To assess the participation of various socio-demographic groups in tourism and to monitor the Union programmes in the area of social tourism, the Commission needs regular data on participation in tourism and on the tourism behaviour of those groups.

Tourism Number of applications to funding Percentage of SMEs (and trend) in applications for tourism-related funding opportunities Number of entities adopting European Tourism Quality Label Number of destinations adopting the sustainable tourism development models promoted by the European Destinations of Excellence || Number of applications to funding (to all calls for proposals) in total: around 75 per year (average for 2011) Up to date, no calls for proposals were directly addressed to SMEs Up to date no entity adopting European Tourism Quality Label (action in elaboration) Number of European Destinations of Excellence awarded in total 98 (on average 20 per year – in 2007-10, ...[+++]in 2008-20, in 2009-22, in 2010-25, in 2011-21) || Number of applications to funding (to all calls for proposals) in total: more than 100 per year 30% of calls for proposals directly addressed to SMEs Coverage of 50% of the evaluation schemes eligible to participate in the European Tourism Quality Label 200 and more destinations adopting the sustainable tourism development models promoted by the European Destinations of Excellence (up to 30 per year).

This may include the full range of heritage: cultural heritage (including cultural itineraries), contemporary culture, protected natural sites, health and wellbeing (including spa tourism), educational, wine and food, historical, sport or religious tourism, agri-tourism, rural tourism, or tourism capitalising on the maritime and sub-aquatic cultural heritage, industrial heritage or the economic fabric of a region.

5. Therefore calls on the Member States and on local and regional authorities to render themselves more attractive by developing cultural tourism and to take account of the emergence of new forms of tourism – such as rural tourism, agritourism, wine- and gastronomy-related tourism, spiritual and historical tourism, recreational tourism and foreign-language learning holidays – and to adapt to the needs of new types of clientele whilst stressing the importance of encouraging European tourism throughout the year;

45. Supports actions to promote Europe as a destination at world level by means of a European Tourism Portal accessible to European tourists and those from the main non-European tourist source countries; urges the Commission, the European Tourism Committee (ETC) and the project’s other partners to promote the putting online of general information (the practical guide ‘Travelling in Europe’) and data on common tourism resources and subjects (gastronomy, hill walking, island tourism, health cures, church/cultural tourism, conference and business tourism, etc.); proposes likewise that access to national portals from the European portal be ...[+++] facilitated by means of a harmonised thematic link page;

G. whereas there is no specific legal basis for tourism policy in the Treaty of Amsterdam; whereas such a situation does not encourage the development of a sufficiently comprehensive and coherent view of tourism amongst the Member States nor, therefore, the full exploitation of tourism's potential as a source of employment; whereas, however, initiatives closely linked to the promotion of rural, environmental, cultural, conference-based, spa-related and sports-related tourism, and also tourism focusing on senior citizens, research and training, can be promoted under the aegis of the European Union's regional policies,