16 April 2024: ERA met other nine associations form the European travel and tourism sectors in Rhodes, Greece on 8-9 April to discuss on how to promote tourism and reach its goals on sustainability. Among the attendees, the Greek Prime Minister, Minister of Tourism and Governor of the South Aegean Region gave a welcome speech emphasising the role of tourism in the Greek economy, despite the environmental challenges having more and more of an impact.

Indeed, climate change is a reality nowadays affecting all tourism destinations in Europe. It creates a disruption to traditional business models, changing travellers’ habits and choices and significantly complicating investment decisions and destination management efforts.

The forum proceeded with some debates on how to mitigate the consequences of climate change on tourism, what are the challenges and opportunities faced by tourism on sustainability, and what should the European tourism sector ask for in view of the forthcoming elections.

At the end of the forum, the associations signed a joint declaration [1] promising decisive action towards more sustainable travel and tourism. This declaration will serve as a roadmap to foster collaboration as today and reach for environmental objectives especially as the industry is committing to prioritise decarbonisation and enhance collaboration with policymakers.