The future of European tourism relies on the quality of the tourist experience –tourists will recognise that places that care for the environment, their employees and local communities are also more likely to care for them.

Title of Aid Scheme: Wales Catchment Sensitive Farming Project

11. Calls on the Member States firmly to support forward-looking investments, by promoting investment and emulation in research, including basic research, and development, high technology, environmentally-friendly technologies and trans-European infrastructures and networks and education and lifelong learning; recommends increasing public funding for science and research; highlights the importance of a climate which is conducive to the promotion of research and development and of a better integration of product markets and a more positive attitude of the financial markets towards riskier forms of investment; takes the view that investment in social services, in particular in childcare, is essential if there is to be genuine equality betw ...[+++]een men and women and if female employment is to increase; draws the Commission's attention to the under-exploitation of many latent skilled jobs in the services sector - which are all the more valuable because they are essentially local - in both the private sector and the public sector; stresses the need to invest in and promote jobs in services, in particular educational services, local social services, childcare, care for the elderly and help in the home; believes that account should be taken of the ageing of the population, since this will necessarily lead to the working population itself ageing; notes that older workers often have career problems and are sometimes regarded as too old and too expensive to be promoted or trained; considers accordingly that it is essential to provide them with tailor-made initiatives such as counselling, advice and specific training systems;

According to an estimate based on an economic projection model specialising in the railway sector, human resources account for 8.5% of the total operating costs of a cross-border rail freight business. Other more significant expenses are motive power, wagons, infrastructure, energy, administration and insurance. Because the cost of labour is relatively small in comparison with the other operating costs, the Agreement seems unlikely to have any future impact on the operation of routes.

There are also other agri-environmental measures that support environmentally friendly practices in Natura 2000 sites (like organic farming, farming promoting integrated pest management techniques, etc), however there is little information available from Member States on how much agricultural area under agri-environmental schemes not targeting specifically Natura 2000 sites has been designated as Natura 2000.

To this end reliance on better, preferably internationally agreed standards and rules needs to be complemented by a more effective system of EU-wide national, regional and local measures aimed at accelerating the introduction of environmentally friendly technologies and operating techniques to reduce noise and gaseous emissions.