Europe:
With just weeks to go before the launch of the portal, DMO World tracked down project leader, Karine Bruère, to find out how things are progressing...
A European web portal already exists on the visiteurope.com domain. In what ways will the new portal be different? KB: The website that exists currently uses a very simple web technology which, unfortunately, couldn't evolve any further. Plus, our target markets outside of the US needed an online marketing tool. Besides this ability to expand to meet the requirements of other target markets, this new website will answer many of our customers' needs. For instance, it includes many services for the user, many more content types and relevant information for planning future trips. One of the objectives was to present Europe as homogeneously as possible so that the customer can easily compare destinations... then make a decision in Europe's favour. Once this decision has been made, the visitor will then be sent to the National Tourist Office website. You've been working directly with the ETC's thirty three NTO members, as well as with the contractor, EC3 (the project's five commercial partners). Has it been difficult making progress with so many diverse organisations involved? KB: Well, it's really 34 NTO members, as Ukraine was accepted as a new member during our last General Meeting in Vienna on October 18th. Working with all of them is obviously an incredible challenge but one that gives me an indescribable knowledge of their business habits. Their help is fabulous - I submit pretty much everything to them and their feedback is usually very relevant and helpful. I was part of an NTO myself and I used to face the same problems as they do now, so it's very easy for me to understand or even anticipate their reactions and needs. As far as the five commercial partners (the EC3 consortium) are concerned, it's been a privilege to work with these highly skilled professionals who have tried really hard to understand and integrate our very specific NTO needs. I realise it was a challenge for them as well. It must have been a challenge making sure that everyone's views were listened to and that the development process was inclusive... KB: The European Commission formed a steering group following the 1st phase of the project (i.e. after the research, evaluation and the writing of all specifications). This steering group was made up mainly of NTO New Media representatives and everyone had a chance to express themselves.
The portal isn't just a tool for promoting Europe to potential tourists, though, is it? What can you tell us about the added benefits for NTOs? KB: Well! I think that, above all, this is a tremendous challenge for all of us - our very first concrete opportunity to make the ETC's concept of 'co-opetition' really happen. There are various benefits for NTOs if you look at the project in depth. For a start, it will bring the countries and the NTOs' websites higher visibility which will obviously generate more traffic - very targeted traffic, in fact. On the technical side it will give them the opportunity to share expertise on the basis of real life cases which they can all have access to. The technology will be made available and visible for the NTOs. They can all learn from it - the notion of sharing has never been so true for the ETC New Media Group. The system will hold a Content Management System which they can possibly reuse for their own websites in the future - already 4 NTOs have shown an interest in this. The portal also brings them some new tools. For example, many NTOs do not have a Chinese or Japanese version of their websites - well, the portal will be there to host their content for these technologically difficult markets. Also, the online-marketing actions will benefit all of the NTOs. I'm currently working on Search Engine Optimisation as this will make the advantages of our portal very real to our NTOs. Europe's market share has fallen over the recent years... do you think the portal will help to reverse this trend and lead to the development of new markets?
KB: I believe it was one of the European Commission's objectives for investing in the development of this portal and it's obviously the ETC's main target. We feel that having one very strong, attractive and efficient website to present Europe will help each country to progress individually and simultaneously, as well as providing a platform for the cooperative marketing of Europe in developing markets. Once the portal launches and the celebrations are over, what will happen next? What plans are in place for the project's ongoing development? KB: I'm tempted to say it's just the beginning for us! Inputting the initial content is one thing; then comes the fun part: One of the important things will be to encourage smaller groups of countries to cooperate... we want to develop cross-border actions. The Experience section will allow some countries to present themselves around a common subject: The Alps is a great example of such cooperation, or gastronomy, or fishing in Scandinavia... basically any subject that may interest our customers who, after all, don't understand why their trip should stop at borders. Time for cooperation with other European organisations will also come. I've already started to have discussions with organisations handling youth travel, eco tourism, rural tourism, etc. And, most importantly, how will you evaluate the project's success? KB: We defined the key measures in our portal business plan. Some will be easy to evaluate... isn't this one of the biggest assets of online marketing? Some other measures will be less straightforward. We will obviously analyse as deeply as possible the figures provided by our website analytics tool and the performance of our newsletters, but we will also look at the portal's influence in improving Europe's position in the global travel market. One of the most important figures for our NTOs is how much traffic did the portal bring to their own website. This is a huge project... what kind of person takes on a challenge like this? KB: I guess what defines me best is that I'm passionate... I believe this is one of the major things that made me take up the challenge. Contributing to the reality of a new concept such as this portal was just irresistible to me. My professional record is somehow atypical but it really follows the evolution of the technology; I basically grew with it. I studied tourism before joining United Airlines France in 1992. After 6 years, I decided to leave the tourism industry in order to perfect my technical computer and project management skills. I finally returned to the tourism business (I missed it too much!) and joined the internet team of Maison de la France in 2001. I was appointed to coordinate the development of the 3rd version of franceguide.com and, in 2002, was nominated Projects Director for Maison de la France, supervising the various IT projects of the EIG (Economic Interest Group). In addition to this position, I was nominated by the French Ministry as the France National Expert for the European Commission funded European Project: visiteurope.com. I became even closer to this project in April 2005 when I joined the ETC as Online Marketing Manager and project leader. I'm more of a technical person if you look at my background but I must admit that having worked on the online marketing side more or less directly for the past 4 years has made me realise how fascinating it is. It's just a new way of doing business. With hindsight, is there anything that you would have done differently since you took over as project manager? KB: Well, it's still early to say... but no, I don't think so! I've a got a great management team behind me and the most experienced colleagues that anyone could dream of. Can you imagine benefiting from the expertise of 34 highly skilled professionals doing the same job as you and sharing - with no fear - all of their knowledge? This is just incomparable! The development project is coming to its end and we're now all eager to see it take its first steps... It's not an easy project, but it's the most enthralling one I've known! What have you, personally, learnt from the experience? KB: Again, it's been only 8 months and I believe there is much more to come very soon but I've learned a lot about people, technologies and organisational challenges. It is one thing to work with technology, but it is the people who make it interesting and make the difference. I want this project to be a success and I'm working on it every day... |
The first stage of a new tourism web portal will be launched in early 2006 after more than three years of planning and development. By providing a unique gateway to 34 national tourism organisations, it is hoped that the portal will help to strengthen Europe's position as a travel destination and reverse its declining market share. 
The first stage of a new tourism web portal, aimed at strengthening Europe's position as a travel destination, will launch in January after more than three years of planning. The €2.2 million project is being funded by the European Commission under its IDA programme. The portal will be operated by the 
The portal - 