00:00The Euronews Travel and Tourism Summit took place in Brussels on Tuesday with a variety of policy makers and leading
00:06industry figures gathering to discuss the future of European tourism and beyond.
00:10Here are some of the highlights from the event.
00:13The U.S. ambassador to Belgium, Bill White, praised Belgium for having so much more to offer than waffles, chocolate
00:19and beer.
00:20However, he did criticize the Brussels airport.
00:22The lines at the airport suck.
00:27They're really bad.
00:28So one of the things we have to do in our transatlantic alliance and relationship is to recognize that if
00:38we want more people to come to Belgium, we have to fix this problem.
00:43It has to get better.
00:44It must get better immediately.
00:47Another guest was the Albanian Prime Minister, Edirama, who explained that his country is making significant strides in the tourism
00:53sector, but is still struggling with the stereotypical portrayals in Europe.
00:56When Croatia was a destination for many Europeans, we were the most isolated country in Europe, North Korea of Europe.
01:08After we got out from that hell, we were confronted with very, very disturbing stereotypes.
01:19So now it's our turn.
01:21Who we target, we target the world.
01:24The CEO of the European Travel Commission, which represents Europe's national tourism organizations, highlighted another important point as he spoke
01:31about the impact of climate change and Europe's role as a destination.
01:35It was too hot and so on.
01:36Climate change is the biggest threat to tourism right now, by far.
01:41Climate change is affecting every single human activity.
01:44It's not only tourism.
01:45We see that trains cannot run sometimes because the rails are, you know, expanded because of the heat.
01:50We saw this at the cruise lines in the European rivers couldn't run because it was too dry.
01:57And so we have to prepare for that in a much more coordinated and comprehensive way.
02:04Other notable guests were also present at the summit, including the CEO of the Azerbaijan Tourism Board, Florian Sengschmidt, the
02:11CEO of MSC Cruises, Gianni Onorato, Romanian Tourism Secretary of State, Don Adrian Popp, and Dubrovnik Mayor, Mato Frankovic.
02:18Your mind is cultured.
02:19The event also included lighthearted exchanges like this one, where the U.S. ambassador admitted he is an avid viewer
02:25of Euronews.
02:26We watch Euronews all the time at the U.S. Embassy.
02:30The great stories that you're putting out there.
02:33Congratulations on all the success.
02:35Very proud of you and Klaus and the whole team.
02:38Great job everybody is doing here and it's great to be with all of you.
