"Social tourism is already a growing phenomenon, which the European Commission has been promoting for both its social and economic benefits. Now the EU is investing in new projects to develop cross-border low-season tourism opportunities. The Calypso initiative aims to open up new horizons for younger and older travelers, disabled people and low-income families, while creating new jobs and business opportunities during quieter times of the year.
The problem is that as most Europeans still go on holiday during the busy school-holiday periods of summer, Christmas and Easter, leaving hotel and transport capacity underused for much of the rest of the year. This heightened demand at peak periods leads to high prices, which in turn may exclude lower-paid or less-advantaged families and individuals.
The solution would be to extend the tourism season; meaning better use of resources and higher productivity and for workers it would bring wider opportunities, greater security and increased motivation. Social tourism also offers the chance to open up new destinations, by creating jobs and stimulating economic revival.
The European Commission´s Calypso initiative tackles this issue by studying of good practices and by identifying appropriate mechanisms for social tourism exchanges at European level. Two specific actions have already been compiled: establishing a voluntary tourist exchange mechanism between Member States to offer easier travel, especially during the low season, to the four target groups; and developing a voluntary online information exchange to help coordinate school holidays in different countries, while respecting cultural traditions.
The first step is to examine how the needs of each target group differ, and then in line with the study recommendations – is to give practical support to tourism-related public authorities in organizing transnational low-season exchanges for the Calypso target groups.
This could be followed by the launching of an online Calypso platform which could help market attractive offers in the low season. The promoters look promising into the future as good examples are already existent in this field."