For the purpose of better reflecting the common features of campsite services and tourist accommodation services and in order to achieve synergies from a joint approach for these product groups and to ensure maximum efficiency in the administration of the criteria, it is considered appropriate to merge both product groups into one product group named ‘tourist accommodation’.

95. Supports the development of a diversified tourism offer including thematic tourist parks and routes, and cultural, rural, health, medical, nautical, enogastronomic, conference and sport tourism, including cycling, golf, diving, hiking, skiing, mountaineering and outdoor sports, in order to promote tourism throughout the year and to improve the competitiveness of tourist destinations, based on sustainability; supports the development of rural tourism in order to reduce the pressure on major tourism centres and the narrow coastal area and to help overcome seasonality; supports the expansion of tourist activities towards the hinterlan ...[+++]d with the creation of integrated tourism products which include the main attractions of the macro-region and those of its capitals;

9. Highlights the need to diversify the portfolio of tourism services in Europe, and emphasises seasonal adjustment as a determinant of the competitiveness of the European tourism sector; calls for enhanced cooperation between Member States when promoting the EU as a tourism destination, but also underlines the role of local authorities; calls for a European communication strategy and a campaign in the EU and worldwide to keep Europe the world’s No 1 tourist destination, based on its rich natural, cultural, historical and ethnic heritage; takes the view that red tape and the administrative burden for services in the tourism sector sho ...[+++]uld be reduced both for customers and companies, acknowledging that high quality comes at a price;

13. Considers it advisable, while respecting the EU's rights and duty to control entry across its own borders, for the European institutions and the Member States to develop, in the context of the common visa policy, a long-term strategy for more coordinated and simplified visa procedures, with consideration given to establishing common consular desks/centres at EU level to ensure that visa procedures are implemented on time and bureaucratic costs reduced; to this end, further to the creation of the European External Action Service (EEAS), calls on the Commission to consider the possibility of deploying the EU delegation offices in the world in order ...[+++] to issue tourist visas in collaboration with the national embassies of the Member States and to explore additional ways of simplifying the issue of tourist visas, such as ‘group tourist visas’ for organised groups and easier access for business travellers;

45. Takes the view that rural tourism and agritourism should be properly supported, being sectors that improve the quality of life, bring economic and income-source diversity to rural areas, create jobs in these regions, keep people there and thus prevent depopulation and establish a direct link with the promotion of traditional, ecological and natural food products; observes, in this respect, the importance of ensuring full access to the transport network and to the Internet and IT infrastructure in these areas; believes that this will help to achieve the objective of promoting new forms of tourism, extending the ...[+++]tourist seasons and redistributing tourism activities between areas of high tourism concentration and areas with strong but insufficiently exploited tourism potential;

13.Considers it advisable, while respecting the EU’s rights and duty to control entry across its own borders, for the European institutions and the Member States to develop, in the context of the common visa policy, a long-term strategy for more coordinated and simplified visa procedures, with consideration given to establishing common consular desks/centres at EU level to ensure that visa procedures are implemented on time and bureaucratic costs reduced; to this end, further to the creation of the European External Action Service (EEAS), calls on the Commission to consider the possibility of deploying the EU delegation offices in the world in order ...[+++] to issue tourist visas in collaboration with the national embassies of the Member States and to explore additional ways of simplifying the issue of tourist visas, such as ‘group tourist visas’ for organised groups and easier access for business travellers;