Prizes for the Best European Coastal Sustainability, Proceedings of the China-Italy Bilateral Symposium on the Coastal Zone and Continental Shelf Evolutional Trend, Bologna, 5-8 October 2010, Bologna Albisani Editore, 2010, pp. 17-27.

Tourism has entered into the consideration of the Lisbon Strategy, a policy set to make the EU the most competitive, knowledge-based economy in the world, preserving, or even improving social cohesion and maintaining environmental sustainability. Another important motivation for implementing the Lisbon Strategy and its Agenda was the perception that the EU was lagging behind the US and other major economies. Tourism has in Europe a greater prevalence than in USA, so the European ministries should take consideration of its deployment, and moreover of the all new forms it is assuming. Now the tourism sector is coordinated by the European Commission Enterprise and Industry - Directorate General -Tourism Unit, coordinated now by an Italian Director. The new involvement in this sector is signaled by a series of awards adopted in order to focus on and diffuse the best practices, hoping that they will spread all over the Europe, marked by appreciation from numbers of visitors. “The contribution of tourism to employment and regional development as well as to other important EU objectives, such as sustainable development, enhancement of the natural and cultural heritage and the shaping of European identity, has been recognized by all EU Institutions on numerous occasions.” (EU Enterprise Forum, 9 October 2009).