Abstract
Recently, the European Commission (EC) has placed a focus on social tourism issues within Europe. The underlying logic of this intervention is that social tourism aims for social equity, aiding access to tourism to provide fair tourism for all citizens and contributing towards sustainability of the European tourism industry. By linking social tourism to sustainable development, the EC sets priorities for future policies to foster mobility within the community. Yet, most European countries have different approaches, priorities and diverse ideological interpretations of the role of the state in tourism provision. Consequently, systems and practices vary strongly between nations and seem to put the ideal of a common approach a very distant prospect. This paper outlines the context of these approaches to social tourism to highlight these challenges and to propose initiatives for the future integration of the European social tourism sector. It presents a comparative analysis of social tourism systems in seven European countries with important social tourism structures. The paper assesses different interpretations of social tourism, examining development and employment issues. In addition, the paper assesses the links with the commercial tourism sector and provides recommendations for future development in the social tourism sector and consequences for European policy.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 417-430 |
| Number of pages | 14 |
| Journal | Current Issues in Tourism |
| Volume | 14 |
| Issue number | 5 |
| DOIs | |
| Publication status | Published - 2011 |
Bibliographical note
Funding Information:While in other countries social tourism is funded directly through the state (or region). This is delivered through a ministry grant either directly to beneficiaries or to suppliers. In terms of indirect funding, the state subsidises unions or health and welfare organisations. For instance, in Germany, social tourism is funded by the social ministry of the ‘Länder’ (regions). This ministry distributes finance through a lead organisation (Bundesarbeitsgemeinschaft Familie-nerholung (BAGFE)) to various sub-organisations, often holiday centres. In Romania, funding comes from two sources. The funding of a special offer (discounts and special prices) aimed mainly at people living on low incomes. The funding comes through the national budget via the National House of Pensions and Health Insurances (CNPAS). Prices accepted during CNPAS’s auctions are covered partly by the client and partly by the CNPAS: clients pay only part of the price, calculated according to their income (pension or wage). However, a lack of funding recently halted the construction of new social tourism facilities and induced reflection on the possibility of introducing a holiday voucher system such as in France (Diekmann et al., 2009, p. 30).
Keywords
- European policy
- Social tourism funding
- Social tourism supply
- Social tourism systems
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Geography, Planning and Development
- Tourism, Leisure and Hospitality Management