Source: press office of Regione Veneto

(AVN – Regione Veneto press office), 16 July 2010
High-volume tourism does not necessarily mean environmental havoc: policies protecting the territory and its vulnerability – that is, the basic element of tourism – may be conceived and implemented even in the field of “heavy” tourism.

The Veneto region - ranking first in Italy as for tourism with over 60 million nights spent (covering over the 16% of total Italian nights spent) and 14 million arrivals (nearly the 15% of Italian total) – chose to face this challenge.

That is why the head of the regional department for tourism Mr Marino Finozzi signed a memorandum of understanding with Mr Antonio Tajani, vice-president of the European Commission and commissioner for Enterprise and Industry on 16 July 2010 in Venice. Thanks to this document, the Veneto becomes the pilot region for European policies concerning sustainable tourism.

“Promoting the development of sustainable, responsible and quality-oriented tourism” is one of the main actions proposed in a recent communication concerning the new political framework for European tourism by the European Commission.

Mr Tajani went on to explain that: «Sustainable tourism involves various aspects: responsible management of natural resources, considering the environmental impact of activities performed (waste generation, pressures on water, soil and biodiversity, etc.), the usage of clean energies, the protection of cultural heritage and of natural and cultural resources in tourist destinations, the quality and duration of generated employment and effects on local economies and the quality of accommodation facilities».

Mr Finozzi underlined that: «Among the projects in the Veneto region, most of those already started and those being planned are in line with European tourism policies.
The Veneto region has been participating to NECSTouR, the European network for sustainable and competitive tourism, since 2009.
Moreover, the region participated in the project “ERNEST - European Research NEtwork on Sustainable Tourism” in March 2010 and arranged a plan for sustainable and competitive tourism which served the purpose of motivating local institutions and tourist facilities to acquire environmental accreditation such as Emas and Ecolabel.

The preliminary processing of the applications received has been recently completed, with outstanding results».

Mr Tajani concluded: «The Veneto region is the first region in Europe committed to complying with European policies in this field. I’m proud that the pilot region experimenting our guidelines is an Italian region».

English translation by trevisosystem.com