A European Calling

The Europe Senior Tourism program has a clearly European calling and in future editions will seek the integration and participation of the remaining countries that make up the European Union (www.visiteurope.com). In this sense, we will seek to sign cooperation agreements with different countries so that Spanish citizens can also travel to other EU countries. We are attempting to create a shared project, and not just with the other European countries that are interested. We would also like to actively involve labor unions, employers’ associations and other public, regional and local entities.

This initiative by the Spanish government fits within the framework of what is known as social tourism: tourism which is accessible to everybody and developed in accordance with the principles of sustainability and solidarity.

In the year 2009, an important milestone was passed in the development of social tourism in Europe. The European Parliament approved the implementation of a Preparatory Action Plan known as Calypso through the European Commission in 2009, with a budget of one million euros.

The objective of Calypso is to promote the development of social tourism initiatives amongst the member states of the EU, given the importance of this industry, and the positive social and economic effects on the regions where it is carried out.

This objective is also pursued by the International Social Tourism Bureau (ISTB), an international organization that brings together entities related with social tourism and is cooperating to put the Europe Senior Tourism pilot program into action.