TALLINN - Over 170 top European tourism professionals Thursday focused on innovation and security in the European tourism sector at the 16th European Tourism Forum. Globalization and continued economic growth will increase the demand for high-quality travel services, Urve Palo, Estonian Minister for Entrepreneurship and Information Technology, said at the opening session of the forum.

She noted that innovation and digital solutions help the European tourism industry meet the needs of the modern travelers and increase the competitiveness of the sector, calling for increasingly convenient and safe services, modernization of strategies, business models and common legislation of all EU member states.

Estonia supports Europe-China Tourism Year events including conferences, workshops etc. across China during 2018, Palo added.

Taleb Rifai, Secretary-General of the United Nations' World Tourism Organization, also stressed on the role of digital, urban and travel revolutions which are changing people's life tremendously, calling for more investment in innovation and technology.

He said India and China would be the main elements in "the Age of Travel".

Istvan Ujhelyi, Vice-Chair of the European Parliament's Committee on Transport and Tourism (TRAN) and responsible for Tourism Task Force, stressed on keeping united at the European level to manage the tourism in the future in the face of challenges.

The European Tourism Forum is an annually held event co-organized by the European Commission and the presidency country of the second half-year.

The introduction of digital solutions to the tourism sector, the bottlenecks in transport connections, the greening of the tourism sector and safe travel in Europe are among the topics of the 16th European Tourism Forum in Tallinn.

Xinhua