Tourism Law in Europe

5 The scope of the functions exercised by the Regions in the tourism field ranges from the establishment of Regional Tourism Agencies to the regulation of tourism activities carried out by companies and individuals. Regarding the former, a Regional Tourism Agency is established autonomously by each Region and takes different forms according to the choices made in each territory. For instance, the promotion of the tourist offer in the most developed tourist regions is entrusted to these Regional Promotion Agencies, typically set up as undertakings, and, in some cases, to fully-fledged Destination Management Organisations, based on a model that seems to be increasingly more successful at the local level. In addition to the more strictly bureaucratic functions entrusted to the competent regional departments, the regional administrations have also established tourism promotion agencies organised in homogeneous territorial contexts and tourist information offices ( Uffici di Informazione e di Accoglienza Turistica ) at the local level. Concerning the regulation of tourist activities, since the 1980s, regional regulations have governed, first of all, accommodation and travel activities and Tourism Agencies, at the territorial level. Specific attention should be paid to the regulation of tourism professions, with regional regulations expected to be bound by the principles laid down by the State but, in fact, are still struggling to find their final configuration. 4. Accommodation Facilities Regarding the regulations governing accommodation activities, hotels are, traditionally, one of the fundamental components of tourist travel. Their structure has evolved over the centuries: tabernae , xenodocheia , inns, caravanserais, monasteries, post houses, pensions, meublé , up to the present day. Nowadays, entrepreneurial inventiveness and the classifications made by regional laws have broadened the types of hospitality. In particular, the regional legislation has evolved considerably from the provisions of the repealed Law no. 217 of 17 May 1983, the “Framework Law for Tourism”, which has served as the basis for the rules currently in force. To summarise, and without prejudice to the need to refer to the regulations