TOURISM AND THE EUROPEAN UNION

Abstract

Tourism has important influence on socio-economic activities on national level, as well within international frames. Thus every country dedicates particular attention to conditions contributing tourism development and its benefits. EU as an integration of most developed European countries, achieves significant results in tourism. Among top 15 tourist destinations by tourist arrivals and revenues, nine are EU member-countries. The main purpose of this paper is to present the role of tourism in EU economic parameters, as well as politics in this sphere/field. During paper's preparation appropriate data is consulted. Tourism is important economic activity in EU. It's participation in total employment in the EU is approximately 5%, participation in international trade on services is 30%, and the participation in GDP is 5%. Such results are consequence of appropriate tourism policy in EU. Key words: tourism, EU, international tourism, incomes, arrivals, tourism policy.