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SUMMARY
This advisory opinion of the Flemish Foreign Affairs Council starts with the contextual analysis outlining the key figures about tourism in Flanders, the long term global challenges to which the Flemish tourism policy will have to respond proactively, the currently changing European framework and an international comparison of strategic tourism plans.
Based on this contextual analysis, the Council makes recommendations for the drafting of a global strategic tourism plan for Flanders in the second part of the advisory opinion. What follows is a selection of these recommendations.
• The Council proposes to develop a measurable long-term target for Flanders, which focuses on growth through parameters such as turnover / added value, employment and European market share. According to the Council, 2020 is a good time horizon for the overall strategic plan for tourism in Flanders.
• Because of the very fragmented nature and the interdependence of the tourism industry with other policy fields (e.g. environment, spatial planning), an integrated approach of tourism is of primordial importance.
• The tourism enterprises, often SMEs, must be provided with sufficient oxygen to run their business.
• The connection to the knowledge economy is only possible if the efforts, also of private partners, local authorities and the provinces, are joined to optimize knowledge sharing. The current data streams must be identified and agreements on knowledge building and knowledge sharing are essential.
• Flanders develops a coherent branding strategy for the brand "Flanders", which is implemented amongst others through the tourism policy. Product-market combinations are developed. To offer a diversified tourism supply, the marketing should not exclusively focus on macro products, but also on "micro marketing". Flanders responds to new travel trends. Task agreements regarding the inland promotion of Flanders are made with all the actors. The instrument “Vlaanderen Vakantieland” is optimized. The MICE market and the events require a specific marketing approach in order to fully exploit their tourism potential.
