As the internet has become a critical marketing medium for most destinations, the need for DMOs (Destination Marketing Organisations) to access affordable and relevant market intelligence about developments in the online marketplace has increased substantially. Destination professionals are under increasing pressure to keep up-to-date with new technologies and online innovations whilst, at the same time, continuing to exploit traditional channels, with limited and sometimes decreasing budgets.

Destination World has teamed up with industry analysts, PhoCusWright, to enable DMOs working in partnerships to access the world's best research and analysis about the rapidly evolving online marketplace, at a bargain price. Here we outline the results of some of PhoCusWright's recent research, introduce you to a list of nineteen reports that we think will be of particular interest to DMOs and explain how you can find out more about the special offer for DMOs.

So, please read on for more information about this exceptional opportunity.

Roger Carter
Managing Editor

The Next Platform for Travel

As new mobile applications are launched on platforms such as the iPhone and BlackBerry, the travel industry is becoming a prime landscape for the use of mobile functionality - from information distribution and alerts to mobile booking capabilities.

A new report from PhoCusWright, Mobile: The Next Platform for Travel reviews mobile technologies, explores travellers' attitudes toward mobile functionality, and quantifies the growth and business value of mobile as a communications and booking channel.

The report approaches the mobile revolution from all angles and offers the insight needed to launch a successful mobile strategy. Topics include the mobile travel features that are most important to leisure and business travellers, consumer willingness to pay for mobile functionality, and details of the technologies that will drive the use of mobile within the travel industry.

Travel Goes Green

More than four out of ten US travellers consider environmental impact to be important when planning travel, yet only 8 percent of green travellers consider it easy to find green travel options.

As the green movement continues to influence consumer travel decisions, it is essential that travel industry professionals understand the potential impact on buyer motivation. PhoCusWright's new report Going Green, The Business Impact on Environmental Awareness on Travel examines the business impact of green thinking and decision-making and offers advice on how to promote social responsibility and create competitive advantage at the same time.

The report covers topics such as the current consumer trend for green travel and the effects of economic conditions. It also offers advice on the best way to communicate green practices and sheds light on green ratings systems.

Step Inside the Minds of Mobile Travellers

Mobile technologies have major implications for DMOs. As well as presenting a real challenge to the traditional ways of disseminating information, mobile now offers much more.

To date, travel industry efforts have been largely limited to creating scaled-down versions of websites formatted for mobile... but is this keeping the consumer happy? What services and functionality do they really want?

Learning to Think Like a Mobile Traveler, a report from PhoCusWright, suggests that, while mobile-compatible websites are a good first step, more is needed to take advantage of the unique contexts in which travellers use their mobile devices. Rather than just treating mobile as a smaller screen for viewing websites, the report says that the travel industry will not begin to reap the benefits until they introduce a wider range of mobile offerings such as text services, podcasts, digital guidebooks, mapping, subscriber lists, etc.

US Market Prospects

With the recession in full swing and leisure and corporate travellers alike pulling back, the total US travel market will decline 11 percent in 2009 to approximately USD 241 billion. Although online travel will see a decline also, it will still far outperform the broader travel market and return to positive growth much sooner, according to new research from PhoCusWright.

The US Online Travel Overview, which covers more than one third of the total travel marketplace, reveals that the online leisure / unmanaged business travel market is now more or less mature and far more susceptible to broader swings in the economy and the total travel marketplace.

Accessible Data for Destination Marketers

Keeping up with new technologies is a particular challenge facing today's destination professionals. To help them both compete using the most cost-effective routes to market, including partnerships with online travel agencies and other intermediaries, DMOs need up-to-date intelligence on the online marketplace.

Here are just a few highlights from the range of PhoCusWright reports.

• US Online Travel Overview
• US Consumer Travel Report
• European Online Travel Overview, general version and all individual countries (UK, Germany, France, Italy, Spain and Scandinavia)
• European Consumer Travel Trends Survey
• PhoCusWright's India Online Travel Overview
• The Emerging Online Travel Marketplace in China - will be available in October 2009
• Understanding the Role and Impact of Destination Marketers
• Going Green: The Business Impact of Environmental Awareness on Travel
• Mobile: The Next Platform for Travel
• Pan-European Online Travel Agencies
• Learning to Think Like a Mobile Traveler
• Travel Apps for the iPhone: The First Wave (Technology Edition only)
• A Winning Philosophy for Travel Related Web-Site Design (Technology Edition only)
• Ten Things to Expect (Including the Unexpected) in Online Travel in 2009
• 2009 technology Trend Predictions (Technology Edition only)
• Search, Shop, Buy - Inside the Tangled Web
• The Facebook Phenomenon (Technology Edition only)
• The US Travel Agency Distribution Landscape 2006 - 2009
• US Groups & Meetings: Market Opportunity Redefined

These are just a few of the most popular publications - click on the link provided here to view the Complete List of research material available via a Global Subscription or to take a look at the PhoCusWright Upcoming Publications list.

A Profile...

PhoCusWright has been providing travel, tourism and hospitality industry intelligence since 1994.

Through its qualitative and quantitative research on the evolving dynamics that influence travel, tourism and hospitality distribution, PhoCusWright provides marketplace intelligence that is the industry standard for segmentation, sizing, forecasting, trends, analysis and consumer travel planning behaviour.

A Growing Role

New research, recently published by PhoCusWright, reveals that more than 80 percent of consumers who utilise a DMO visit their website. Yet, on average, only 37 percent of a DMO's marketing budget is spent online.

For destination marketers, the explosion of online consumer tools and technologies provides unprecedented potential to connect with travellers and promote their destinations in new and effective ways. At the same time, they face challenges that are forcing many to take a close look at what they need to do to remain competitive and relevant.

Destination Marketing: Understanding the Role and Impact of Destination Marketers highlights DMO strategic priorities, identifies best practices in advertising and website management, and discusses the influence of DMOs on destination choice and purchasing decisions.

The Year's Top Technology Trends

At the start of each year, the analysts at PhoCusWright take a fresh look at the technologies and innovations that have the potential to drive change in the travel, tourism and hospitality industry.

Bob Offutt, senior technology analyst, explains: 'Innovation is at the very heart of the travel industry and these ten technology trends will reshape the way consumers search, shop and buy travel.'

The 2009 Technology Trend Predictions have been carefully selected from a plethora of global business and technology initiatives, with each trend weighed for its business value and potential to change the face of travel. Each prediction includes a technology overview, examples and a section on business implications.

Achieving a Winning Philosophy

Website design has matured substantially over the years as tools and design concepts have become more sophisticated. Many of the early groundbreaking sites that were considered 'leading edge' in their day look primitive in today's world.

A Winning Philosophy for Travel Related Web-Site Design presents new ideas for creating desirability, usability and usefulness in a modern website and offers suggestions for how to develop a compelling travel e-commerce site. There are tips throughout the report on subjects such as navigation tools, the importance of response times, use of menus and user-friendly aids, plus situational understanding.

Combine Forces and Enjoy All The Benefits

A PhoCusWright research subscription is an innovative way of providing DMOs with access to a range of facts, figures and forecasts, as well as trends, analysis, insight and commentary, via sophisticated online search tools.

Up until now, the cost of subscriptions has been beyond the resources of all but the largest DMOs. Now, for the first time, Destination World's parent company, TEAM, is able to offer the opportunity for DMOs to combine forces at national or regional level to jointly purchase a subscription, each of them enjoying full benefits.

So What Are The Benefits?

Where DMOs come together in a consortium and buy a PhoCusWright 'Global Edition' research subscription they will get:

• Unlimited online access to reports, articles and archived material
• Access to analysts' briefings and special webinars
• Regular data updates and alerts via RSS feed and e-mail
• Discounts for PhoCusWright events
• Exclusive opportunities to take part in groundbreaking research projects

Global Edition
This subscription provides access to the widest range of intelligence resources and is best able to meet the needs of different types of DMOs. It includes access to market forecasts, segment data, consumer surveys, insight and commentary about travel markets in North America, Europe and Asia Pacific.

What Are The Costs?

This depends on the numbers of DMOs that are able to come together and form a subscriber group. The overall cost of ten DMOs signing up for a one year Global Edition subscription would be just USD 3,800 each. That's less than the cost of two premium reports and, what's more, every employee in every office would have full access to the research material via the PhoCusWright website.

Other Subscription Options

For smaller groups of DMOs, or those with a particular interest or focus, two other types of subscription are available:

European Edition
A highly targeted subscription focused on European travel trends and including relevant travel technology reports. Take a look at the list of publications that are available via a European Edition subscription.

Technology Edition
Features reviews of new technologies and innovations, allowing DMOs to better understand and leverage these technologies in order to improve online interactions with their customers. For more details about the research that's available via a Technology Edition subscription, take a look at the complete list.

The special offer for DMO partnerships relates primarily to the Global Edition, which provides access to the widest range of intelligence resources, able to meet the needs of different types of DMOs. However, a combined subscription to the Global Edition and the Technology Edition - availble at a discounted rate - offers access to an even more powerful set of resources.

Subscribe Now!

If you're interested in finding out more about this new approach to accessing market intelligence, contact Gaelle Connolly at TEAM Tourism Consulting for more information or call +44 1670 516 652 (GMT office hours).

Form a Subscriber Group

The more members your subscriber group has, the cheaper it will be for your organisation, however we realise that this may not be easy for you to organise. So, all that's needed is for you to register your interest and we'll put you in touch with other relevant DMOs. It's as simple as that.

Upcoming Webinars

We'll also be organising a series of webinars over the summer which will provide more information about the various research subscriptions that are available. To find out more contact Gaelle Connolly (details above).

Get the Latest Trends and Forecasts

Online bookings for leisure and unmanaged business travel accounted for EURO 59 billion, or 25 percent of the European travel market in 2007.

Yet although online travel is expected to continue its double-digit growth, it will decelerate significantly as the market starts to mature and PhoCusWright projects total market growth of approximately 3 percent in 2008, about half of that achieved in 2007. Despite the imminent slowdown in overall travel spending, the online travel segment is expected to increase by nearly 19 percent in 2008.

If you'd like to know more about the factors influencing market trends and the latest online developments in Europe, then you'll find the answers you need in PhoCusWright's European Online Travel Overview.

As well as highlighting consumer preferences and how they affect the purchase of travel online, the report also provides an update on the size of the European travel market, the market share of online travel agencies, comparisons of individual travel supplier segments and a market forecast up to 2010. Six key markets are covered: France, Germany, Italy, Scandinavia, Spain and the UK.

The next full edition of Destination World will be published later this month, with all the latest industry news, views and upcoming events for the travel and tourism professional.

There will also be special features on the pros and cons of social media, best practice for website evaluation, and a new look at destinations and information technology. Don't miss it!