OECD TOURISM TRENDS

AND POLICIES 2018

Released 8 March 2018 - ITB Berlin

www.oecd.org/cfe/tourism/

Follow us on Twitter @OECD_LOCAL #OECDTourism

Tourism – a driver of economic growth

On average in the OECD, tourism directly contributes:

4.2%of GDP

6.9% of employment

21.7% of services exports

Direct contribution of tourism in OECD-G20 economies

OECD average 6.9 %

OECD average 4.2 %

Recent trends – international arrivals

Public Affairs and Communications Directorate

1.2 billion

Global international tourist arrivals in 2016

+3.9%arrivals

55% of global arrivals

WORLD

OECD Countries

Recent trends point to continued growth, with OECD countries playing a prominent role in the global tourism economy.

Recent trends – international travel receipts

USD Billion

OECD countries

account for

60% of global receipts

Relative importance of domestic and inbound tourism varies by country

Sound and integrated policies are essential

Tourism policy priorities focus on improving competitiveness, addressing seasonality of demand, and enhancing the quality and appeal of the offer.

Recognise the value of strong dialogue between government, industry, and civil society in the development, implementation and monitoring phases.

Require long-term strategies that consider trade-offs and synergies with related policy areas, and clearly identify the roles, functions, and interactions of key stakeholders.

Tourism policies, strategies and plans

Italy, the Italian National Strategic Plan for Tourism for 2017–2022.

Japan, the Japan Revitalization Strategy 2016 identifies tourism as one of ten key pillars.

Mexico, the National Development Plan 2013-2018 recognises the importance of tourism for job creation and heritage conservation.

Switzerland tourism plays a key role in the New Regional Policy.

Hungary, four priority tourism areas have been nominated.

Mexico, Zones for Sustainable Tourism Development.

Slovenia, the country has been divided into four macro-destinations for the development of tourism.

Sweden, five destinations participated in the Sustainable Destination Development Initiative.

Regional and local destination plans

National tourism plans

Development and marketing of distinctive products and destinations

Actions to develop and market distinctive products and destinations include examples of regional and thematic branding.

Many countries have established new offers and experiencesbased on natural and cultural assets, for year-round growth through the promotion of health and wellness tourism, business tourism, events and various niche products.

Tourism policies recognise the increasingly important role of digitalisation in creative and targeted communication and in the handling and analysis of data.

Country examples – marketing and development

Ireland

Fáilte Ireland developed the Wild Atlantic Way in 2014 as a new experience, presenting the West Coast of Ireland as a compelling international tourism product of scale and singularity.

Poland

The House of Polish Tourism brands will be a system which coordinates tourism policies by creating systematic and comprehensive solutions for the commercialisation and internationalisation of Polish tourism products.

Netherlands

The “HollandCity” branding and marketing strategy, is a recent example of a collaborative approach based on an offer made up of a number of small key cities.

A focus on digitalisation

Australia, 360◦ virtual campaign

Bulgaria, Integrated Tourist Information System

Croatia, eVisitor central platform for tourism data management

France, “Data Tourism” project

Spain, Smart Destinations Project

Several countries have specific plans and programmes on digitalisation in the tourism sector, including Austria, Bulgaria, Croatia, Denmark, Italy, Korea, Mexico, Russia, Spain, Switzerland, Turkey.

Supporting a competitive, sustainable and inclusive tourism industry

Action has been taken to improve connectivity and reduce barriers to travel, while also addressing growing concerns about security.

Supply-side policies to improve competitiveness include investment promotion and the simplification of business regulations.

The need to address labour and skills shortages in the sector is recognised as a key issue.

Other priorities include the promotion of environmentally sustainable and socially inclusive tourism growth.

Australia

Australia has progressed reforms to streamline visitor visa processing in key source markets. These include: trialling a 10 year multiple entry visitor visa for eligible Chinese nationals.

Country examples – supporting competitiveness

Active programmes to

secure new routes, such as

Australia, Brazil, Greece,

Iceland, Israel and Malta.

Austria, Italy and Slovenia

have been pursuing

mobility projects based on

walking, cycling and the use

of public transport.

Strengthening business performance, regulation, quality and investment

New quality service schemes have been introduced in the Czech Republic, Slovakia and Luxembourg.

France is taking action to modernise its Qualité Tourisme label.

REGULATORY FRAMEWORK

Greece, new framework for tourism legislation.

Japan, regulating private lodgings.

Malta, revisiting regulatory framework to react and adapt to a rapidly changing sector.

Slovakia, study of regulatory impacts on tourism businesses, especially SMEs, leading to actions to reduce them.

Korea, Tour Card and Tax Refund Automated System.

Latvia, reduced VAT on accommodation

Investment opportunities to support green innovation in tourism

ENERGY-EFFICIENT TRANSITION

improving the accommodation sector

WASTE MANAGEMENTincreasing resource

efficiency.

BIODIVERSITYmaintaining ecosystems

CULTURAL HERITAGE

offering opportunities for continuation of traditions

WATER MANAGEMENT

improving water efficiency per guest

Challenges to greater investment and financing for sustainable tourism

Investment maturity mismatch, transaction costs, and lack of necessary collateral for financing small tourism projects.

Financing institutions fail in the assessment of the environmental risk.

Lack of data on green investments. Frameworks could serve as a useful benchmark to measure sustainable consumption and production.

No sectoral breakdown for tourism.

Firms fail to account for the impact of their actions on the environment.

Policy should encourage and incentivisebusinesses to incorporate environmental and social impacts into their investment decisions.

Negative externalities are not being adequately considered, with sometimes too much environmentally negative investment.

Issues include : fragmented climate policies and presence of weak governance.

LACK OF SUITABLE FINANCE

INSTRUMENTS

INSUFFICIENT DATA AND MEASUREMENT

LIMITED INCENTIVES FOR SUSTAINABLE

PRACTICES

INADEQUATE CO-ORDINATION

ACROSS GOVERNMENT

Creating a coherent and sustainability-friendly tourism investment environment

In Chile, the Foco Destino or ‘Target Destinations’

initiative intends to build capacity of local managers in

order to boost selected tourism destinations and

increase their competitiveness and

sustainability.

In Sweden, an initiative by the Swedish Agency for

Economic and Regional Growth boosts sustainable

consumption and production with a co-ordinated approach

driving actions tailored to the needs of participating destinations and regions.

The Australian Trade and Investment

Commission (Austrade) offers advice and

facilitation services to international and domestic tourism

investors, including a streamlined regulatory

process.

Policies to address the sustainable tourism investment gap

Incorporate sustainability criteria into public financing and investment supports, and encourage uptake of green financing for tourism projects.

RESPONSIBLE BUSINESS

PRACTICES

GREEN FINANCE

DATA

CO-ORDINATION

Improve data and analysis on green finance and investment in sustainable tourism development.

Build capacity and better co-ordinate actions across different levels of government and policy areas.

Incentivise private investment in resource efficient infrastructure, and encourage more responsible business practices.

Key megatrends impacting tourism to 2040

WHAT ARE MEGATRENDS?

large in scale and long-termin nature

unfold slowly and follow relatively stable trajectories

meaningful changes impacting social, economic, political, environmental and technological issues

KEY MEGATRENDS IDENTIFIED

Evolving Visitor Demand

Sustainable Tourism Growth

Enabling Technologies

Travel Mobility

Megatrends shaping the future of tourism

Megatrends

• Modernising regulatory and legislative frameworks

• Cultivating partnerships with industry, other governments and key stakeholders

• Taking steps to future-proof tourism policyIMPLICATIONS

Global middle classAgeing populationsEmerging generations

EmissionsWater resourcesFood ProductionWell being

Growth of passengersSecurityNatural disasters and political instability

DigitalisationAutomation BlockchainVirtual and augmented reality

Policy responses - preparing for megatrends

Promoting a culture of improvement and future-oriented thinking

Monitoring megatrends and long-term scenario planning exercises

Modernising regulatory

frameworks

Engage stakeholders in the development and regular review of regulatory frameworks

Cultivating partnerships with

key stakeholders

The impacts of megatrends and the process of policymaking are more crosscutting than ever before

Taking steps to future-proof

tourism policy

OECD Tourism Trends and Policies 2018

OECD Tourism Trends and Policies 2018 focuses on key policy and governance reforms in tourism and provides a global perspective with the inclusion of 49 OECD and partner countries.

• This publication is undertaken in partnership with the European Commission

• Data available on OECD.Stat

• The 2018 publication is now available on the OECD iLibrary

• For more information:

www.oecd.org/cfe/tourism/

Peter.Haxton@oecd.org