Berlin, October 15, 2026 —European tourism faces a defining political question: Is Brussels protecting travelers while strengthening Europe’s tourism economy, or is growing EU regulation making it increasingly difficult for travel agencies, tour operators, destinations, and tourism businesses to compete?
At today’s German Travel Association (DRV) Congress in Berlin, an important European tourism policy discussion brought together Alexander Albert, CEO of BCD Travel Germany and DRV board member; Tom Jenkins, CEO of the European Tourism Association (ETOA); Elisabeth Kotthaus, a senior official from the European Commission’s Directorate-General for Mobility and Transport (DG MOVE); and Frank Oostdam? No—the panel’s fourth participant was Marina Mäki-Fränti, President of the European Travel Agents’ and Tour Operators’ Associations (ECTAA), as identified on the congress screen.
The presence of these four representatives highlights an increasingly urgent issue: European tourism is regulated across borders, but its commercial realities are experienced locally.
For an industry that supports millions of jobs and connects European destinations with global visitors, the real question is no longer whether regulation is necessary. It is whether policymakers understand the consequences of the rules they introduce.
A European Tourism Industry Caught Between Protection and Competitiveness
Europe remains one of the world’s most important tourism regions. Its cultural diversity, transport networks, hospitality infrastructure, and international connectivity have long made it an attractive destination. Yet Europe’s tourism success cannot be taken for granted.
Travel companies face increasing operational complexity, changing consumer expectations, sustainability requirements, and international competition. At the same time, European institutions are under pressure to strengthen passenger protection and ensure that tourism develops responsibly.
None of these objectives is inherently unreasonable. The difficulty begins when regulatory ambitions collide with commercial reality.
A regulation that looks practical in a Brussels meeting room may have very different consequences for a family-owned travel agency in Germany, a small incoming tour operator in Italy, or a destination management company in Greece.
The challenge is not choosing between consumer protection and business competitiveness. It is designing policies that deliver both.
Why These Four Voices Matter
The composition of the DRV Congress panel is particularly relevant.
Alexander Albert brings the perspective of corporate travel and the German travel industry’s institutional leadership. Corporate travel operates in a world where efficiency, predictability, and cross-border mobility are essential.
Tom Jenkins represents ETOA, an organization whose members depend on Europe’s ability to welcome and serve international visitors. For incoming tourism, European policies have a practical impact well beyond the European Union.
Elisabeth Kotthaus represents the European Commission’s mobility and transport policy perspective. Her presence connects the discussion directly with the institutions shaping Europe’s transport and passenger-related regulatory environment.
Marina Mäki-Fränti represents ECTAA, giving travel agents and tour operators a voice in a debate that directly affects their business models and responsibilities toward customers.
These are not identical constituencies. Their priorities can overlap, but their economic pressures and policy perspectives are not always the same.
That is precisely why such discussions matter.
The Uncomfortable Question: Who Represents Small Tourism Businesses?
Large corporations and established associations have the resources to follow EU legislative developments, participate in consultations, and communicate with policymakers.
Small and medium-sized tourism enterprises frequently do not. Yet these businesses form an essential part of Europe’s tourism distribution and visitor economy.
When European legislation creates additional reporting obligations, financial exposure, administrative requirements, or compliance costs, the burden does not necessarily fall equally.
A multinational company may be able to absorb these costs through specialized departments and economies of scale.
A small travel business may have to pass them on to customers, reduce investment, or reconsider its services. This creates a fundamental policy question:
Could well-intentioned European tourism regulation unintentionally accelerate market concentration, favoring larger businesses at the expense of independent operators?
The issue deserves serious consideration, especially when European institutions simultaneously emphasize the importance of entrepreneurship, regional development, and small businesses.
Consumer Protection Is Essential, but Who Ultimately Pays?
European travelers benefit from a comparatively strong consumer protection framework.
Passenger rights, package travel protections, and other safeguards are important components of consumer confidence. However, protection is not free.
The financial and administrative responsibilities imposed on travel intermediaries and organizers must ultimately be funded somewhere in the tourism value chain.
The danger is that policymakers focus on the rights created by legislation without sufficiently examining how those rights are financed, administered, and enforced.
Effective consumer protection requires more than ambitious legal language. It requires workable rules, clear responsibilities, fair risk allocation, and mechanisms that can function during major disruptions.
The COVID-19 crisis demonstrated how quickly travel industry obligations can become difficult to fulfill when extraordinary circumstances affect the entire system.
Europe should remember those lessons when revisiting tourism-related legislation.
Is Europe Becoming Too Complicated for International Visitors?
For ETOA and its members, the international dimension is especially important.
Europe competes with destinations around the world for visitor spending, investment, and tourism-related employment.
International travelers do not necessarily distinguish between EU institutions, national governments, municipal authorities, or private transport operators. They experience Europe as a destination.
If traveling across the continent becomes unnecessarily complicated, expensive, or unpredictable, that experience can affect its competitiveness.
Europe needs sustainable tourism, effective border management, reliable transportation, and meaningful visitor protections. But it also needs simplicity.
The ability to move efficiently between destinations is one of Europe’s greatest competitive advantages. Policymakers should be cautious about weakening it through fragmented implementation or excessive administrative complexity.
Brussels Must Listen Beyond Brussels
The European Commission has an essential role in developing policies that protect consumers, promote mobility, and support a functioning internal market.
But consultation should not become a procedural exercise in which industry representatives are heard without their practical concerns meaningfully influencing outcomes.
Associations such as DRV, ETOA, and ECTAA can play an important role by identifying where policy proposals might create unintended consequences.
Their credibility, however, also depends on their willingness to challenge policymakers when necessary.
Tourism associations should not become ceremonial participants in decisions already effectively made.
They should be prepared to ask difficult questions, present evidence, and defend the operational realities of their members.
Likewise, European institutions should view industry criticism not automatically as resistance to progress, but potentially as valuable information about how regulations will work in practice.
Opinion: European Tourism Needs Partnership, Not Just Compliance
The broader issue raised by the gathering of these European tourism leaders in Berlin is one of governance. Who shapes the future of European travel?
Is it the European Commission, national governments, major tourism corporations, industry associations, or the millions of travelers whose choices ultimately determine the industry’s success?
The answer should be all of them. But meaningful participation requires more than representation on a conference stage.
It requires transparency, accountability, impact assessments, and a willingness to adjust policies when evidence shows that they create disproportionate burdens.
Europe should aspire to lead the world not only in tourism regulation, but also in making travel easier, safer, more accessible, and economically sustainable. Those ambitions should reinforce one another.
The real test of European tourism policy is not how many new protections Brussels can announce. It is whether travelers, businesses, and destinations are better off once those protections are implemented.
That is the conversation worth continuing after the DRV Congress in Berlin.
This article is independent editorial analysis inspired by the DRV Congress panel and its participants. It does not attribute specific positions or statements to individual panelists without verification.
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