Improving the profile of the European tourist destinations through the European tourism indicators system

Abstract

Within the most recent European Policy for Tourism, the competitiveness of the European tourism industry is directly linked to the image of Europe and to its perception, as a collection of sustainable and high-quality tourist destinations. In such context, improving the profile of the European tourist destinations has become a main target. During the last years, the European Commission focused on the sustainable development of tourist destinations. Several projects were developed, the most recent one introducing a practical tool - the European Tourism Indicators System (ETIS) for the sustainable development of destinations. The present paper advances the idea that such tool can be successfully used in order to achieve the goal of improving the profile of the European tourist destinations.