Welcome
 In this issue, we look at the best ways of engaging the senior market, tourism's response to climate change, and how to put the 'wow' factor back into branding.
Plus, you'll find downloadable presentation highlights from the UNWTO conference on sustainable tourism policies, strategies and tools, and links to all the latest research and industry news... all essential reading for the tourism professional!
Kind regards,
Roger Carter
Managing Editor
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Tourism: Dealing with the senior market. With the first wave of baby boomers approaching retirement age, the senior market will continue to be one of the fastest growing areas of tourism. Dr Peter Tarlow offers some ideas for how to prepare for its economic impact. |
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Pow + Wham = Wow You don’t have to be a Super Action Hero from the classic comics to appreciate these words. John R Hendrie suggests that’s how we need to be with our brands, reflecting energy and passion, as we deliver on the promise.
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Research and Reports - What's New?
Euromonitor International has again teamed up with the World Travel Market to produce the WTM Global Trends Report. The report, to be presented on the first day of the exhibition, includes key trends on UK / Ireland, Western and Eastern Europe, the Middle East, North and South America, Africa and Asia Pacific.
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 Two new briefing papers are available from the Overseas Development Institute ( ODI): Can Tourism Offer Pro-Poor Pathways to Prosperity? and Assessing How Tourism Revenues Reach the Poor are both available free of charge.
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A new report by eMarketer, China Internet Audience, estimates that the number of internet users will grow from 10% (134 million) of the total Chinese population in 2006 to 245 million in 2011.
The report aggregates the latest data from marketing and communications researchers with eMarketer numbers, projections and analysis and is aimed at helping marketers targeting China to have a better understanding of the opportunities and challenges they face. The report can be bought online (US$695).
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The value of European online marketing - including email, search, and display advertising - will more than double from around €7.5 billion in 2006 to more than €16 billion in 2012, reaching 18% of total media budgets, according to Forrester Research.
The report, European Online Marketing Tops Eur16 Billion in 2012, suggests that, after five years of dipping their toes into online marketing waters, organisations have come to realise that the internet is a valuable medium for client acquisition, retention, and market expansion. The report can be downloaded (US$279).
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Current Trends and Best Practice in Hospitality Marketing, a free report by Hospitality Marketing.com, covers a range of issues that influence online marketing budgets, including the latest trends in Web 2.0, paid search marketing, eCRM, web analytics and ROI tracking, marketing strategies, and technology acquisition.
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The European travel market is marching relentlessly online in the footsteps of the US travel market, but while the pace may be similar, the diversity in the markets creates important differences, according to a new report by PhoCusWright.
The report, European Online Travel Overview, is available from PhoCusWright at a cost of EUR 1,700 and includes an in depth look at market size, forecasts and analysis for the European market as a whole along with five country-specific reports - UK, French, German, Italian and Spanish travel markets and online travel markets for the years 2004-2006 (actual) and 2007-2008 (projected), by sector, segment and channel.
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New research by Nielsen//NetRatings, carried out on behalf of the Online Publishers' Association Internet Activity Index suggests that there has been a marked shift over the last four years in how internet users spend time online.
Internet users now spend nearly half of their time online visiting content, such as news, travel, and entertainment, rather than using the internet simply for communication. The index measures time spent with e-commerce, communications, content and search.
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 The latest Annual Report 2006 of the European Travel Commission has now been published and is available free of charge from the ETC website. The report contains a summary of the first year of operation of the VisitEurope portal along with updates on ETC's work to boost Europe's share of the international tourism market.
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How to Sell Travel on the Internet is a new book by Henry Woodman, President of the ICE (Internet Content Exchange) Portal which aims to take the mystery out of terms such as rich media, streaming videos, unique visitors, web shows, e-books, VRs, SEO, SEM and many more cryptic internet acronyms. The book costs US$12.95 and is available from Amazon.
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The evolution of internet users' digital media and online habits appears to be transitioning to the digital video age, according to the most recent findings from The Face of the Web, the annual study by Ipsos Insight into internet and technology trends. The report is available to subscribers on the Ipsos website.
Key Article
Climate Change and Tourism:
The work starts here...
The tourism sector has a vital role to play in the increasing awareness of climate change and urgently needs to adapt to its consequences and mitigate the industry's impact, according to the World Tourism Organization ( UNWTO).
As the lead UN agency for tourism, UNWTO underscores the urgency of developing a coherent strategy on climate change and has applauded the Pacific Asia Travel Association ( PATA)'s CEO Challenge as a vital step in the global effort to lead the travel and tourism industry's response to climate change.
UNWTO Secretary General, Francesco Frangialli, said: 'UNWTO is working hard to ensure that the tourism sector plays its part effectively. We welcome PATA's CEO Challenge, which will be an important leadership contribution to this effort and a keystone building block in our industry's long-term drive to minimise our carbon footprint,' he added.
Virgin Group Chairman Sir Richard Branson said: 'I strongly welcome PATA's initiative to address the issue of global warming from the perspectives of both aviation and tourism. Global warming is the biggest challenge facing mankind today and we must all do everything possible to reach a consensus on how to meet it. PATA's CEO Challenge comes at a very timely moment.'
 PATA's CEO Challenge is the fourth in a series of forthcoming leadership events on this topical theme: starting with UNWTO's second Climate Change and Tourism conference in Davos, Switzerland, October 1-3; a tourism ministerial meeting in London in November; and, in April 2008, the airline community's third Aviation and Environment Summit in Geneva.
Hosted by the Tourism Authority of Thailand, and organised in partnership with the Centre for Asia Pacific Aviation (CAPA) and the Burba Hotel Network (BHN), PATA's CEO Challenge 2008: Confronting Climate Change will take place in Bangkok, April 29-30, 2008. To register, visit the PATA website.
Destination Brand Watch
Destination loyalty drives the majority of decisions about where to go on vacation according to a new 2007 telephone survey conducted for the US Tour Operators Association ( USTOA). Two-thirds (66%) of 1,000 consumers polled said that place is the most important factor when planning a vacation. Price and value are also important elements, but for this majority group, they tend to be considered after the destination decision has been made.
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 Vancouver has once again topped the list of the Economist Intelligence Unit ( EUI) Global Liveability Rankings. The organisation reviewed 132 cities worldwide on 40 indicators grouped in to five categories: stability, healthcare, culture and environment, education and infrastructure. "A ranking such as this is a real statement about the desirability of our destination," said Tourism Vancouver chair Smith Munro. "The elements that make Vancouver such a great place to live translate into making this a safe, exciting and welcoming place for visitors."
The EUI's Global Liveability Rankings report is part of their Worldwide Cost of Living Survey. The survey gives a rating of 0 - 100% on each of the 40 criteria and judges a city with a lower score to be the more attractive destination.
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Australia is the coolest country in the world, according to a recent survey of 2,000 STA Travel customers by CoolBrands, the organisation behind the annual coolest brands and celebrities list.
Australia beat neighbours New Zealand and backpackers' favourite, Thailand, which came in 2nd and 3rd respectively. Despite recent image problems and the damage inflicted on 'brand America' from its foreign policy, the USA still claims fourth place.
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They're known around the world for their lack of smiles, but that's all set to change with the launch of the first Paris Tourist Day, aimed at encouraging residents of the French capital to be more welcoming to tourists.
The initiative is co-ordinated by Paris tourism officials in an effort to reverse the city's unfriendly image. Cab drivers and waiters are encouraged to try out their language skills, take the time to help visitors, and to understand the importance of tourism to the economy. Tourists, too, are being encouraged to try out French products rather than heading to MacDonalds or Starbucks.
Dates for Your Diary
Some key events for tourism destination professionals taking place over the coming months:
The 2nd UNWTO International Conference on Climate Change and Tourism is organised with the United Nations Environment Programme ( UNEP) and supported by the World Economic Forum ( WEF). The conference takes place Switzerland on the 1st – 3rd October.
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The Scottish Enterprise Sustainable Tourism Conference takes place in Edinburgh on the 2nd October and will provide first hand accounts in sustainable tourism success from a wide range of tourism speakers. More info...
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The EyeForTravel Travel Distribution Executive Conference will be held in Las Vegas, between the 9th and 10th October. The event will provide a chance to hear expert predictions from leading suppliers and third party sites on the future of travel distribution.
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A seminar / workshop, organised by UNWTO, on New Opportunities for Public Private Co-operation in Tourism Management will be held on the 22nd – 24th October in Benin.
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The EyeForTravel Sales and Marketing in Travel Europe Conference is returning to Berlin on the 23rd and 24th October for its 8th year. This event provides the opportunity to benchmark your marketing efforts against industry leaders and innovators.
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The 46th ICCA Congress and Exhibition, incorporating the ICCA General Assembly, will be held in Thailand from the 27th – 31st October. For more information, visit the ICCA website.
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The 2nd World Tourism Marketing Summit takes the theme of The Power of Marketing and will be held in Beijing, China, between the 28th – 30th October.
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The International Conference on Tourism, Religions and Dialogue of Cultures is organised by UNWTO and will be held in Spain on the 29th – 31st October. Information can be downloaded from the UNWTO website.
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Interested in finding out more about the future of travel distribution in Central and Eastern Europe? Check out the EyeForTravel Distribution Central and Eastern Europe 2007 event being held in the Czech Republic on the 5th and 6th November.
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The PhoCusWright Conference, held in Florida, USA, between the 12th and 15th November, aims to challenge the status quo for travel industry executives and bring the most important topics impacting this industry into focus. Find out more * * *
 Staged annually in London, World Travel Market is a business to business exhibition. WTM provides an opportunity for the global travel trade industry to meet, network and stay abreast of the latest industry developments.
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China: The Future of Travel in 2007 is a one-day conference held during the World Travel Market on the 14th November. The forum will include an assessment of recent changes in China's tourism industry, new trends, policies and major players.
Conference Highlights
A seminar and conference on the Policies, Strategies and Tools for Sustainable Development of Tourism was organised by the World Tourism Organization ( UNWTO) earlier this year, in conjunction with the Government of Kazakhstan. Conclusions and presentations have just been made available:
Tourism and sustainable development: The current imperatives
A presentation by Gabor Vereczi, Programme Officer, Sustainable Development of Tourism Department, UNWTO. (PDF, 380 KB).
Long-term tourism strategy of Hungary
A presentation by Zoltán Somogyi, President, Hungarian Tourist Authority. (PDF, 340 KB).
The national ecotourism strategy of Bulgaria
A presentation by Liliana Veselinova, Bulgarian State Agency for Tourism. (PDF, 410 KB).
Sustainable tourism policies and strategies in Croatia
A presentation by Zdenko Micic, State Secretary for Tourism, Croatia. (PDF, 9.75 MB).
Community based tourism development in Kyrgyzstan
A presentation by Helen Santiago Fink, Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe. (PDF, 6 MB).
Strategy of tourism development
A presentation by Ljubica Milojevic, Special Advisor to the Minister, Permanent Representative of Serbia & Montenegro to UNWTO. (PDF, 2.4 MB).
Romania: natural and cultural
A presentation by Luminita Panait, Counsellor, National Tourism Authority, Romania. (PDF, 4.8 MB).
Indicators application and destination monitoring in Europe
A presentation by Ghislain Dubois, UNWTO Expert on Indicators. (PDF, 3.2 MB).
National carrying capacity assessment and application in Malta
A presentation by Francis Albani, Director of Tourism, Malta. (PDF, 740 KB).
DestiNet: A European information portal on sustainable tourism
Mr. Gordon Sillence, Ecotrans. (PDF, 2.3 MB).
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International News
New York:
Campaign welcomes visitors
The mayor of New York last month launched a new campaign... Just Ask the Locals. The initiative is the city’s first ever five-borough marketing and ad campaign aimed at making visitors feel more welcome, to thank them for visiting and to help them find their way around the city.
The campaign includes outdoor advertising, insider tips from celebrity residents including Robert DeNiro and Julianne Moore, and a new tourism website.
Other elements include colour maps providing guided tours of celebrity residents' favourite neighbourhoods and top ten tip cards distributed in hotels and by tourism ambassadors on the streets.
PATA:
Gold Award winners
Cultural heritage and environmental tourism were the dominant themes of the winning entries in this year’s Pacific Asia Travel Association ( PATA) Gold Awards.
The Best of Show Grand Awards went to India’s Ministry of Tourism for its Incredible India campaign (marketing category), the Macau Government Tourist Office ( MGTO) for its 2006 Macau World Heritage Year campaign (heritage category), and the Six Senses Resorts and Spas, Thailand (environment category).
Tourism:
Travellers seek more sustainable options
A new global survey by Lonely Planet reveals that travellers are keen to make significant changes to their behaviour to travel sustainably. Lonely Planet’s annual Travellers’ Pulse survey, which polled over 24,500 people worldwide, showed 84% of respondents said they would consider offsetting their emissions in the future, where only 31% had done so in the past.
70% of travellers said they had purposefully travelled in a low-impact way in the past, (for example catching a bus rather than flying) and over 90% of people said they would or might do so in the future.
Travellers also have good intentions when it comes to protecting the environment. Although 36% of people had never purposefully considered the environment in their past travels, 93% of people said they would or might purposefully take part in environmentally friendly travel in the future.
Travel:
Top 25 changes
From online booking and paperless tickets to those lengthy security checks, the travel landscape has shifted dramatically over the past quarter-century.
A new list by the USA Today travel team highlights the top 25 changes in the way we travel today. The list includes the rise of low-cost airlines, GPS navigation and flying beds.
Market Segmentation:
New guide available
A free downloadable guide from Omniture offers advice on engaging and converting customers through segment-specific content, along with tips for using behavioural, demographic and psychographic segmentation.
The guide is available from the Omniture website. Registration is required.
e-Business News
Canada:
Links with RealTravel
RealTravel, the travel blogging site, and the Canadian Tourism Commission ( CTC) are to link up, enabling travellers to find and share travel advice on the CTC's tourism website.
'RealTravel is one of the leaders in social media, and its ability to easily integrate the blogging service and top-rated travel blogs into our site allows the CTC to improve our website content - and better engage people considering Canada as a place to visit, said Jens Thraenhart, CTC executive director of e-Marketing.
'This innovative edge initiative creates value for the Canadian tourism industry and relevancy for travellers, all with the goal to leverage the power of the internet to increase tourism to Canada.' The project plans to add additional travel planning tools, mapping and more collaborative features with the Canadian tourism industry.
Internet:
Preferred to friends' advice
Three in five adults agreed they are turning to the internet for vacation recommendations (61%) on where to go, compared with only 40% who said they rely on family and friends for help, according to a recent survey on internet users by Yahoo Travel.
China:
Internet usage up
The China Internet Network Information Center's ( CINIC) latest Statistical Survey Report on the Internet Development in China reveals that the country now has 162 million internet users, second only to the US. And, the number of users is rising by 100 every minute.
In 2006, China's online travel market was valued at over US$200, a growth of 82% over 2005. The number of Chinese travellers booking online has increased by more than 70% from the previous year, according to a new study by iResearch Consulting.
In the rest of Asia, it's a similar picture, with travellers turning to the internet rather than travel agencies. Recent research by booking agency, HotelClub reveals that more than half now use the internet to research travel purchases, with word of mouth just 26%.
Domain Names:
New .mobi suffix for cities
dotMobi, the company behind .mobi – the internet address designed specifically for mobile phones – has made around 650 city names available to city governments. Neil Edwards, CEO of dotMobi, said: "dotMobi gives consumers low-cost access to information they need, where and how they need it.
"Cities will be able to use their .mobi sites to provide important city-related information to local citizens. These sites will also be able to provide compelling local information for visitors and help increase local tourist dollars."
Holland:
First Virtual Tourist Board
The Netherlands Board of Tourism and Conventions has launched a new Web 2.0 based website and a virtual National Tourism Board.
The new website offers a quick and easy way to find information about travel to Holland, with users contributing content that is then made available to others through XML and RSS feeds.
The world's first virtual National Tourism Board is a 3D world built and owned by its residents which showcases the best of Holland. "Both Holland.com 2.0 and www.hollandsecondlife.com are delivering consumers the next generation of travel research on the web and the Netherlands Board of Tourism is proud to be part of that," said Director, Conrad van Tiggelen.
Montréal:
New podcast and blog sites
Tourisme Montréal has launched a new podcast site and an interactive blog. The sites, developed as part of Tourisme Montréal's annual leisure campaign for the American market, have been designed to allow internet users to discover Montréal's many different facets through their exciting audiovisual content.
The podcast concept includes audio capsules combined with text and video files that discuss the week's cultural and sports events in addition to top attractions. The blog site provides a platform for sharing feedback.
Thailand:
Free online consultations
The new Thailand Wonders website, developed by the Tourism Authority of Thailand, offers free online travel consultations. The feature, called the Online Concierge, offers information, suggestions, recommendations and help from local experts who will even plan a full trip if required.
VisitBritain:
Links with satnav provider
VisitBritain is to team up with satellite navigation provider, TomTom.
Routes to over 17,000 quality assessed accommodation, ranging from B&Bs and hotels to campsites and holiday parks, as well as 5,000 attractions and over 500 Tourist Information Centres, can be accessed and downloaded from the VisitBritain website. Icons will appear on the satnav screen when approaching attractions, tourist information centres and hotels.
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