The European Travel Commission (ETC) is moving ever closer to a future in e-marketing with the development of a new internet portal…
The European Travel Commission (ETC) is moving ever closer to a future in e-marketing with the development of a new internet portal to promote European tourism worldwide. Work on the project started in 2004.
In ETC`s Annual Report for 2004, published today, the ETC President, Dr Arthur Oberascher, Chief Executive of the Austrian National Tourist Office, welcomes this important project: The portal will be an exciting new tool which will motivate people from all over the world to come and visit Europe.
The need for concerted action to promote tourism to Europe is a challenge facing both ETC and the National Tourism Organisations (NTOs) who are its members. Europe is still the world`s tourism superpower, but its market share is falling. On their appointment last year, ETC`s new leadership team of Dr Oberascher and Rob Franklin, its Executive Director recruited from VisitBritain, moved quickly to define the strategy which, they believe, will help Europe to reassert itself in international tourism markets. The organisation`s new corporate business plan and marketing strategy were approved by ETC members at their General Meeting in Budapest in October 2004.
When it goes online at the end of 2005 at www.visiteurope.com, the portal will become the centrepiece of this strategy. It will allow ETC to work both in established markets and in developing the potentially huge markets of the future such as China, Russia and India. The new www.visiteurope.com will allow us to become a `virtual organisation` with a global reach, says Dr Oberascher.
It will do this on the back of all the wide-ranging and innovative work done by the different parts of ETC in 2004. To name but a few highlights:
- A start was made on developing a brand identity for Europe for use in all of ETC`s marketing activities.
- ETC`s overseas `Operations Groups` in the USA, Canada, Latin America and Asia continued their vital work in the origin markets, attracting considerable funding from industry partners in the process.
- The Research Group helped ETC to keep its finger on the pulse of market intelligence with a string of important publications, including its study on the Image of Europe in North America.
- The New Media Group developed the detailed business plan for the portal, which was approved in October.
These are exciting but critical times for ETC, says Rob Franklin. The portal will go live at the end of 2005, when we will begin to see the results of all the work we started in 2004. We feel more and more certain that this development will mean that Europe is better placed than ever to stand up to its competitors !.
European Travel Commission
The European Travel Commission is an association of National Tourism Organisations (NTOs). It was created in 1948 to promote Europe as a tourism destination to the major long-haul markets outside Europe. It currently has 33 members, including 8 from outside the European Union.
ETC is an independent body which is financed entirely by annual membership contributions and partnership funding.
The European portal (formally known as the `European Tourism Destinations Portal`) has been developed by the European Union with funding from its IDA (Interchange of Data between Administrations) programme. ETC will take over operation of the site when it goes online in late 2005.
Theodore is the Co-Founder and Managing Editor of TravelDailyNews Media Network; his responsibilities include business development and planning for TravelDailyNews long-term opportunities.
