Welcome
 With economic uncertainty in many parts of the world, we bring you the views of key figures in the travel and tourism industry about the impact on tourism, together with their predictions for the months ahead. UNWTO, PATA and the ETC all remain cautiously optimistic that tourism will continue to grow, albeit at a slower pace and with reductions in the amount consumers spend on their trips.
Also, our tourism security specialist, Peter Tarlow, offers his thoughts on dealing with event and festival security. And we bring you the latest research and reports, e-business and international news, plus upcoming events for the travel and tourism professional.
Roger Carter
Managing Editor
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Dealing with Festival Security: The summer and fall months are often filled with outdoor events which are wonderful opportunities to showcase a community but also carry risks. Security specialist, Dr Peter Tarlow, offers some advice on keeping festivals safe and secure.
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Research and Reports - What's New?
The Pacific Asia Travel Association ( PATA) has just launched the latest Asia
Pacific Tourism Forecasts. Created using up-to-date forecasting models by respected academics and industry experts, the PATA Forecasts are an important tool for researchers and marketers in travel and tourism.
 Now in its 7th edition, the Forecasts have proven highly accurate, with last year’s Forecasts falling within 3% of the actual. This year’s report covers the 2008 - 2010 period and provides forecasting metrics for a record 40 Asia Pacific economies, including detailed arrivals forecasts and trends analysis; departure forecasts; receipts forecasts; and accommodation projections.
The report is available to order online from the PATA website at a cost of USD 750 (members) or USD 1,500 (non-members).
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Euromonitor International's The World Market for Travel and Tourism report offers a comprehensive guide to the market at an international level. It looks at travel accommodation, transportation, car rental, tourist attractions and retail travel. It identifies the leading companies and offers strategic analysis of key factors influencing the market, including background information on disposable income, annual leave and holiday taking habits. The report can be bought online at a cost of GBP 5,075.
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The latest Tomorrow’s World scenario planning briefing from VisitScotland focuses on sports tourism.
Sport is a key part of the tourism product whether it's people participating in sporting activity or attendance at events. New research undertaken by the scenario planning team at VisitScotland and Glasgow Caledonian University looks at the importance of sport and tourism for Scotland’s economic wellbeing and what this means for the future.
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Online security is still a major concern for Americans travellers, according to new research by research specialists, Mintel. ‘Identity theft and online security are hot issues in the media, making them top-of-mind for consumers,’ said Susan Menke, senior analyst at Mintel.
In a recent consumer survey, Mintel found that two-thirds of adults (65 percent) are more concerned about online security now than they were five years ago. Over a quarter (28 percent) of respondents said they were ‘significantly’ more concerned.
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Despite all the doom and gloom and high fuel prices, more people are travelling in Europe and more people are booking online, generating around EUR 50 billion last year.
EyeforTravel’s new European Online Travel Report 2008 offers an insight into how European consumers buy travel and provides useful market data and strategic analysis. The report can be bought online from GBP 795 plus tax.
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 By 2030, China will be the world’s largest tourism destination, holidays in outer space will be the ultimate luxury experience, extreme Swedish ironing will be an Olympic sport, embedded technologies will be the norm in future tourists and skiing in the Alps will be no more. At least, that’s the view of travel futurologist, Ian Yeoman, in his new book Tomorrow’s Tourist: Scenarios and Trends.
Each chapter consists of a scenario about a future tourist, which is backed up with evidence and trends plus a number of assumptions about the future. The book is accompanied by its own website and includes chapter downloads, podcasts, scenario planning, trends and what ifs?
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Travel Trends: How Consumer Search Behavior is Changing is a new report from analysts, Hitwise, which provides insights into how US internet users are interacting with travel websites as a result of declining economic conditions.
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Keynote Competitive Research has undertaken a series of competitive research studies on the online travel industry which provide an in-depth examination of the online customer experience and service levels (responsiveness and reliability) of leading travel sites. Free research abstracts are available from the Keynote website.
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In 2007, PhoCusWright undertook a comprehensive study of the travel agency marketplace in the U.S., conducting both a market sizing exercise and travel agency survey. The purpose was to acquire a rich and complete picture of the total market size and opportunity, as well as to identify the key trends and dynamics shaping this key distribution channel. PhoCusWright’s Travel Agency Distribution Landscape: 2006 – 2009 is available online at a cost of USD 1,295.
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 Youth Travel Matters: Understanding the Global Phenomenon of Youth Travel is a new industry report published by the World Youth, Student and Educational Travel Confederation ( WYSE) and UNWTO, the World Tourism Organization.
This global overview reveals the latest trends in youth travel destinations, products and innovations, based on in-depth studies conducted by WYSE Travel Confederation and UNWTO over the past 5 years. The report is available from UNTWO’s e-library at a cost of EUR 40.
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A new paper by BrandChannel - Branding Pakistan - describes how Pakistan is viewed by the rest of the world and focuses on the need for the country to be marketed as a brand in order to achieve tourism success. The paper looks at examples and case studies (specifically Brand India) in detail and provides conclusions and recommendations.
Key Article
World Tourism:
Will global economic conditions affect tourism spend?
The headlines are full of stories of rising oil prices, soaring inflation and economic gloom but how will this affect global travel and tourism? Here's what some of the key figures in the industry had to say:
World Tourism Organization
UNWTO analysts confirm that tourism is holding up - for now. International tourist arrivals grew around 5% between January and April 2008, compared to the same period in 2007 and, although UNWTO is expecting tourism demand to continue to grow, it is expected to be at a slower pace over the remainder of the year.
However, analysts warn that the summer season in the northern hemisphere - traditionally the busiest period for international travel - will be a critical factor.
 'The extent of any tourism demand adjustment and its consequences for the sector will depend on how the economy evolves and consumers react, both of which are directly interrelated to oil and food prices,' commented UNWTO secretary-general Francesco Frangialli.
Pacific Asia Travel Association
PATA is remaining bullish about tourism arrivals throughout the Asia Pacific region but is also expecting some downward pressure on expenditure and length of stay due to tougher economic conditions.
John Koldowski, PATA Director - Strategic Intelligence, said that the industry was facing increasing business costs, driven by record high fuel prices and rising inflation throughout the region. 'While we believe there will still be strong growth in arrivals, in the range of 7 to 8 percent in 2008, there is some evidence to suggest that travellers are looking to economise by downgrading flights and accommodation or reducing their length of stay.'
Mr Koldowski noted that the hotel sector was banking on strong growth, with more than 1,500 new hotels, offering 360,000 rooms, in the construction pipeline. He said that while long-haul travel into the region may soften, intra-regional travel is likely to continue to grow.
The European Travel Commission
Short-term forecasts for Europe's tourism remain fairly good, according to the ETC. The region enjoyed another year of good growth in 2007, exceeding UNWTO's long-term forecast with international arrivals and overnight volume rising by between 4 and 5 percent. This result is especially impressive given that 2007 was a fairly uneventful year in terms of regional tourism draws.
 This growth has continued with a strong start to 2008, particularly among Europe's winter sports destinations such as Austria and France.
However, the ETC has identified a number of trends and developments that could have a negative impact throughout the remainder of 2008 and 2009. These include the strong Euro, European Union visa policies, concerns over the diversionary and stay-at-home effects of the 2008 Summer Olympics, and doubts over the performance of two key markets, the USA and Japan.
For more information, visit the UNWTO, PATA and ETC websites.
Research Opportunity
A quick reminder that Destination World is supporting some cutting-edge research into the uses and applications of ICT in sustainable tourism development and we are inviting readers to take part in a survey relating to this work.
The research, conducted by Alisha Ali, a PhD candidate at the UK's Queen Margaret University, will enable the development of a wide-ranging collection of ICT-based tools and applications. Please take the time to complete the survey.
Dates for Your Diary
Some key events for tourism destination professionals taking place over the next few weeks:
The Search Engine Strategies 2008 conference and expo will be held in California, USA, from the 18th to 22nd August. Marketers and webmasters will learn how to maximise their organisation's Search Engine Marketing (SEM) opportunities, including Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) and paid search advertising, in addition to staying informed of the latest industry, tools, and algorithm developments and solutions.
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The e-Tourism Southern Africa conference will be held in Johannesburg on the 1st and 2nd September, followed by three days of special training seminars for the tourist trade on the 3rd to 5th September.
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 Two distinct executive-level conferences have been organised by the Adventure Travel Trade Association ( ATTA): The Adventure Travel World Summit South America takes place in Brazil from the 3rd to 6th September and the Europe Summit will be held in Norway from the 21st to 25th October.
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Florida, USA, is the venue for The Trade Show, a travel retailing and destination expo, which is scheduled for the 7th to 9th September. This event will enable travel sellers, destinations and travel related companies to connect and establish new business relationships.
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The International Association of Scientific Experts in Tourism ( AIEST) will be holding the AIEST Congress 2008 in Canada from the 7th to 11th September.
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The World Youth and Student Travel Conference 2008 will be held in New York, USA, from the 13th to 17th September. The event aims to provide an opportunity for the diverse industries that serve today's young travellers and students with a global meeting point to come together, across sectors, and conduct business.
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The 4th UNWTO International Conference on Destination Management and Marketing will be held in Bordeaux, France, from the 16th to 17th September.
The presentation will focus on the principles and practice of planning and managing destinations to deliver a quality experience. Roger Carter will also lead a round table discussion on the identification and targeting of market segments to deliver high value tourism.
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This year's PATA Travel Mart 2008, organised by the Pacific Asia Travel Association ( PATA), will be held in Hyderabad, India, from the 16th to 19th September.
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The 3rd International Conference on Tourism and Handicrafts, organised by the World Tourism Organization ( UNWTO), will be held in Peru from the 24th to 26th September.
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 September 27th is the date set for the World Tourism Day 2008. For more information on activities taking place around the world, visit the UNWTO website.
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The EyeForTravel Sales and Marketing in Travel Europe Summit 2008 will take place on the 14th to 15th October, in Germany, and will offer two conference tracks this year: Online Marketing Strategies in Travel and Social Media Strategies in Travel.
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A workshop on Developing Tourism Statistics and the Tourism Satellite Account (TSA) Project will be held in the Philippines from the 21st to the 22nd October.
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The 1st International Institute for Peace through Tourism European Conference takes place in the Netherlands from the 21st to the 24th October and will focus on 'bridging the north-south divide through sustainable tourism development'.
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The Ecotourism and Sustainable Tourism Conference ( ESTC 2008) will be held in Canada from the 27th to the 29th October and aims to provide opportunities for business leaders, travel and tourism professionals and community members to gain knowledge of the latest trends in ecotourism and sustainable tourism, learn practical skills, and participate in invaluable networking and knowledge sharing.
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An international conference on measuring tourism economic contribution at sub-national levels will focus on regional tourism activities and their impact on employment and economic growth. Knowledge as a Value Added of Tourism Destinations will be held in Spain from the 29th to the 31st October.
Conference News
The Tourism Futures Conference:
Global Market, Competitive Edge
Building Australia's competitive edge in the global tourism market was the focus of this year's Tourism Futures Conference.
 The Sixth National Conference on Tourism Futures, held on the 2nd to 4th June 2008 on the Gold Coast, Queensland, had a record attendance of almost 450 delegates, comprising CEOs, tourism operators, industry representatives, policy makers, academics and researchers from across Australia and a strong presence from overseas industry colleagues who identified a range of key issues, trends and challenges facing the tourism industry.
Tony Charters convened the 2008 conference and was faced by an industry that was reeling from the lowest visitor number in three decades, record fuel prices and Qantas slashing its schedules.
'There are some major challenges facing the industry. The issue of fuel is monumental in itself. On top of that the industry really needs to face up to climate change and take some meaningful steps towards reducing carbon footprints. And the whole area of building visitor numbers and marketing is a colossal challenge - but there were some very inspiring guide ropes into the future,' said Mr Charters.
Leading US technology and online travel expert, Philip Wolf, president and CEO of PhoCusWright addressed the conference over the three days, giving insights into where the market is heading and how to capitalise on new technologies, such as social networking sites like Facebook and User Generated Content (UGC).
Nick Rowley, Director of Kinesis, gave a presentation on Climate Change Futures - Implications for Tourism which offered an excellent overview of how the travel and tourism industry can prepare for, and mitigate against, the impact of climate change.
He focused on the science of climate change - the uncertainties, the predictions and risks - and highlighted the differences between awareness, attitudes, intentions and behaviour. He stressed that climate change is more than an environmental issue - that it isn't simply a question of sharing the burden but that complete economic transformation is needed and that any innovation will be driven by constraints. He also cautioned that the implications for tourism are wide-ranging - for instance, emissions trading will have an impact on economies and customers will grow increasingly demanding.
Key themes to emerge from the discussions were:
- The importance of building on Australia's strengths - its nature and environment, its open and friendly people, indigenous culture, sporting prowess, excellence in event and convention management, climate, health and security.
- The need to keep pace with advances in technology, respond to climate change, respond to consumer trends and supply a workforce that delivers service excellence.
Find Out More
 PowerPoint presentations and papers from the Sixth National Conference on Tourism Futures are now available online and on CD-ROM at a cost of AUD 295. Over 100 PowerPoint presentations and papers have been included in the package, providing an update on the current state of play, emerging trends, best practice and challenges within the tourism industry. Also included is the Conference Communique providing an analysis and summary of the key issues, challenges and findings that came out of the conference.
To purchase a copy of the Tourism Futures National Conference 2008 proceedings, please fill in the CD-Rom Order Form and fax to +61 7 3012 9576.
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International News
Destinations:
Accreditation Programme
Twelve DMOs have achieved accreditation from the Destination Marketing Accreditation Program ( DMAP). Developed by DMAI, the industry-wide accreditation programme distinguishes official destination marketing organisations committed to industry excellence.
Currently there are a total of 58 accredited DMOs and DMAI predicts that nearly 100 DMOs will be accredited by the end of the 2008 application process.
'There are many objectives behind the accreditation programme, but it all comes back to increased credibility with customers,' said Michael D. Gehrisch, president and CEO of DMAI. 'Earning the DMAP accreditation assures members of the local DMO, local government officials, visitors and business partners that their trust is well-placed in the DMO.'
There are three application cycles per year; each review cycle is limited to 25 applications. The next application deadlines are 31 August 2008, 31 December 2008 and 31 March 2009.
Canada:
Tourism facing decline
The Canadian tourism industry is on the precipice of an unprecedented decline, which could have a massive impact on the 1.6 million Canadians whose jobs depend on this sector, according to a Report on Canada's Tourism Competitiveness, released last month by the Tourism Industry Association of Canada ( TIAC).
'Canada's tourism sector is on the brink of a crisis today, and we need urgent action from governments at all levels to address some longstanding structural burdens on our industry,' said Randy Williams, President and CEO of TIAC.
'The focus on and reaction to headline-grabbing but isolated events has diverted our attention from the underlying, structural issues that have led to a decline in Canada's ability to compete in the increasingly competitive global tourism marketplace, he said. 'Governments have traditionally neglected the industry, and have tended to regard tourism as a source of taxation dollars, burdening business with structural costs and compliance measures which impede its price competitiveness.'
Tourists:
Japanese top Best Tourist survey
Online travel company, Expedia, has released the findings of a global survey seeking to define the world's best tourists and measure travellers based on their best and worst travel traits and habits.
More than 4,000 hoteliers from across the globe provided opinions on the best overall travellers, as well as 10 specific categories grading popularity, behaviour, manners, willingness to learn the language and try local cuisine, generosity, tidiness, volume, fashion sense and propensity to complain.
The Japanese won top prize with German and British tourists tying for second place, followed by the Canadians and Swiss. American tourists came in at number 11 overall.
China:
Ready for Olympics
Up to 500,000 tourists from home and abroad are expected to visit Beijing during the Olympic Games - an increase of between 20,000 and 80,000 on the same period in 2007 - but there will be enough facilities in place to accommodate their needs.
The prediction was made by Zhang Huiguang, Secretary of the Municipal Tourism Bureau, and reported in MICE-Contact.
According to the latest statistics released by the Municipal Tourism Bureau, during the Olympic season the average daily price for a standard room in a Beijing 5-star hotel is 3,623 Yuan - 2.6 times higher than the same time last year.
UNTWO:
Frangialli to step down
Francesco Frangialli, secretary general of the World Tourism Organization ( UNWTO), has announced that he will be stepping down at the beginning of 2009.
During his time in office, Frangialli has overseen the creation of a universally accepted system of Tourism Satellite Accounts ( TSA) to measure the impact of tourism in national economies, the adoption of the Global Code of Ethics for Tourism, and the positioning of tourism as a key element in the international agenda for sustainable development and the achievement of UN Millennium Development Goals.
e-Business News
Sustainable Tourism:
PATA launches new Wiki
A new wiki, a collection of web pages designed to enable anyone who accesses it to contribute collaborative content, has been created by PATA, the Pacific Asia Travel Association.
The wiki is intended as a knowledge bank of updated theory, agreements and declarations, reports and guides, best practices, useful links and multimedia resources related to sustainable tourism. The content is contributed by travel and tourism stakeholders and moderated by PATA's Sustainable Tourism Advisory Committee.
PATA President and CEO, Peter de Jong, said: 'Within the travel and tourism industry there exists substantial resources of practical and theoretical knowledge on sustainable tourism. The challenge is to collectively harness that knowledge and overcome the tyranny of distance, time and cost involved with international meetings, hence the establishment of this electronic clearing house for all stakeholders in travel and tourism to share information relating to sustainable tourism.'
Online Travel:
40 percent of travellers use UGC before purchase
Brand perception is increasingly moving from the domain of marketers into the arena of user-generated content (UGC), according to new research carried out by analysts Jupiter Research.
The survey - US Online Travel Consumer Survey, 2008 - revealed that 40 percent of online travellers now use content from other consumers in their travel decisions. A further 60 percent reported that UGC had a strong impact on their choice of trip and 26 percent of those surveyed thought that UGC was more influential than brand when booking a hotel.
Researchers estimate that more than 70 percent of all web content will be user-generated in 3 year's time.
China:
Online search
China is likely to overtake the US this year with the largest number of internet users in the world, but China's internet sector is still relatively immature in terms of revenue generation, according to Ben Macklin, Senior Analyst at eMarketer.
He comments: 'Among the leading portals and search engines in China, Tencent topped the list in 2007 as the highest revenue earner at USD 523.1 million. Comparing with Google's global revenues during 2007 - USD 16.6 billion - gives a fair sense of the relative size of the leading Chinese internet companies.'
Further findings are available in the Online Advertising in China report via the eMarketer website - subscription required. Africa:
New e-tourism initiatives
e-Tourism Africa, a new initiative aimed at developing the continent's tourism and travel sector, was launched earlier this month.
A series of conferences and training seminars will play a key role in helping the region to be more effective, especially in the promotion and management of the FIFA 2010 World Cup.
Lindiwe Mahlangu, CEO of the Johannesburg Tourism Company, said: 'We want to show the world that Johannesburg will be ICT prepared for the FIFA 2010 World Cup. We want to be seen as a world class city not only in terms of our infrastructure but also in terms of how tourists and business travellers can book and use the internet for all their Southern African travel.'
The first e-Tourism Africa conference will bring together global online and digital experts and will focus on the new technologies that are available, as well as highlighting marketing and commerce solutions, the best use of social networking, the implications of blogging and the importance of consumer generated content and online video for the travel trade. See our Dates for Your Diary (anchor link) section for more information. Tourism Research:
New blog resource
A new blog by Highland Business Research provides up-to-date thinking on current travel and tourism issues, particularly in the field of e-marketing. Recent topics covered include web analytics, search engine optimisation, travel 2.0 and business tourism. Travel Planning:
New 'inspiration finder' developed
TravelMuse last month launched a public beta release Inspiration Finder, an online service designed to work the way consumers instinctively plan their trips.
The TravelMuse Inspiration Finder brings together multiple dimensions of travel information including budget, ages of travellers, maximum travel distance and preferred vacation activities to quickly identity best-fit destinations. Travellers can research and save content from TravelMuse or other websites to the TravelMuse Planner and share it all securely with family and friends.
'Consumers are overwhelmed by the volume of travel content on the web and are seeking relevancy and sense-making tools,' said Kevin Fliess, CEO of TravelMuse. 'Empowering people with information more relevant to them will continue to be the future trend in online travel planning, and matching this movement with easy-to-use, personalised travel planning tools will be paramount to the consumer's successful planning experience.' Online TV:
Canada launches new network
Canada's first online travel television network - Vacations Canada TV - is on the air and broadcasting travel content to a worldwide audience. Vacations Canada TV offers in-depth information across various channels and segments relating to a range of travel interests.
Within each channel viewers can enjoy street-level experiences from destinations around the country, and visitors to the site have the opportunity to learn more about available packages or to forward the video to a friend. Bloggers can embed any of the videos in their own websites and viewers have the option to subscribe for new episode updates.
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