| Special Features |
Tsunami:
The travel and tourism industry unites
The sudden and violent devastation wrought by the Indian Ocean tsunami has impacted on the lives of millions throughout the world. This special report looks at steps that are being taken to ensure that tourism recovers at the earliest opportunity. More...
 BestCities.net:
A glimpse behind the scenes
BestCities.net is the world's only global convention and visitor bureau and alliance... but what is it like to be one of the elite? We ask Paul Vallee, Executive Vice President of Tourism Vancouver, the Greater Vancouver Convention & Visitors Bureau, to give us a firsthand account. More...
|
| The DMO World Destination Branding Master Class |
Mountains don't smile back
Much has been written about destination branding with some claiming that it is entirely different from branding consumer goods or services. But is it?
In the first of a series of Destination Branding Master Classes, TEAM tourism and branding specialist, George Whitfield, reveals the truths behind the confusion. More... |
| Key Articles |
Events:
ENTER 2005 tackles e-business theme
E-business is here... but what's next? That's the challenging theme of a travel and tourism IT conference taking place in Austria this week.
Now in its twelfth year, ENTER will bring together top-ranking practitioners, researchers, destination managers and consultants to debate key aspects of e-business in the travel and tourism sector.
The theme of this year's conference has been chosen to reflect the tremendous impact of new technologies on the industry and delegates will be given the opportunity to learn more about some of the new developments and systems that are being implemented by leading businesses and destinations worldwide.
ENTER regularly attracts over 400 international delegates and a popular feature of previous conferences has been the involvement of leading academics and researchers. The programme will incorporate an extensive research track to complement a series of highly-focused business sessions.
The conference will take place in Innsbruck between the 26th and 28th January. More information about the speakers and the provisional programme can be found on the IFITT website.
Tourism and E-business:
The latest trends in internet usage
DMOs are investing heavily in website development as part of their promotional activity, but how easy is it to keep up-to-date with the latest trends in internet usage?
The European Travel Commission (ETC) has developed its New Media Review website specifically to provide National Tourist Organisations, DMOs and their partners with the most comprehensive and up-to-date information on how the internet is accessed worldwide.
The site is updated on a weekly basis by TEAM on behalf of the ETC. It covers 56 countries with dedicated sections for each country on the use of broadband and mobile devices, travel industry developments and demographics. A useful graphs section also allows users to draw comparisons between different countries.
 Rob Franklin, executive director of the ETC commented: "Our vision is for ETC to be a research based, new media and e-marketing focused organisation and the New Media Review website is a project that supports these aims. NTOs and their partners can access the specific data they need to inform their marketing plans and help them with their own research."
The site is managed for the ETC by a small working group led by Anton Nijboer, consultant and project manager for the Netherlands Board of Tourism and Conventions. "Many sources provide information on internet usage, but none covers as many countries as New Media Review, or has the same focus on travel research and bookings", said Anton. "More than 60 sources of data are checked each month and DMOs can use the data to assess the trends and forecasts that are most relevant for their own markets."
The site is freely accessible and it is also possible to subscribe to a monthly e-newsletter highlighting the latest news and trends in new media usage.
USA:
New York signs deal with History Channel
A new co-branding deal, between New York and cable TV's History Channel, has been agreed.
 New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg said the deal will bring $19.5 million to the city, including $15 million worth of free ads on The History Channel, a $3.5 million contribution towards the creation of an official New York History Center and other historic preservation projects, plus $1 million in free programming.
In return, the History Channel will benefit from advertising space on bus shelters, street pole banners and phone kiosks during the 3.5 year partnership.
Mayor Bloomberg commented: "The deal is an exceptionally innovative way to help showcase New York City's rich history and diverse cultural heritage."
ABTA Holiday Survey 2004:
1 in 5 package holidaymakers in the UK book online
A new survey, carried out for the Association of British Travel Agents (ABTA) by MORI, reveals that 19% of holidaymakers in the UK now book online. This is around six times the number of people that were using the internet to book a holiday four years ago.
The 2004 survey found that low price was the main reason people choose to book online, although over two-thirds (70%) said that they would return to using travel agents if they offered better deals. Holidaymakers continue to have higher levels of trust in travel agents than the internet, with 75% using agencies to plan their trips and 57% preferring to research online. However, 71% with broadband access confirmed that they viewed travel sites more often.
A free two page key point summary of the survey is available for free download (PDF file) from the ABTA website.
Events:
Think Tank on Managing Risk for Sustainable Tourism
Recent events in the Indian Ocean will encourage many DMOs to revisit the relationship between risk management and sustainable tourism. Now, tourism professionals, academics and government representatives are being invited to contribute to a new three-day Think Tank, to be held in Jamaica in June this year.
The event - Managing Risk and Crisis for Sustainable Tourism: Research and Innovation - is the fifth annual international Think Tank to be organised by the BEST Education Network. The programme will include specialist presentations along with workshops aimed at developing the tools needed to identify, reduce and manage risk in the context of sustainable tourism development. The results of the Think Tank workshops will lead to the development of curriculum modules for use in undergraduate education around the world.
The BEST Education Network is an international consortium of education professionals, committed to developing and improving knowledge of sustainable tourism issues. For more details, visit the BESTEN website.
Sustainable Tourism:
New guidelines for destination indicators published
 The importance of using indicators to monitor a destination's specific environmental and socio-economic issues has been highlighted in new guidelines by the World Tourism Organization (WTO).
The guidebook - Indicators of Sustainable Development for Tourism Destinations - has been published following an extensive study involving over 60 experts from more than 20 counties.
 Eugenio Yunis, Head of the WTO Sustainable Development Department, commented: "Measuring the success of tourism has traditionally concentrated in its economic dimension. However, tourism infrastructures and facilities, as well as the activities undertaken by tourists have a much wider range of positive and negative impacts on destinations and host societies, including those of environmental and socio-cultural character. Well preserved environmental and cultural features are part of a quality tourism experience and are, today, fundamental to the success of the tourism sector."
 The new guidebook covers over forty key sustainability issues, including climate change, the preservation of cultural heritage, economic leakages, and the management of natural resources. Procedures for developing destination-specific indicators are also included, along with comprehensive examples and a variety of case studies.
A downloadable version of the guide is available from the WTO website, priced at 50€. A series of practical workshops for tourism managers on the use of indicators will be available soon.
Tourism and architecture:
Conference to be hosted by Oman
A three-day conference - Built Environments for Sustainable Tourism (BEST): Sustainability, Cultural Diversity and Destination Image - will be held next month (5th - 8th February) in Oman. The event has been organised by the Sultanate of Oman, in conjunction with UNESCO and the World Tourism Organization (WTO).
Among the key themes of the conference are heritage and adaptive re-use for tourism purposes, design and construction of modern tourism facilities and local regeneration through sustainable tourism. The conference will examine case studies of successful examples of tourism architecture and look at the principles, guidelines and specific criteria that should be applied to the design of tourism infrastructure.
The event will also highlight examples of best architectural practice and the ways that these principles and guidelines can be disseminated globally. For more information, visit the WTO website.
|
| Research and Reports - What's New |
Keeping up-to-date with the latest industry research and reports can be difficult. This section of DMO World has been created to make life a little easier for you...
The European Travel Commission has, over the past 7 years, invested more than € 1 million in an ambitious research programme, managed by its specialist research group. This group has brought together a unique network of tourism researchers from the ETC's 33 member NTOs, resulting in some important new research studies on tourism to Europe.
Details of the ETC's latest projects and publications are now profiled in the first edition of Research Highlights, a newsletter issued by the group, which can be downloaded in PDF format from the ETC website.
* * *
City Tourism and Culture: The European Experience is the title of a new report, commissioned jointly by the World Tourism Organization (WTO) and the European Travel Commission (ETC).
 The report offers important new insights into the evolution of European cities as cultural tourism destinations and provides valuable data on consumer profiles, travel patterns, marketing trends and performance data. The full report will soon be available on both the ETC and WTO websites.
* * *
International tourism data, collected between May and August 2004, indicate some significant increases in visitor figures for many destinations. For instance, statistics for August suggest that the number of worldwide international tourist arrivals broke through the 90 million barrier for the first time.
The WTO World Tourism Barometer provides the industry with short-term reviews of international statistics, such as arrivals, receipts and expenditure, plus an evaluation by a WTO panel of tourism experts. Copies of the publication are available on the WTO website.
* * *
The World Travel ... Tourism Council (WTTC) has released the 2004 World Travel and Tourism Competitiveness Monitor. The new statistics provide both an at-a-glance profile of over 200 individual nations plus an option to compare selected countries in categories such as price competitiveness, openness, infrastructure development and environmental awareness.
WTTC President, Jean-Claude Baumgarten, said: "We are delighted that the monitor, now in its fourth year, continues to be a vital tool for governments and researchers to track the impact of policy decisions on tourism development."
The monitor can be accessed via the WTTC website
* * *
With nearly one in four online travel buyers now booking flights, car hire and/or accommodation in a single transaction, the importance of dynamic packaging in the leisure travel industry is clear.
A new report from Travel Tech Consulting Inc. and PhoCusWright Inc. - Selling Complex Leisure Travel Online: A Focus on Dynamic Packaging Technology - provides an in-depth look at the technology and strategies behind dynamic packaging.
The report is on sale online with statistical information and company profiles available as a free download.
|
| Job Alert |
Marketing Opportunity in LA
An experienced travel professional, with 7 - 10 years experience in hospitality sales and marketing, is needed to help promote Los Angeles as a premier travel destination.
A strong knowledge of the travel industry, distribution channels, product development and customer relations is needed.
For more details contact Diane Krueger or fax 001-213-452-1403. |
|
| In This Edition...
|
E-business: what's next?
Internet usage stats revealed
NY deal with History Channel
Sustainable tourism guidelines
Tourism + architecture focus
Risk management event
RESEARCH AND REPORTS
Global travel portals go trad
SA National Geographic deal
Glasgow Style brand success
Hotels needed in Singapore
BVI tourism standards initiative
Major online initiative for Dublin
Philadephia's Wi-Fi network
EnglandNet latest
City Cards website launch
New .travel domain name
E-training for travel trade
.Net technology for cities
JOB ALERT
|
| International News |
Leisure Activities:
New direction for online travel providers
Expedia and Travelocity.com, two of the best known providers of online travel services, are set to expand into new areas later this month, following their decision to open a series of small kiosks in some of the major tourist destinations.
Both companies believe that the move will help them reach new customers who have not previously booked travel services online and, by locating many of the kiosks in hotels, they aim to capture a bigger share of the valuable leisure activities market.
South Africa:
New showcase deal with National Geographic
South African Tourism has concluded a multi-million rand deal with National Geographic. SAT CEO Moeketsi Mosola, said: "Our intention is to leverage our new brand at the highest levels worldwide. There is no better way to speak to a global audience that is both adventurous and in search of the extraordinary than through the National Geographic platform. We fully intend to break new ground with this initiative."
The campaign will run until March 2005, incorporating nearly 1,000 television inserts plus promotional print.
Branding:
Glasgow reaps rewards
Launched less than a year ago, Glasgow's branding campaign is being heralded as one of the UK's most ambitious and successful marketing initiatives.
The campaign - Glasgow: Scotland with Style - is aimed at increasing the city's position in the European league table in terms of employment, investment and increased tourism revenue. The new brand capitalises on the city's link with Charles Rennie Mackintosh and the 'Glasgow Style' movement of the early 1900s, while placing it within a Scottish context.
Since the launch of the campaign, 162,000 additional tourists have visited the city, spending over £18.8 million, and both city hotel occupancy rates and conference sales have increased.
Singapore:
More hotels needed to support tourism drive
More hotels are needed if Singapore is to achieve its target of doubling the current number of tourists from a little over 8 million in 2004 to 17 million by 2015.
The Singapore tourism industry is confident that air travel to the country can support the anticipated increase, but believes that the current number of hotels (215) is not enough to cope with such a dramatic rise in visitor numbers.
Government spending on tourism is expected to triple to around $2 billion to help drive forward this new initiative.
The Caribbean:
BVI upgrades tourism service standards
The British Virgin Islands' hospitality sector is to benefit from the introduction of a new tourism industry service standards programme. The BVI minister of tourism commented: "I am confident the programme and the implementation of higher, more comprehensive service standards, alongside professional training and measurement, will greatly enhance the BVI tourism product. This will in turn ensure an enhanced quality of life throughout the territory."
Dublin:
New marketing innovations to combat visitor downturn
An international marketing drive, aimed at reversing a four year downward trend in visitor figures, has been launched by Dublin Tourism.
The campaign will include a new website developed for the travel trade, a revised city tourist map, new posters, and a six minute promotional DVD targeting overseas travel agents and tour operators.
|
| E-Business News |
Technology:
Growth of Wi-Fi networks
A free Wi-Fi network, covering 135 square miles (350 sq. km), is to be built in Philadelphia over the next two years, at a cost of $10 million. Other cities, including Amsterdam and Paris, look set to follow suit with similar plans for installing city-wide 'hot spots'.
Research suggests that, by 2008, the global number of Wi-Fi users could top 700 million - double the estimated number of 3G users. Currently, there are around 5 million Wi-Fi users worldwide, spending an annual $1.7 billion on equipment.
EnglandNet:
Integrated destination and hotel data now available
The EnglandNet project has taken another step forward with the integration of destination and accommodation data from across Britain.
EnglandNet is a government-funded infrastructure of online services, which aims to facilitate the creation of trade and consumer communities, provide brochure publishing and marketing services for regional tourist boards, and enable national distribution over the internet to both end-consumers and travel agencies.
European Cities Tourism:
City cards website launch
European Cities Tourism has launched a new website, which will enable visitors to buy city passes for 38 major European destinations in 22 countries in a single transaction.
City cards offer travellers free admission or discounts at museums and attractions, in restaurants and shops, as well as providing users with visitor information.
European Cities Tourism is a leading professional tourism network, set up to promote the interests of tourism in cities across Europe. ECT connects 95 major official city tourist organisations from 30 countries across Europe. More...
The Internet:
Travel industry to adopt new .travel domain
A new internet domain for the travel industry is expected to become available later this year. The industry-sponsored .travel domain has been established following an independent evaluation process by the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN), and will be available to all recognised travel and tourism organisations.
The availability of a .travel domain is expected to help improve internet identity, increase the use of online technology in the tourism industry and enhance consumer confidence. Not everyone in the tourism industry agrees that it is really necessary. What do you think? Please let us know.
For more information, visit the ICANN website.
E-training:
New specialist programme
Overseas travel agents and tour operators with responsibility for marketing Wales have been given a new boost following the launch of an innovative e-training programme.
The modular course, developed by the Wales Tourist Board, is available on the WTB travel trade website and has been designed to increase understanding and specialist knowledge of topics such as Welsh history and mythology, culture and customs. Participants will also have access to course handbooks and CD-ROMs.
France:
.Net technology utilised
The Nantes Metropole Tourist Office is the latest DMO to implement the Citybreak™ Destination Management Solution (DMS). Citybreak™ uses .Net technology to help destinations build more effective relationships with visitors, suppliers and industry partners.Citybreak™ is an internet based travel technology solution developed by the Visit Technology Group.
|
|
Welcome