Welcome
Welcome
Although the global economy is starting to stabilise and some nations are seeing a renewal of growth, international tourism is still facing months, if not years, of uncertainty and challenge. We examine the latest figures, expert opinions and statistical forecasts that suggest the industry will begin a slow recovery in 2010.
We also have news of three interesting initiatives by PATA and a long-term commitment by the UK travel industry to address the ongoing issues of sustainability. These all deserve attention by destinations worldwide.
In addition, TEAM Associate, Mady Keup, offers advice on attracting multi-million dollar business tourism to your destination and Peter Tarlow cautions against cutting back on tourism security when budgets are tight.
All this, and the latest research and reports, e-business and international news, plus upcoming events for the travel and tourism professional.
Roger Carter
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Summit in the City: How would you like to attract a business worth over £150 m a year to your city? Interested? TEAM Associate, Mady Keup, has some important advice to offer those tempted by this attractive prospect.
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Tourism Security: Security specialist and regular Destination World contributor, Dr Peter Tarlow, offers some thoughts on the role of tourism security in these economically challenging times.
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Research and Reports - What's New?
 The European Travel Commission ( ETC) has just published its third quarterly report on European Tourism 2009 – Trends and Prospects. The report provides a comprehensive review of travel demand and projections for the coming months.
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Despite the global recession, the online travel marketplace in China is growing rapidly, and travel industry analysts at PhoCusWright predict online travel revenue will increase by 19 percent in 2009. In its first-ever Emerging Online Travel Marketplace in China report, PhoCusWright reveals that China's online travel space currently totals approximately USD 6.9 billion, accounting for about 11 percent of the country's entire travel market. The report can be bought online at a cost of USD 995.
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Another PhoCusWright study confirms China's growth in the online marketplace. The recently published Asia Pacific Online Travel Overview Third Edition reveals an overall downturn in the APAC travel industry in 2009 due to decreased passenger demand. The online travel market, however, will grow at double-digit rates as technology adoption soars in markets like China, Japan and Singapore. The report is available to buy online at a cost of USD 995.
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 PATA, the Pacific Asia Travel Association, this month published an updated Annual Tourism Monitor, a definitive guide to inbound and outbound travel for all of the major destinations in the region. Well illustrated with tables and graphs, the ATM details travel flow data such as growth trends, arrivals by residence / nationality, arrivals by purpose of visit and gender, outbound travel of residents / nationals, etc. The report can be bought online at a cost of USD 1,000 (non-members) or USD 500 (members).
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To link in with the launch of the 2010 Tourism for Tomorrow Awards, the World Travel and Tourism Council ( WTTC) has published a comprehensive list of mini-case studies of previous winners and finalists. The studies are available for free download from the WTTC website and will be expanded annually as the new award winners are announced.
Key Article
World Tourism:
Increasing Confidence in 2010 Recovery
The decline in international tourism that emerged during the second half of 2008, and which intensified in early 2009, now seems to have reached a turning point, according to the latest edition of the UNWTO World Tourism Barometer.
 Worldwide, international tourist arrivals declined by 7 percent between January and August this year, but the rate of decline has eased in the past few months. These results, as well as the most recent economic data, confirm UNWTO's initial forecast of a 5 percent decline in international tourist arrivals for the full year 2009.
Destinations worldwide recorded a total of 600 million arrivals, down from 643 million in the same period of 2008. However, arrivals in the two high-season months of July and August declined by 3 percent compared with a decrease of 8 percent in the first half of the year, and data available for September points to a continuation of this upward trend.
'Throughout this year, the world's tourism industry was faced with a large number of challenges, led by the global economic crisis, the credit crunch and rising unemployment, not to mention the influenza pandemic. Seldom in recorded tourism history has the industry had to contend with so many different issues at the same time,' said UNWTO Secretary-General Taleb Rifai. 'However, the negative trend that emerged during the second half of 2008 and intensified in 2009 is starting to show signs of receding.'
UNWTO's initial forecast for 2010 indicates that international tourist arrivals are likely to witness a moderate recovery next year, with growth at +1 percent to +3 percent. Asia will show the strongest rebound, while Europe and the Americas will probably take longer to recover. Africa is forecast to continue in positive territory as in 2009, with an extra boost from the 2010 FIFA World Cup in South Africa. Growth is also expected to return to the Middle East.
 The World Tourism Organization presented a Roadmap for Recovery at its recent general assembly, which highlighted the contribution tourism can make to the ongoing global efforts to tackle the economic crisis, positioning tourism as a primary vehicle for job creation and economic recovery, and the transformation to the Green Economy.
The Roadmap is a manifesto that identifies the sector's importance in global economic resilience; stimulus and transformation to a green economy. It details areas where the travel and tourism sector can play an essential role in post crisis recovery in terms of jobs, infrastructure, trade and development and calls on world leaders to place tourism and travel at the core of stimulus packages and the long-term green economy transformation. It also sets out a basis for action for governments and the industry to deal with the short and long term economic, climate and poverty challenges in a coherent way.
Destination Brand Watch
 America is now the most admired country globally, jumping to the top of the 2009 Anholt-GfK Roper Nation Brands Index.
The index, which measures the global image of 50 countries, shows the United States taking the top spot, up from seventh last year. 'What's really remarkable is that in all my years studying national reputation, I have never seen any country experience such a dramatic change in its standing as we see for the United States in 2009,' explains Simon Anholt of NBI.
'Despite recent economic turmoil, the US actually gained significant ground. The results suggest that the new US administration has been well received abroad and the American electorate's decision to vote in President Obama has given the United States the status of the world's most admired country.'
The NBI is based on a global survey in which people from across 20 major developed and developing countries are asked to rate each nation in six categories: exports, governance,
culture, people, tourism and immigration / investment. The NBI ranking is based on the average of these six scores.
France again captured second place overall this year, while Germany and the UK fell to third and fourth, respectively. Japan (5th) and Italy (6th) did not shift rankings from 2008.  However, Canada lost ground, slipping from fourth last year to seventh in 2009. Switzerland, Australia, Spain and Sweden round out the top 10.
Other major movers in the overall ranking include several developing countries – such as China, which climbed several spots from last year to 22nd in 2009.
Dates for Your Diary
Some key events for tourism destination professionals taking place over the next few weeks:
Don't miss Destination World's managing editor, Roger Carter, speaking at the eTourism Africa Summit which will be taking place in Johannesburg, South Africa, on the 1st and 2nd December. e-Tourism Africa is an initiative aimed at developing a sustainable and equitable online tourism sector in Africa through the provision of education and resources to both the private and public sectors. Other speakers include representatives from TripAdvisor, Expedia.com, Visa and Google.
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EIBTM is a leading global event for the meetings and incentive industry, held in Barcelona, Spain from the 1st to 3rd December. The event delivers three days of focused access to a dynamic business environment, thought-provoking professional education and business networks for exhibitors, hosted buyers and trade visitors.
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Despite a global downturn that has been impacting the world economy since late 2008, China remains the hotspot of world's travel market by achieving 12% growth rate for the first half of 2009, measured by number of domestic travelers. Find out more at the China Travel Distribution Summit which takes place on the 2nd and 3rd December and is organised in partnership with PhoCusWright.
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The International Luxury Travel Market ( ILTM) takes place in France from the 7th to 10th December and showcases the world's most sought after destinations and travel experiences.
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 The Search Engine Strategies Conference and Expo offers sessions for every skill level, three keynote speeches and lots of networking opportunities. The event takes place in Chicago, USA, from the 7th to 11th December.
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The United Nations Climate Change Conference ( COP15) will be taking place in Copenhagen, Denmark, from the 7th to 18th December. Information on the conference programme is available on the COP15 website, along with a web-based guide to climate solutions, speaker blogs and facts and figures on climate change.
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The 2nd Arab International e-Tourism and e-Marketing Conference – Tourism and Marketing in the Age of Technology: Virtual and Real – will take place in Egypt from the 14th to 18th December. The event is being organised by IOETI, the International Organization for the e-Tourism Industry.
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FITUR, the International Tourism Trade Fair, celebrates its 30th anniversary next year, from the 20th to 24th January in Madrid, Spain. Last year, over 12,000 exhibitors from 170 countries took part in the event.
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The ASEAN Tourism Forum ( ATF) is co-operative regional effort to promote the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) region as a single tourist destination. ATF 2010 will be held in Brunei from the 21st to 28th January.
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Canada-e-Connect, Canada's e-tourism conference, takes place in Quebec from the 27th to 29th January. The programme for this event has been developed by technology experts in Canada's tourism industry specifically to address the needs of Canada's tourism industry and will be presented in association with PhoCusWright.
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IFITT, the International Federation for IT and Travel and Tourism, is holding its annual ENTER conference in Lugano, Switzerland, from the 10th to 12th February. The conference, now in its 17th year, brings together international experts in all aspects of information and communication technologies in travel and tourism.
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The Adventures in Travel Expo series offers a one-stop shopping marketplace for the travel trade as well as informative travel seminars, hands-on activities and cultural performances. The expo will be in Chicago, USA, on the 9th and 10th January and in Los Angeles on the 13th and 14th February.
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The first TIDES (Tourism investment for the Development of Enterprise and Sustainability programme) event will take place from the 17th to 19th February 2010 in Samoa. The conference aims to raise awareness of the region's investment potential and encourage partnership opportunities.
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UNWTO, the World Tourism Organization, will be joining forces with the South African government to organise an International Tourism, Sport and Mega Event Summit in South Africa, ahead of the FIFA World Cup. The event will be held from the 24th to 26th February and will provide a forum to consider the impact of mega events from a tourism perspective.
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 ITB Berlin offers a combination of trade exhibition and professional convention which, every year, attracts tens of thousands of visitors, exhibitors and media. Next year's event will be held from the 10th to 14th March 2010.
Interviews
Some recent interviews on TravelMole.tv include:
An interview with the Director of Meetings and Incentives of Thailand's Convention and Exhibition Bureau, Malinee Kitaphanich, who speaks about the global economic crisis, why China is a difficult market and some of Thailand's successes in the Indian market.
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Samuel Koo, President and CEO of Seoul Tourism and Convention Bureau, offers his thoughts on developing Seoul's meetings and conventions industry and the growth of medical tourism.
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Martin Winter, Chair of ICCA Asia Pacific and Chief Executive of Gold Coast Tourism, addresses the global economic crisis and the effect it has had on tourism. He offers suggestions for how to survive its impact and stresses the importance of developing strong industry relationships.
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Dr Robert Shelburne, Chief Economist, UN Economic Commission for Europe, talks to Valere Tjolle of TravelMole.tv about 'The Great Recession', a square root recovery and opportunities for the travel and tourism industry during this period.
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Erika Harms, Executive Director of the UN Foundation for Sustainable Development, discusses some of the current major developments in global sustainable tourism certification.
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International News
Sustainable Tourism:
PATA launches new tools
PATA, the Pacific Asia Travel Association, has launched a new Sustainability Index to help the industry understand more about sustainability and both measure and reduce its carbon footprint. The tool has been developed in collaboration with Sustainability Intelligence, the organisation that operates the Green Globe Index, and will initially be limited to PATA members only.
In addition, PATA has developed a Guide to Sustainable Tourism, which features the work of 15 PATA members that includes a variety of case studies on projects undertaken by hotels, dive sites and trekking operations.
PATA is also creating a series of online forums where the travel and tourism industry can share knowledge about issues relating to Corporate Social Responsibility. The first forum deals with sustainable tourism.
Sustainable Tourism:
UK industry commit to Tourism 2023
Leading players in UK tourism last month pledged to create a strong and profitable industry for the future, which will benefit tourist destinations and protect the environment.
Founding partners ABTA, British Airways, the Travel Foundation and Thomas Cook, announced their commitment at the launch of Tourism 2023 at the Travel Convention in Spain. Together the partners carry approximately 45 million passengers every year.
Tourism 2023 is a collaborative project to help the UK outbound travel and tourism industry to anticipate and plan for its future. Mark Tanzer, ABTA Chief Executive, said: 'It is vital that the travel and tourism industry meets the challenges that an international industry faces if we want to have a successful and profitable future. By working together we can come up with practical and innovative solutions to these challenges, which make sound commercial sense. Tourism 2023 sets out the destination, and the direction we must follow to get there.'
US Business Travel:
Forecasts for 2010
With air travel and car rental costs expected to remain nearly flat and hotel rates expected to decline, US businesses expect to travel more and that growth in travel is expected to lead to increases in travel expenditures, according to the National Business Travel Association ( NBTA).
NBTA President and CEO, Craig Banikowski, said, 'Travel management is once again quickly responding to shifting business cycles to help companies optimize their travel investments to maximize profits. As the economic recovery begins taking hold in 2010, companies will take advantage of low travel costs to send employees on the road in greater volumes, thus fuelling the recovery.'
The 2010 US Business Travel Buyers' Cost Forecast is available online to members.
Travel Trends:
Top destinations for 2010
British Airways ( BA) has named its predicted top ten destinations for 2010 with one of South Africa's World Cup cities, Cape Town, taking number one spot. Other top destinations are the North American cities of New York, Las Vegas and Vancouver. BA has also identified Punta Cana in the Dominican Republic, the Indian capital Delhi and the Maldives as three of the favourite longhaul destinations for travellers. Other popular cities will include Dubrovnik in Croatia, Istanbul in Turkey and Stockholm in Sweden.
e-Business News
VisitEurope:
Web portal relaunched
A new version of the European Travel Commission's VisitEurope.com web portal, which promotes Europe as a tourism destination worldwide, was launched last month.
The decision by ETC to redevelop the consumer portal was spurred on by the need to incorporate new developments in online technologies and social networking. The aim of the new site is to portray 'Europe as a whole' to the 500 million guests who visit Europe each year. A 'plan your trip' section provides tools and tips to help the consumer organise their journey and User Generated Content has been included in the 'Share' section of the site.
'We are all very excited about this new version of our portal, which marks a new departure for Europe, and a move towards marketing it in less traditional and more inspirational ways,' said Nick Hall, ETC's Online Marketing Manager.
Online Travel:
Traffic and conversion remain strong
Travel web sites are performing well in the midst of the broader travel industry downturn, according to industry analysts, PhoCusWright in their recent Online Traffic and Conversion Report. The study shows that monthly traffic and conversion is up in almost all travel categories in the second quarter of 2009, compared to the same quarter of previous years.
'The reliance that consumers have on travel websites has not weakened one bit,' said Carroll Rheem, director, research at PhoCusWright. 'Online channels are attracting, engaging and inspiring travellers who recognise that this year is actually a fantastic time to take a trip. Consumers are certainly spending less, but they are not giving up travel, nor are they turning away from the websites that offer them the selection and convenience they value.'
TripAdvisor:
Business listings launches
TripAdvisor, the travel review site, will be offering businesses such as hotels the chance to provide direct contact information and web links to their properties from January.
The new TripAdvisor Business Listings will provide property managers with potential exposure to millions of researching travellers. Listings will be sold on a flat-fee subscription basis, depending on the size of business.
Social Media:
Use of Twitter by travel industry
A survey of travel industry experts conducted by Travel Insights 100 reveals their thoughts on emerging social media trends in the industry, including insights into how they feel about and utilise Twitter.
Whilst the survey results reveal that Twitter is unquestionably popular in the travel industry, it is a recent phenomenon and not widely used yet, and future predictions suggest a rocky road ahead as new competing developments emerge.
Members of the Travel Insights 100 panel will be surveyed regularly for their views on news and trends.
Search Engine:
Travel data available online
Kayak, a leading travel search engine, is now providing open access to a wealth of travel search data from hundreds of millions of searches over the past year. The site offers search trends for travel to or from nearly all commercial airports in the world and for the most searched hotels in popular destinations.
Twitter:
Hotel booking engine
A Twitter-based hotel booking engine has been launched, aimed at providing an innovative service to both the recession-hit hotel industry and travellers seeking urgent accommodation.
Inoqo allows hotels to easily advertise unique high-value packages on Twitter, filling otherwise vacant rooms at the last moment. For travellers with last-minute needs, Inoqo provides a valuable service by publishing great value hotel packages that are only available within the next 48 hours.
Twitter users follow the stream for their chosen destination and request information to be sent directly into their personal Twitter stream. The service is free to travellers and Inoqo generates revenues by charging hotels a commission for each booking made. The service has launched with hotels in the USA, France, Portugal, England, Scotland, Ireland and South Africa.
Conference Highlights
Great Destinations, a recent conference organised by the UK's Northwest Development Agency, examined the components which make a great destination and provided insights into visitor needs and perspectives. Presentations included:
A keynote presentation by James Berresford of VisitEngland. (PPT, 1.8 mb)
Claes Bjerkne shares his experiences in Gothenburg. (PPT, 4.35 mb)
John Thompson from The Academy of Urbanism on Providing New Insights into the Nature of Place. (PPT, 15 mb)
The Development of Rotterdam, by Marianne Klein. (PPT, 2.7 mb)
Liverpool's Waterfront, by Jim Gill of Liverpool Vision. (PPT, 4.3 mb)
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