The 76th General Assembly Meeting of HOTREC (Confederation of European Hoteliers) was held in Vienna...
The 76th General Assembly Meeting of HOTREC (Confederation of European Hoteliers) was held in Vienna, and our Association's Vice President Armin Zerunyan, as our country's representative, took part in the meeting. The prominent topics of the meeting were as follows;
•Opening remarks were delivered by HOTREC President S. Winkler, the host Austrian Hoteliers Association and the Presidents of the Sector Organizations, and the Austrian Minister of Tourism.
•In his speech, the President of the Austrian Chamber of Economy and Trade conveyed the importance of SMEs in the economy and employment, that bureaucrats should give more place to SMEs in their policies, and that more financing should be provided.
•The HOTREC President gave information about how tourism would grow twice as fast as the world economy in 2018, about the unemployment of qualified labor, and about over-tourism.
•The HOTREC CEO gave information about the general work of the Confederation.
•HOTREC's financial situation was presented.
•The adopted Statute amendments;
-For the Observer category membership, all European Countries except EU candidate countries will be able to apply.
-Automatic suspension for unpaid membership fees; a proposal for automatic suspension 15 days before the Autumn GA.
-The ability for senior executives of an accommodation enterprise to be elected as President or Vice President.
-Alignment of the term of office of the financial committee with the length of the ExCom (Executive Committee) term: a 2-year term.
-Poland's full HOTREC membership and Georgia's observer membership were approved.
• Presentation by Istvan Ujhelyi, Vice Chair of the European Parliament Committee on Transport and Tourism.
o Brexit is a serious problem for tourism.
o Tourism is one of Europe's most important economic activities.
o 671 million international tourist arrivals to the EU
China market: Last year 135 million Chinese traveled, but only 7 million reached the EU. In 2020, 200 million Chinese tourists are expected to travel internationally.
• Marc van Muylders was elected as a new ExCom member.
• Key Topics
o Manolis Psarros, General Manager of the Community (a destination management agency), on HOTREC's new study on meal sharing (as part of the sharing economy);
-P2P: Many P2P platforms facilitate this practice: (Gnammo, Le Cesarine, ShareDnD, Dine Away, Dineer, Eat Away, Cook App, Eathwith, Withlocals, Bon Appetour)
-The largest of these platforms, Eatwith, has a market value of approximately EUR 48 million
-Many scenarios: neighborhood meals, kitchen rental, home catering, dining with families, etc.
-The price difference between licensed restaurants and home restaurants can be as much as 20%.
-airbnb and Resy are planning to move into the "sharing" dining space.
-The EU will introduce various regulations on five items:
*Activity and License Registration
*Taxation
*Consumer protection, health and safety
*Enforcement
*Liability
The Sharing Economy report shared by Ramón Estalella
-The ECJ ruling of 20 December 2017 stated that Uber should be regarded as a service in the field of transport. It cannot be regarded merely as an "information society service."
This ruling may have positive effects for the accommodation industry. It will be used as an argument to defend the interests of hotels against the sharing economy.
Under this ruling, the host may be held liable, and in the event of future non-compliance airbnb may be held co-liable.
Based on this reasoning, national organizations in the EU can now apply to the courts in their own countries and start a new process.
o Overtourism
Its effects on citizens' daily lives, the environment, infrastructure, etc.
Possible solutions by HOTREC: better governance, spreading demand, helping visitors behave more responsibly, building dialogue and consultation.
o Online Distribution Channels Research by Markus Luthe;
-OTAs correspond to 26.1% of total business volume
-9% direct bookings through the website
-Tour operators 9%
-Business travelers prefer to book directly
-Leader Booking.com (by a large margin), Expedia & HRS
o Restaurants and Bars
-11.1 million employees in the EU work in the restaurant and accommodation sector
-The EU wants to set a maximum 2% limit on trans-fat content with appropriate labeling
-HOTREC advocates a lighter regime for the retail and hospitality industry
o Social Affairs and SSD Committee update
-A new working statement (WS) will be issued to ensure safer and more transparent working conditions for all employees.
-HOTREC is conducting heavy lobbying activities regarding amendments to the work-life balance directive.
-A new tool for all members, OIRA (online interactive risk assessment), has been put into practice.
• Sustainability will be discussed more at future General Assemblies
• Debate regarding VAT in the EU
o There are currently two standard rates; 15% and at least 5%
o A further reduced rate between 0% and 5% will be created
o And the reduced rate will be applied to any product and service except for certain special items/products.
• The situation regarding the European Accessibility Act was explained.
HOTREC advocates a looser and less demanding law.
• Alcohol, Visas and the General Data Protection Regulation
o There is a new regulation listing the nutritional and ingredient information of beverages. This is expected to be implemented in March 2021.
o Visas: The burden on applicants has not been reduced and fees have been increased.
-Tourists may still give up on coming to the EU
o General Data Protection Regulation: Since the core business is not related to data processing, it appears that a data processing officer is not required in the accommodation industry.
• The next General Assembly will be in Krakow, Poland, on 18-19 October 2018