Eduardo Santander, the recently appointed executive director of the European Travel Commission, will reveal his forward looking strategy at World Travel Market.

Santander will address an industry audience at the event in London on November 6th.

This will be the first opportunity industry insiders to meet Santander and question him about what the ETC will be doing to promote Europe as a tourist destination.

The ETC is an independent non-profit making organisation with its headquarters in Brussels.

Membership is comprised of the 33 National Tourism Organisations of Europe, whose role is to market and promote tourism to Europe in general, and to their individual countries in particular.

The development comes in light of Europe’s share of international tourism arrivals falling to 51 per cent in 2011 in comparison to 60 per cent in 1990, and the share of international tourism receipts down from 49 per cent to 44 per cent over the same period.

Despite the falling market share, tourism is still of enormous value to the EU economy.

In 2010 tourism directly produced five per cent of EU GDP and indirectly ten per cent.

International tourism receipts were €306 billion and six of the world’s top ten tourism destinations by arrivals, and five by receipts, were in Europe.

The tourism industry employed 9.7 million people. 

Therefore, a significant improvement in the EU’s performance as a destination would help it tackle both its economic and its currency crises.