 2021
As Europe slowly begins emerging from the Covid-19 crisis and lockdowns are eased, recovery of the tourism sector is top of the agenda. For lessors supporting these businesses, and automotive rental firms within the sector, how this recovery progresses will have a significant impact on their business in 2021 and beyond.
Tourism sector bands together
In no uncertain terms, tourism, together with retail and hospitality, have been the sectors hardest hit by the spread of the Covid-19 pandemic and subsequent national lockdowns over the last year. The European Tourism Manifesto is an alliance of over 60 travel and tourism organisations, including Leaseurope, that works on concrete investment proposals for recovery.
The Alliance has published a Call for Action paper which urges resetting travel in Europe and rebuilding the tourism sector in a manner that is sustainable, inclusive, resilient and innovative. A non-exhaustive list of reforms and investment ideas are included to drive digital and green transitions for travel & tourism and the broader EU economy. These include measures of particular importance for the leasing and rental industry, such as adaptation of the existing legal framework to facilitate cross border automotive travel and the promotion of future-proof clean technologies to accelerate the use of sustainable, accessible, and smart transport.
In order to reach out to the general public and create broader awareness of the issues and possible solutions, the European Tourism Manifesto created a #Tourism4Recovery campaign on social media. Leaseurope took part in this campaign, sharing key messages on social media and underlining our call for support measures for the car rental sector.
European Commission plans for car rental sector
As car rental is a key sector within the tourism ecosystem, Leaseurope has been engaging with the European Commission on their tourism recovery plans. We have been discussing the need for financial intervention for car rental with the Cabinet of European Commissioner Breton since the start of the crisis. This includes providing the Commissioner with relevant market figures and briefing him regarding the situation on the ground for our car rental members.
The European Commission published a new Industrial Strategy this month which includes references to the car rental sector, mentioning the need for ‘short term car rental’ to potentially benefit from funding for clean vehicle fleets. In the strategy, the Commission recognises that barriers to a single market for tourism services across Europe remain, in particular regarding car rental sectors. In order to address this, the Commission plans the creation of green and digital transition pathways for relevant ecosystems, starting with tourism and energy intensive industries as of Q2 2021.
European Parliament encourages common practices across Europe
Members of the European Parliament equally took a stance on tourism recovery, recently adopting a resolution on an EU strategy for sustainable tourism which urges EU countries to include the tourism and travel sectors in their recovery plans and to consider temporarily reducing VAT on these services. The European Parliament is calling on member states to fully implement common criteria for safe travel without delay, including an EU Health and Safety protocol for testing before departure, and establish that quarantine requirements should be applied only as a last resort. They support the idea of a common vaccination certificate to facilitate travel and act as an alternative to PCR tests and quarantine requirements, with the new certificate following privacy and data protection rules. The resolution also urges the Commission to introduce an EU hygiene certification seal, which could certify minimum COVID-19 virus prevention and control standards for businesses.
The European Tourism Manifesto has welcomed the Parliament’s proposals and called for a concrete EU roadmap for loosening and lifting current travel restrictions.