| Special Features |
 Business
Improvement Districts...
New York style
Business Improvement Districts (BIDs) are transforming New York
and the rest of urban America. TEAM tourism and regeneration
specialist, Philip Cooke, travels to New York to find out why
voluntarily paying more business taxes is becoming so popular.
More...
Don't
neglect your brand
Choosing a holiday is one of the most emotional purchasing decisions
a consumer will make, yet why are so many DMOs still making
rational arguments to win these customers? 'Don't neglect your
brand' is the message from Stephen O'Neill, former Executive
General Manager, Marketing, at the Australian Tourist Commission.
More...
|
| Key Articles |
London:
24 hour TV channel launches
The first TV channel to focus on promoting a single destination
was launched last month by Visit London.
London TV was created to help promote the capital by providing
viewers with details of events, attractions, accommodation
and transport information. The channel's Go Guides cover themes
such as shopping, eating out and cultural activities, and
a mixture of celebrities and Londoners are being used to present
their personal experiences and insider tips for exploring
the hidden side of the capital.
 The channel has been promoted through an extensive advertising
campaign, which has particularly targeted viewers in the north
of England. Martine Ainsworth-Wells of Visit London commented:
"London TV broadcasts to a UK wide audience, not just Londoners,
so it's important we attract viewers from all parts of the
country.
"London is
a prime weekend break destination for people from the north
of England and London TV will help people to find out the
latest events, offers and attractions whenever they are planning
a visit."
London TV broadcasts 24 hours a day and is available on Sky
channel 244.
Destinations:
New models
for destination management and marketing
A highly successful international conference on destination
management and marketing structures, the first of its kind,
was held in Cyprus in October. Organised by the WTO, the conference
attracted over 170 delegates
from 26 countries.
 A programme of high
quality presentations demonstrated the need to develop new
destination structures and practices to reflect changes in
the marketplace and developments in ICT.
Many DMOs are changing their structures and techniques for
marketing to maximise cost-effectiveness, but the conference
heard of the need to adapt in other ways:
-
Establishing high level strategic partnerships
between tourism and other organisations to jointly promote
the destination brand and the values that it conveys to customers
(see Stephen O'Neill's article in this edition of DMO World)
-
Ensuring concerted action to deliver a
quality experience
-
Measuring the effectiveness of DMO activity
and the economic impact of their activities.
The
conference heard about many key principles for successful
destination management and marketing:
-
Public-sector/private sector partnership
- for example, in Gothenburg
-
Flexible structures, including goals orientated
project teams
-
The right tools and techniques to do the
job - for example, the implementation of e-business - and of
destination management planning
-
Benchmarking performance, over time, and
against competitors - for example, website evaluation.
A summary of the WTO conference report, and links to presentations,
can be found on the WTO website.
More details in the next edition of DMO World.
Visitor
Services:
Anticipating
the needs of tomorrow's customer
Britain's national tourism authority, VisitBritain, has published
a new report, 'Customer Contact Services: A Framework for
Action', reviewing the likely needs of tomorrow's customer
and identifying methods for fulfilling them most effectively.
The specific purposes of the report are to provide a strategic
context for the provision of visitor services by DMOs; to
identify the scope for using new distribution channels for
visitors travelling to and within the destination; and to
guide VisitBritain regarding action required at the national
level.
The report proposes action in five areas:
-
National access to information and contact
services
-
Providing services for customers on the
move - including new distribution channels
-
The Tourist Information Centre Network
-
Branding of information and contact services
-
Customer Relationship Management and marketing
integration.
The
report then reviews options for more effective delivery and
funding of traditional channels under six headings:
-
Rationalisation of tourist information
services 'on the ground'
-
Hub and satellite concept
-
Gateway services
-
New models for funding
-
Charging for services
-
Partnerships and franchising.
Tourism
destination specialists, TEAM, who assisted VisitBritain in
preparing the report, reviewed best practice in 13 destinations
from across the world. Some general conclusions emerged from
these, including:
-
The increasing importance of electronic
channels of distribution as the
major influence on the development of information services.
-
Increasing integration between the different
channels of communication, enabled by state-of-the-art destination management systems and sometimes reflected in integrated branding
-
Continuing commitment to traditional channels,
including information centres, although priorities were generally
changing and new delivery methods were being tested.
 In some destinations, the emphasis was moving away from reactive 'meet and greet' to a more customer focused, sales orientated approach, with a view to maximising impact for the destination
and for the customer.
The
majority of destinations were providing dedicated tourism
destination contact centre services. In some cases, these
were outsourced on a contract basis; in others, they were
operated in-house, but separate from information centres.
Copies of the report are available to download from the VisitBritain
website - www.visitbritain.com/ukindustry
VisitBritain:
New distribution
partnerships to boost British tourism
VisitBritain has launched a six-month trial distribution deal
with Wanadoo.co.uk, a leading internet service provider and
portal, aimed at widening brand recognition and increasing
visitor numbers.
The partnership will provide Wanadoo's 4 million unique monthly
users with access to details of around 80,000 events, attractions
and accommodation providers. The new England Destination Guide
on Wanadoo.co.uk will present potential travellers with everything
they need to plan and book a trip, including the option of
creating a personalised virtual travel brochure.
The information contained in the guide is compiled by VisitBritain's
public and commercial regional tourism partners, and is drawn
into a single 'travel channel' via EnglandNet, a national
online distribution system. This new deal will allow data
from the travel channel to be provided through the Wanadoo
portal, presenting visitors with easy access to up-to-date
and comprehensive information.
VisitBritain's chief executive, Tom Wright, said: "The internet
is an ever-growing source of information for travel consumers
and 20 million people worldwide already use VisitBritain's
websites to plan their trips to and around Britain.
"Through this and similar partnerships, we can widen the audience
for information about Britain as a destination and further
enhance VisitBritain's reputation as a national tourist organisation
at the forefront of internet marketing.
"The partnership has the potential to reap great rewards for
English tourism, but we are relying on the industry to support
the initiative."
South Africa:
Cape Town and Western Cape face up to the e-business challenge
One of Africa's most popular tourist destinations, Cape Town and the Western Cape Province, is taking great steps forward in implementing a major new tourism e-business system, linking tourism players at local, regional and provincial level.
The most recent step has been to reinforce its online presence with the development of a new customer-focused website. As well as providing standard visitor information, the site - tourismcapetown.co.za - also includes online accommodation booking, interactive maps and itinerary suggestions.
The region's 75 local tourism offices and 7,500 business members are promoted via the site, and both regional and town level portals have been included. In addition, a back office system allows easy updating by non-technical staff and member organisations. Nokhuthula Dube, chief executive officer of the Western Cape and Cape Town DMO, said: "Through our new site, we believe we can realise our province's full potential to provide world class tourism services and products."
 The e-business system has been supplied by Tiscover, a leading tourism destination software developer, which operates its own portal for the destinations it serves, particularly in Austria, Germany, Switzerland, Italy and the UK, as well as Western Cape.
In Western Cape, a complex development programme is in hand to ensure that tourism staff, industry partners, visitor attractions, and service providers all have a full understanding of the system’s capabilities and potential. Introductory presentations and ‘hands on’ training courses were provided throughout the region prior to the launch of the site’s initial phase, and this investment is continuing as further development stages over the coming months add enhanced functionality.
The Western Cape is the most visited province in South Africa, with an annual 1.5 million international visitors and 5 million domestic visitors. The region's main overseas markets are the UK, Sweden, France, the Netherlands, USA, China, Australia, Germany, and Italy. |
|
| In This Edition...
|
London's 24hr TV channel
WTO conference news
Visitor services framework
New VisitBritain partnership
Convention bureaus alliance
South Africa promotion
Marketing evaluation guide
XML based maps launched
Europe's image in US
Sport tourism's billions
Latest internet sales trends
New Western Cape website
Malaysia brand success |
| In The News |
Convention
bureaus:
New members to join the global alliance
BestCities.net, a unique global alliance of convention bureaus,
is set to expand in early 2005 with the addition of two
new members.
Singapore and San Juan join Boston, Cape Town, Dubai, Copenhagen,
Edinburgh, Melbourne and Vancouver in the world's first
and only convention bureau alliance.
BestCities.net was created to help identify and promote
a worldwide standard for convention bureau practices within
the meetings industry.
www.bestcities.net
South Africa:
Virgin Atlantic promotes destination on Expedia
An ambitious new marketing campaign has been created by
South African Tourism, in partnership with Virgin Atlantic
and Expedia.com
The 'Virgin Territory Meets South Africa' campaign will
run from October 2004 through to February 2005 and marks
the tourist authority's first promotional presence on Expedia.
Potential travellers are invited to "awaken your senses
as only South Africa can" via a range of banner ads, and
special flight and hotel packages, designed to increase
inward travel, have been developed. In addition, the campaign
will be featured in Virgin Atlantic lounges and airports
across the US.
Marketing:
A guide to evaluating NTO marketing activities
A new guide to measuring how well National Tourism Organisations
(NTOs) carry out their marketing activities has just been
published jointly by the European Travel Commission and
the World Tourism Organisation.
The study, carried out by specialists at the University
of Luton in the UK, highlights areas of best practice and
presents practical suggestions for marketing evaluation.
The guide is available in both English and Spanish and can
be downloaded in PDF format from the ETC website -
www.etc-corporate.org
Interactive Maps:
New XML based web service is launched
New XML based mapping software, developed by MapQuest® Services,
has been launched, providing organisations with the ability
to incorporate interactive maps, driving directions, and
location search functionality into their websites.
MapQuest Site AdvantageTM offers a straightforward
integration into most IT environments via the XML interface,
and organisations can also take advantage of the bundled
sets of sample web applications in ASP, JSP, PHP and XSLT.
More...
Europe:
New study into Europe's image in North America
A comprehensive new study into the way in which Americans
and Canadians view Europe as a travel destination has been
carried out by the European Travel Commission (ETC).
The study highlights the need to keep the European brand
'fresh and lively', illustrating the advantages of promoting
Europe as a 'cutting-edge' destination. It also reveals
a number of barriers in the North American market, including
the cost of European travel, political tensions, and the
threat of terrorism.
The full report can be downloaded in PDF format from the
ETC website -
www.etc-corporate.org
Sport tourism:
The multi-billion dollar business
Sport tourism has been identified as one of the fastest
growing areas of the estimated $4.5 trillion world travel
and tourism industry in a recent report by research specialists,
SportBusiness Group Ltd.
The report estimates that, by 2011, travel and tourism is
expected to represent more than 10% of the global gross
domestic product, and that in some countries sport tourism
accounts for as much as 25% of all tourism receipts.
More...
The internet:
New trends in marketing and sales
A new report highlighting recent trends in online travel
sales and marketing has been carried out by the Centre for
Regional and Tourism Research in Denmark.
The study identifies the advent of low cost, no-frills airlines
as a key factor in the emergence of the UK as the largest
online travel market in Europe.
The report also highlights rising trends in the ten new
EU countries, Estonia in particular, and focuses on air
travel and hotels.
The report can be downloaded in PDF format from the CRT
site - www.crt.dk
Malaysia:
A branding success story
The importance of creating an effective brand has been demonstrated
with new visitor figures released recently by Tourism Malaysia.
Figures for this year already show an increased trend in
tourist numbers, and officials are confident that the final
figure will exceed 15 million. This is a dramatic increase
from 13.3million in 2003 and 8 million in 1998, the year
before the campaign began, and translates into income of
US$8 billion, an increase of US$1.2 billion in 2003.
The tag 'Malaysia, Truly Asia' was developed to help project
a positive image of the country and this has been helped
by the increasing number of top brands that are now associated
with Malaysia, including the Shangri-La hotel chain and
shoe designer Jimmy Choo.
STOP
PRESS :
London's
tourism organisation seeks new Chief Executive
Visit London's Chief Executive, David Campbell, will be
leaving in spring 2005 to become Chief Executive of the
Anschutz Entertainment Group UK, owners and developers of
the Dome and owners of the Manchester Evening News Arena
in the UK.
|
|
Welcome to this first edition of DMO World, a free quarterly newsletter for tourism destination professionals worldwide. Our aim is to bring you information and news about best practice, expert knowledge on issues of common concern, new research reports, professional events... and lots more. Please help us to make it even better in the future, by sending your ideas for articles or special features to me at rogercarter@dmoworld.com