E-tourism in England a strategy .pdf

E-tourism in England 

A strategy for modernising English 

tourism through e-business 

ENGLISH TOURISM COUNCIL Tourism Technology / July 2002

Acknowledgement 

Preparation of this strategy has been guided by the Tourism Technology Working Group, 

which comprises representatives of the English Tourism Council, British Tourist Authority, 

Regional Tourist Boards, Local Government Association, Tourism Management Institute and 

other destination management experts. Dr Roger Carter and Gaelle Renault of TEAM 

provided significant input into the drafting of the strategy. 

Published by the English Tourism Council 

Thames Tower 

Black’s Road 

London 

W6 9EL 

Tel: 020 8563 3000 

www.englishtourism.org.uk 

© 2002 English Tourist Board 

The English Tourism Council (incorporated under the Development of Tourism Act 1969 as 

English Tourist Board) is the strategic body for tourism in England 

The information in this publication is given in good faith and every effort has been made to 

ensure its accuracy. All liability for loss, disappointment, negligence or other damage 

caused by reliance on the information contained in this report is hereby excluded.

Contents 

Foreword 3 

1. Executive summary 4 

2. Introduction 7 

3. Background 9 

4. Stakeholder and customer requirements 14 

5. Strategic options 18 

6. Key roles in support of e-tourism development 21 

7. An agenda for action for e-tourism 26 

8. Monitoring and evaluation 33 

Appendix 1 Definition of terms 344 

Appendix 2 E-tourism in other countries 355 

Appendix 3 Market analysis 36 

Appendix 4 An e-business model for destinations 44 

Foreword 

Nobody can be world-class without good data. The availability of easily accessible, prompt, 

accurate, relevant information underpins all our efforts to create a fully competitive, healthy 

tourism industry in this country. 

This is not just a question of email and the development of websites. What is required is full 

integration of information between national, regional, and local systems. We need to make 

sure that information on accommodation quality and availability in one part of the country 

can be seen together with the full array of tourism attractions and activities in that Region, 

and considered in the context of, for example, transport to and from the area. 

Fortunately, we do not need to reinvent the wheel. There are many excellent destination 

databases around the country. What is required is to join them up, regardless of their 

particular systems technology, and create a national system which can be used without 

difficulty by tourism providers, national bodies, the government and, not least, the tourism 

customer. 

The key to delivery of this strategy is EnglandNet. EnglandNet is a partnership, created by 

the English Tourism Council in close association with the Regional Tourist Boards and other 

interested parties. It has been supported by government funding, and welcomed by the 

industry at large. It is arguably the most important development within tourism at the 

present time. I very much hope that this strategy will provide a framework for the many 

organisations involved in English tourism to develop their own response to the new 

opportunities that EnglandNet will open up. 

Alan Britten

1. Executive summary 

England’s tourism businesses have the capacity to become world leaders by better use of 

information technology. We want to see tourism in England becoming more competitive 

and profitable as it realises the new market opportunities afforded by e-business. This 

philosophy will extend way beyond usage of e-mail and development of websites and will 

impact on virtually every element of the business process. Proper integration between 

national, regional and local systems will become a reality, producing enormous advantages 

for both the consumer and the tourism industry. 

The growth of information and communications technology (ICT) in tourism has been 

patchy and inconsistent. Many businesses, especially the smaller ones, have been 

understandably reluctant to invest in something that they see as non-essential. At local and 

sub-regional level, many tourism destinations – mostly local authority run or sponsored - 

have implemented systems initially designed to provide better information, but later 

extended to cover marketing, administration and research. While many of these are 

comprehensive for the destination, there are a number of different software solutions in 

use and there is little co-ordination between them. 

More recently, Regional Tourist Boards (RTBs) and Regional Development Agencies (RDAs) 

have started to address these issues and several have produced regional e-business 

strategies and initiatives to stimulate businesses to adapt. At a national level, ETC and the 

RTBs have collaborated on developing the EnglandNet project, through which the regions, 

ETC, the British Tourist Authority (BTA), Destination Management Organisations (DMOs), 

Tourist Information Centres (TICs), other tourism organisations and individual tourism 

businesses can all share information via a national network. 

The way forward 

Our strategy for e-tourism in England is to provide a framework within which England’s 

tourism businesses can become more competitive and profitable. This framework will serve 

the needs of the consumer, offering new market opportunities and a wider range of 

booking options. The solutions deployed must be simple to use by both businesses and 

consumers, easily accessible and capable of taking advantage of emerging technology such 

as digital interactive television and new generation mobile devices. 

This strategy proposes a federal approach that would allow local destinations and tourism 

providers to exchange information within a nationally co-ordinated, online tourism 

network, while still maintaining the integrity of their own systems. 

The core infrastructure will be provided by EnglandNet and will include: 

• Community Building services to will enable businesses, professionals and consumers to 

interact more effectively with each other. 

• Content Management services to enable tourist boards to acquire, edit and publish 

tourism information for marketing. 

• E-commerce services to enable end-consumers and re-sellers to access the whole 

tourism product of England, search, book and pay for it through a single application. 

EnglandNet will help tourism businesses and organisations to make the most of commercial 

opportunities as well as enabling them to use new forms of marketing. Ultimately, 

EnglandNet will also ensure that tourists can access well-organised, comprehensive 

information via a wide range of traditional and new media channels. It will provide live real- 

4/44 A strategy for modernising English tourism through e-business – July 2002

time content on the availability of accommodation, tours, transport and ticket bookings, 

and enable this to be combined and presented in exciting new ways to meet the needs of 

different markets. 

For tourism providers and businesses, the vision is to make the inputting and sharing of 

information much simpler, while at the same time making bookings much easier to receive 

and fulfil. Improved business contact may also lead to the development of new products 

and joint marketing initiatives. The end result should be the provision of better information 

with less duplication of effort. 

An agenda for action 

The strategy sets out an action agenda under the following headings: 

1. Realising the potential of electronic marketing. To do this we will: 

• Redevelop the TravelEngland website with full e-commerce services 

• Improve distribution of England tourism information via other websites and new media 

channels 

• Extend Destination Management System services to areas not yet effectively covered 

• Encourage Customer Relationship Management as an aspect of destination marketing 

• Explore marketing partnerships with private sector players. 

2. Modernising information services offered to consumers. To do this we will: 

• Develop web-based network services to link TICs, DMOs and RTBs 

• Build local online communities linking tourism providers, DMOs, RTBs 

• Explore the delivery of visitor services through other new technology channels. 

3. Enhancing the competitiveness of businesses and suppliers. To do this we will: 

• Develop an interactive business-facing web portal 

• Integrate tourism content within other regional and national information services, and 

support business-to-business developments 

• Develop other online tourism community services and online tools for tourism providers. 

4. Developing standards for the comprehensive tourism information. To do this we will: 

• Develop and promote a full e-commerce interoperability standard for England, to 

enable DMO services, EnglandNet and BTA distribution systems to be linked 

• Enable tourism product data to be collected and managed electronically. 

5. Helping stakeholders to make wise investments. To do this we will: 

• Provide guidance for tourism businesses and organisations via ETC and RTB websites 

• Provide EnglandNet training and awareness activity for DMO staff 

• Deliver a programme of e-business awareness and training for small tourism businesses. 

These are set out in more detail with responsibilities for delivery, including a summary of 

EnglandNet delivery milestones, in section 7. 

Finally, the strategy sets out proposals for monitoring progress, including website 

performance evaluation and benchmarking, consumer and business user research. 


Monitoring trends in e-business solutions, and benchmarking England with other leading 

competitor tourism destinations is also a part of this strategy. 

Conclusion 

The success of this strategy depends on our ability to deliver a national e-tourism system 

that can meet the needs of both consumers and industry. In many respects, those needs are 

the same: the availability of timely and accurate information delivered by user-friendly 

means. 

The EnglandNet project is proposed as the core solution to meet this requirement, offering 

the means to connect with many existing information systems to achieve an unprecedented 

level of industry integration. 

To achieve this will require the active support of the full range of players involved in English 

tourism. New levels of collaboration between all tourism stakeholders and support 

organisations, including Government departments and agencies involved in transport, 

countryside, business support and culture will be crucial. 

Funding support at national level will also play a vital role. By securing new resources we 

can ensure that the necessary co-ordination is achieved, resulting in reduced duplication 

and the infrastructure English tourism needs to succeed. 


2. Introduction 

Tourism is a major component of the English economy contributing some £64 billion 

annually and representing one in seven of all jobs. It is a vibrant industry that comprises 

some 120,000 businesses, 90% of which employ ten or fewer people. In common with 

other sectors, the industry needs to take stock of the revolution in communication 

technologies and must adapt as a result of the emerging ‘digital economy’. 

Some 38% of all UK households are now able to access the Internet from home, with travel 

and tourism the single largest category of products sold electronically. This growing use of 

the Internet provides massive opportunities to reach new markets and to improve business 

efficiency. In addition, e-tourism can make the industry stronger and more able to respond 

positively to crises such as foot and mouth and the events of 11 September 2001. 

The tourism industry is hindered, however, by a lack of joined up communication facilities. 

The principal challenge is its fragmented nature, reflecting the predominance of very small 

businesses, making communication and consolidation of information difficult both within 

the industry and to consumers. National and Regional Tourist Boards (RTBs), Destination 

Management Organisations (DMOs) and Tourist Information Centres (TICs) need to harness 

new electronic marketing opportunities, to make it easier for consumers to purchase the 

English tourism product. 

This strategy sets out a framework within which tourism in England can make best use of 

new information and communications technology. In turn, this will enable English tourism 

to realise new opportunities, to provide more effective visitor services and to enhance the 

performance and competitiveness of the industry. 

2.1 Context 

The English Tourism Council (ETC) is the statutory body charged with developing English 

tourism. It is committed to developing an industry that strives for high quality, is responsive 

to market needs and promotes wise and responsible growth throughout the whole of the 

tourism industry. 

Given the profile of new electronic media as marketing and distribution channels, one of 

ETC’s key priorities is to focus on the potential of e-business and to work towards solutions 

for the industry as a whole. This priority fits well with wider Government objectives of 

access, adoption of information and communication technologies (ICT), and support for 

small business. 

ETC is working in partnership with the RTBs and others to develop EnglandNet. This project 

is described further in section 6 and will create an online tourism network linking English 

tourism regions, destination information systems and new e-business services, to benefit 

consumers, tourism providers and destinations. 

2.2 The definition and concept of e-tourism 

The term ‘e-tourism’ is used in this document to refer to e-business in the field of travel and 

tourism – ie the use of ICT to enable tourism providers and destinations to operate more 

efficiently, and to reach and serve consumers more effectively with facilities to search, 

compare and book tourism products. A more detailed definition is set out in Appendix 1. 


E-business not only embraces the use of new media, such as the Internet and e-mail, but 

also enables more efficient use of traditional media such as brochures and advertising. It 

incorporates the ability to conduct sales online, with fundamental implications for the way 

businesses work. E-business has the potential to transform the way in which businesses or 

organisations function, through integrating systems for management of stock or availability 

(eg of hotel rooms), procurement of supplies, financial administration, marketing, sales and 

other transactions. 

The Internet provides direct access to consumers, and is also a tool for business to business 

communication. Increasingly, it will provide consumers and intermediaries with far richer 

information, increased choice and the facility to make bookings immediately. It will also 

offer tourism organisations and businesses the tools to promote, communicate and transact 

with consumers and other tourism businesses. 

2.3 Strategic vision and aims for e-tourism in England 

2.3.1 Our vision 

Our vision is for England’s tourism organisations and businesses to become more 

competitive and profitable, capable of realising the new market opportunities afforded by 

e-tourism, and skilled in using e-business technologies. We shall play a major part in 

achieving this vision through the creation of the EnglandNet online tourism network, 

integration of regional and local destination management systems and initiatives to 

promote e-business awareness and skills development. 

2.3.2 Our aims 

• To mobilise effective organisational and technical responses to assist the industry, 

especially small tourism businesses, adapt to the new e-business environment 

• To improve the collection and distribution of comprehensive and appropriate tourism 

information to meet the needs of consumer growth markets 

• To improve business processes for marketing, booking and purchasing of tourism 

products 

• To adopt the most appropriate communications and technology solutions to support 

the above 

• To achieve a fully integrated e-business network for English tourism. 


3. Background 

In tourism, as elsewhere, the growth of ICT has been sporadic and sometimes reactive. A 

lack of resources has stunted development, while the absence of any national strategy has 

meant that systems have emerged on an ad hoc and uncoordinated basis. However, 

products such as central reservations systems (as used by travel agencies) have 

demonstrated that with proper planning and funding, ICT can both improve consumer 

service and improve the efficiency and profitability of businesses, large or small. 

At the local and sub-regional level many English holiday destinations have systems which 

were initially introduced to help TICs to offer a better service. Local authority support has 

played a key role in this development. Over the years, this support was extended to include 

marketing, administration and research. With few exceptions, each destination operated its 

system independent of other destinations, with little or no electronic communication 

between them. 

Towards the end of the 1990s, as awareness of the importance of the Internet and e- 

business increased, RTBs became more active and most developed regional websites. More 

recently, ETC has collaborated with the BTA in the development of a new national tourism 

product database (‘Jigsaw’) to manage basic descriptions of tourism products and enable 

such data to be entered, imported and distributed through the Internet. The English part of 

this project will be integrated into the wider EnglandNet framework. 

3.1 The present position 

How are tourism businesses adapting to the opportunities of e-business? Although email 

and websites are only the tip of the iceberg, they can still be useful indicators to 

demonstrate the likely predisposition to e-business. National level data in Table 1 shows the 

following pattern for the adoption of the Internet by tourism businesses in England. 

Table 1: Adoption of the Internet by English tourism businesses* 

% with % with % with 

% with 

% with 

Sector email email websites 

online 

websites 

(all totals at Jan 02) (Feb (Jan (Feb 2001) 

booking 

(Jan 2002) 

2001) 2002) 

(Jan 2002) 

Serviced (Hotels, B&Bs) 

Total: 16, 631 

45% 58% 33% 45% 2% 

Self Catering 

Total: 8,951 

47% 63% 38% 51% n/a 

Camping and 

Caravanning 

40% 52% 43% 60% n/a 

Total: 1,179 

Youth and Group 

Total: 666 

62% 72% 47% 67% n/a 

Attractions 

Total: 5,503 

33% 48% 36% 53% n/a 

Events 

Total: 7,394 

50% 56% 47% 59% n/a 

Averages 46% 58% 41% 56% n/a 

* English businesses and suppliers participating in the BTA/ETCtourism product information database. 


Source: BTA/ETC 2002 

It is apparent from this table that over half of tourism businesses now have a website and 

growth has been significant over the last year. However, only 2% of serviced 

accommodation businesses covered by this survey offered online booking, probably 

reflecting the large proportion of small guest accommodation operators represented here, 

for whom e-commerce represents a further stage of adaptation. 

As may be expected, the level of e-business activity in the hotel sector is more substantial, 

although a recent survey revealed that 42% of hotels surveyed did not have a formal e- 

business strategy. 1 Most major hotel groups and holiday operators now offer online 

booking facilities that are linked to inventory management systems which also support call 

centre and front desk operations. Commercial travel agencies have used extensive (and 

expensive) computerised reservation systems linked to air travel carriers and major tour 

operators for many years, largely supporting outbound travel. 

The development of the web, with its lower operating costs, has resulted in the emergence 

of new web-based booking agents such as Travelocity and LastMinute.com. Increasingly, 

hotel group systems and traditional travel agency systems are being linked to such webbased 

systems. It remains difficult, however, for the smaller tourism providers to link to such 

systems, which generally require guaranteed room allocations or continuous connection to 

hotel management systems. The result is a patchwork of separate systems offering 

selections of tourism products rather than a coherent and comprehensive market place in 

which consumers can readily search, compare and book. 

The immediate challenge therefore is to provide a coherent e-business framework for 

tourism in England. The smaller enterprises will then need to be convinced that e-business is 

worth investing in and the larger businesses persuaded that they can also benefit from 

aligning themselves with such a national system. 

3.2 Lessons learnt from abroad 

Not surprisingly, since e-business is a global issue, many other countries have invested in e- 

tourism. A review of experience in other countries (described in Appendix 2) reveals that 

several countries have adopted some form of collaborative national and regional approach 

to product data management as a platform for web-based marketing and distribution. 

These precedents, whilst different in structure and degree of integration, support the 

‘federal’ strategy proposed for England. It also makes sense for England to achieve as much 

consistency as possible with the database structures being developed in Wales and 

Scotland. 

3.3 Key trends in e-business 

A full analysis of trends in the use of the Internet and e-commerce is set out in Appendix 3. 

The key market trends: 

• Use of the Internet has been increasing dramatically around the world – nearly ten-fold 

over the past six years. Growth is forecast to continue for the next five years, with webenabled 

mobile devices helping to stimulate this trend. It is not yet clear when this is 

1 Hospitality e-Business: the Future, June 2001. 


likely to reach saturation point or maturity, but some 39% of all UK households are 

now able to access the Internet from home. 

• Increasing proportions of Internet users are buying online, with a predicted 32% of UK 

users forecast to use the Internet for retail transactions over the next five years. 

• Travel and tourism will gain an increasingly large share of the global online commerce 

market, from an estimated 30% today to around 50% in the future. 

• The dominance of air travel has reduced from more than 80% four years ago to about 

60% now, whilst hotels’ share correspondingly has doubled to nearly 25%. 

Accommodation, car hire and other ground-based products will gain a larger share of 

global online commerce in travel and tourism. 

• User profiles broadly match the target markets of many tourism organisations – Internet 

users tend to be relatively wealthy, well educated, and interested in independent travel. 

Data from the Office for National Statistics about Internet usage concludes that: 

There is a consistently high (43-52%) level of Internet usage amongst all age groups up to 

the age of 55. Older people have a lower (but certainly not insignificant) level of usage – 

almost one third of those up to 64 and one-sixth for those 65+. 

Usage increases consistently across the social groups, from 18% of socio-economic 

classification DE (low income) to more than 60% of ABs (professionals). 

Whilst three years ago, some 35% of women were Internet users compared with 42% of 

men, the gender gap has been closing. By October 2001 this had climbed to 51% of 

women and 55% of men. 

3.4 The economic benefits of e-business 

The economic benefits of e-business arise from gains in operational efficiency and 

marketing effectiveness. These benefits are virtually impossible to estimate accurately, but, 

in broad terms, it is reasonable to predict an increase in productivity (including efficiency 

gains and value added) of between 25% and 33%. Specific productivity benefits could 

include financial gains, cost savings and non-financial benefits, particularly in areas like 

business administration and marketing costs: 

• Potential areas to enable additional income generation will include sales of tourism 

products such as accommodation and short-term special offers via the web, electronic 

mail and other new media channels. 

• Potential areas for cost savings could include reduced costs for publications - production 

costs, print runs and distribution; and savings in staff time – print production, enquiry 

handling, reservations, communications, etc. 

• Potential areas for non-financial gains will include increased marketing effectiveness and 

quality of customer service and relationship; increased productivity; and enhanced 

performance and better evaluation mechanisms. 

Whilst there would also be additional costs associated with e-business, such as online sales 

commissions, the net impact is likely to be positive. 


3.5 Barriers to tourism e-business 

The main barrier to maximising the potential of e-business is that a significant proportion of 

tourism businesses are not proactive in their use of technology and the Internet and appear 

to have a limited awareness of the scope of e-business. Allied to this is the fact that the 

whole online process can appear intimidating, time-consuming and financially prohibitive to 

smaller businesses. Thus, whilst electronic trading in tourism is a growth area for larger 

operators, it is much less so for many small tourism businesses that make up the bulk of the 

industry. 

The lack of e-business awareness and skills among UK tourism businesses is confirmed by 

the results of a survey undertaken by ETC in 2001, on the use of ICT by accommodation 

micro-businesses. The survey reveals that the majority of very small businesses (ie under ten 

employees) have limited knowledge of ICT and do not use it to its full potential 2 . The survey 

also suggests that the main barriers preventing micro-businesses from using ICT are cost, 

lack of knowledge, lack of time and a belief that the existing methods of gaining business 

are satisfactory. 

In addition, there are other barriers to successful adoption of e-business including: 

• the lack of a viable e-business environment – no integrated network within which 

smaller tourism providers can work cost-effectively and easily with existing web-based 

booking systems 

• a variety of tourism data formats that work to limit ‘interoperability’ (ie systems working 

well together) – instead several different systems that are not connected are used by 

destinations, hotel groups or tourism operators 

• a lack of integration of tourism data and e-commerce tools – much tourism 

information is as yet unconnected to effective real-time booking and transactions 

capability 

• a variety of models for holding inventory (eg bed spaces to sell) and bookings have been 

adopted by destinations and commercial operators, with limited ability for these to 

work together seamlessly 

• the cost for businesses in adopting individual solutions – with no guarantee that these 

solutions will meet consumer needs or reach appropriate markets 

• limits on telecommunications bandwidth in many parts in many parts of the country, 

constraining the quality of online services – a problem that is unlikely to be fully 

resolved until 2005 

• restrictions on local authority funding, which impact on the resources available for 

public investment in ICT and staffing – thus making it difficult to rely on the DMO/TIC 

structures as the cornerstone that they ideally should be. 

To succeed, then, the strategy must offer solutions that overcome these barriers and enable 

easier access both for visitor information and business-to-business communication. 

Ultimately, such a system must deliver the capability for booking on-line, advertising, data 

gathering and other e-commerce benefits. The aim of the EnglandNet project is to create 

an online tourism network that directly addresses or helps to resolve many of these 

problems. 

2 Unpublished. These findings are confirmed by other recent published research, for example by Blum and 

Fallon, and Main, in Information Technology and Tourism, Vol. 4, Cognizant Communication, 2002 


This strategy and the EnglandNet project are both ambitious and it is reasonable to 

question how it can be achieved. The answer is by adopting a step-by- step approach, with 

the focus on: 

• establishing the ICT and database infrastructure to provide a platform on which 

different players can organise their own activity, with assistance from EnglandNet 

• encouraging participation by destinations, by enabling them to connect easily to the 

EnglandNet infrastructure for purposes of data exchange – and then to use the 

EnglandNet services as much (or as little) as they choose, in relation to their own 

existing systems. 


4. Stakeholder and customer requirements 

4.1 The potential stakeholders and customers 

The model set out in Appendix 4 identifies the different categories of users of destination e- 

business systems. In turn, these can be split into customers and stakeholders. The customers 

include: 

• Consumers 

• Travel trade 

• Travel media 

• Conference and event buyers and other intermediaries. 

The stakeholders include: 

• Tourism businesses 

• RTBs and local destination management organisations (DMOs) 

• TICs (and destination call centres) 

• Suppliers of destination management systems 

• Suppliers of goods and services to tourism businesses, eg food, laundry, furnishings, etc. 

• Suppliers of e-commerce services, eg e-payment services. 

4.2 User requirements 

Users have two basic needs: for information and for an effective process for conducting 

business. 

4.2.1 Consumers 

Consumers and travellers visiting destination websites are looking primarily for in-depth, 

up-to-date information on potential destinations, activities and accommodation. The 

facilities to create travel itineraries, receive ‘instant’ offers, compare prices, confirm 

bookings and share experiences will become an increasingly important feature of demand. 

Thus, the key requirements for consumers are: 

• Fast, low cost, direct access to accurate information, with facilities for sophisticated 

search and for immediate, secure booking at competitive prices 

• Clear product pricing, eg per room, per traveller, supplements, final price, etc 

• Tourism product quality assurance from recognised standards bodies 

• Access to alternatives to direct booking such as: 

- call centre support for completion of the booking 

- online travel agencies/resellers for completion of booking 

• Enhanced visitor services for travellers to and within the destination, through the 

provision of electronic access to comprehensive information and reservation services 

from PCs or TVs in hotel bedrooms, Internet cafés, kiosks, web-enabled payphones, 

handheld cellular devices, etc. 

• Where people are using these services in the destination, they will seek additional types 

of information, for example, local transport, entertainment, events, restaurants, bars; 

information that may be available through DMS or from third party commercial 

suppliers. 


4.2.2 Travel trade 

Potential requirements of the travel trade (tour operators, travel agencies, handling agents, 

etc) include: 

• efficient search for accommodation, attractions and other facilities – often with a focus 

on group travel 

• ability to negotiate allocations and release dates, prices, commissions/net prices, and 

other sales terms 

• mechanisms to contract quickly and cost-effectively 

• quality assurance from recognised standards bodies 

• access to local handling agents 

• opportunities for formation of local/regional product consolidation and distribution 

• opportunities for domestic promotion to consumers 

• easy access to relevant still and moving image material for use in promotions. 

4.2.3 Travel media 

The travel media’s prime requirement is for: 

• information on latest product developments 

• information on quality assured product 

• well-researched material which can be used for features 

• easier contact with experts on a wide range of subjects 

• easy access to relevant still and/or moving image material. 

4.2.4 Conference and event buyers and other intermediaries 

Many RTBs and DMOs, particularly those that cover large urban areas, place considerable 

emphasis on business tourism. Given that a relatively large proportion of both buyers and 

suppliers are likely to use ICT on a day-to-day basis, the potential for e-business in this 

sector is considerable. The conference buyer or intermediary will generally be seeking: 

• efficient search and selection of appropriate destinations and venues – often against a 

very detailed set of requirements – the information for which may best be 

accommodated in supplementary databases 

• mechanisms to contract quickly and cost-effectively 

• promotional material to assist in the e-marketing of conferences. 

4.2.5 Tourism businesses 

The core requirements of businesses are relatively simple – more business, higher yield, 

lower costs and increased profits. Behind these high level objectives are specific needs 

including extended marketing and increased operational efficiencies. While businesses 

should be active in their own right, they will also attract new business by working with or 

through their local DMO. 


Tourism businesses will be marketing-focussed and will seek: 

• Cost-effective access to powerful distribution mechanisms. Tourism businesses need 

distribution mechanisms which are appropriate for their products. Distribution services 

should: 

- Enable control of distribution channels 

- Enable online control of prices and availability 

- Enable control of automatic confirmation or confirmation after intervention by 

reception staff 

- Offer distribution to re-sellers with negotiation of sales terms 

- Secure and cheap payment/clearing mechanisms 

- Clear and up-to-date back-office services 

- Be supported by call centre services. 

• Support from DMOs for linking up with other complementary local products, 

destination marketing and fulfilment (eg brochure distribution, TIC booking services). 

4.2.6 RTBs and local DMOs 

E-business has the potential to permeate virtually every area of the work of RTBs and 

DMOs. Most have a destination marketing role targeted at consumers and travel trade 

intermediaries. Additionally RTBs and many DMOs require access to data to underpin 

research and business support activities. Local authorities also have a requirement to 

demonstrate value in the delivery of their services. Particular needs include: 

• Increase in number of clients/members from an enhancement of the services they can 

offer, eg e-commerce services, national and international distribution 

• Increase in the value of clients/customers by charging appropriate commissions or 

subscriptions for enhanced services 

• New revenue opportunities from consolidation of local and regional product 

• New revenue opportunities from provision of call centre services integrated within a 

national call centre network 

• Integration of new marketing services with distribution of bookable, quality assured 

product 

• Facilities to enable the building of online communities to support local/regional product 

creation, marketing and sales 

• Effective communication and co-operation between public sector bodies involved in 

providing services to SMEs and consumers 

• Easy access to national information on tourism products and services 

• Ability to market cost-effectively. 

4.2.7 Tourist Information Centres 

TICs (and destination-based call centres) deal primarily with public enquiries. They are 

generally dependent upon local authority funding to support their services. TICs have 

specific requirements: 

• to quickly search in-depth, up-to-date, accurate information (including special offers) on 

available accommodation, activities, events and many other topics – and create 

schedules and map-based itineraries 

• to make immediate bookings, based on accurate price information 

• To open new revenue opportunities via integration of call centre facilities with online 

booking mechanisms 


• To be integrated into a national TIC network to obtain advance bookings from national 

and international customers. 

Whilst demand may be mainly for local information, most TICs need to be able service 

enquiries about other parts of their area or elsewhere in England – and therefore to have 

access to the national database and to be able to communicate quickly with TICs in other 

areas. 

4.2.8 DMS suppliers 

Destination management systems are specialised software applications which provide the 

foundation for the management of destinations, enabling tourism product information to 

used to support marketing and visitor services and for the provision of up-to-date data 

enabling online booking. The suppliers of DMS software require a market that encourages 

investment in technical improvement and adoption by DMOs not yet covered. The creation 

of a national Englandnet infrastructure with open interoperability standards would enable 

DMS suppliers adopting these standards to offer DMOs the added confidence of national 

distribution in addition to the other competitive features of their systems. 

4.2.9 Suppliers of goods and services 

The suppliers of goods and services to tourism businesses are faced with the costs and 

inefficiencies of dealing with a highly dispersed and diverse range of relatively small 

customers. If tourism businesses had online access to supplier catalogues for product search 

and price/delivery comparisons and ordering, the suppliers and procurement companies 

would have wider and cheaper distribution. They may also be able to plan and provide 

cheaper logistics. Enabling such a procurement service could be built into the EnglandNet 

national infrastructure. 

4.2.10 Suppliers of e-commerce services 

The take-up of e-commerce services by tourism organisations has been hindered by the lack 

of data and systems that work together. This has held back the development of e-tourism 

services, which need a set of national standards to be fully effective. The consequence is 

that cost economies and breadth of supply of e-commerce services have not yet been 

achieved. National standards, driven by the requirements of EnglandNet will hasten the 

creation and use of payment and back-office services. 

4.2.11 Commercial operators not primarily involved in tourism 

This category is made up of organisations and companies that are not primarily involved in 

tourism but would benefit from access to tourism data, for example: 

• Distribution organisations – those that could publish England product data through 

their own distribution routes, for example, Internet service providers or mobile phone 

companies. 

• Content providers - those that could provide appropriate content to enhance the main 

system, for example a train operating company. 

• Data merchants - those that would pay for the use of the database content for their 

own commercial purposes, for example media production companies. 

• Travel goods suppliers, for example hotel furnishings suppliers. 


5. Strategic options 

Over the past fifteen years, there has been a considerable investment in systems to collect, 

monitor and manage data at local, regional and national level. In determining the most 

appropriate strategy for e-tourism in England it is important to recognise that this does not 

start from a ‘blank sheet’ - the key requirement would therefore appear to be the creation 

of a framework that can build upon what has gone before. 

This strategy addresses the issue of how best to deliver an integrated or joined-up structure 

that will enable consumers and tourism providers to benefit at local, regional and national 

levels. A key strategic objective is therefore to enable comprehensive searching, planning, 

reservations, bookings and payments for tourism products to take place via the Internet and 

other communications channels such as TICs, call centres, mobile devices and interactive TV 

services. 

The core of any such structure will be some form of destination management system (DMS) 

– a combination of data management software, search engine, booking and transactions 

facilities, all operating within a viable business model. 

There are three options for the development of a national e-tourism strategy for England: 

• A ‘minimum intervention’ approach that relies upon the continuing development of a 

diverse range of local and regional systems and commercial online reservation services 

• The development of a complete integrated national system 

• The development of a federal model, with a national network infrastructure and 

services designed to work with existing and emerging systems. 

The relative merits of these approaches are considered briefly in the following sections. 

5.1 A minimum intervention approach 

This option would rely upon the continuing development of regional and local DMS 

solutions and commercial reservation systems. The national BTA/ETC Jigsaw database would 

continue to be developed as a source of product information, and DMS software suppliers 

would be encouraged to adopt common data definitions that would facilitate data 

exchange. Extensive data collection into Jigsaw would still be required and there would be 

only limited capability for searching on product availability across England. Investment 

would be required develop a national web portal linking regions and destinations, and this 

could include a search engine to enable consumers to find products held in different 

locations. DMOs that do not yet have a local e-commerce enabled system would need to 

consider this, without assurance that this would fully integrate with national distribution. 

The adoption of this approach seems unlikely to achieve the e-tourism strategy aims of 

enabling public access to comprehensive tourism content or helping small tourism 

enterprises to adapt to an e-business environment. 

5.2 A national DMS 

This option would seek to build or acquire a comprehensive national system comprising 

data management software, search engine, booking and transactions facilities. This would 

extend beyond the Jigsaw product information database into the hosting of a full product 

availability (inventory) database and associated software to manage this highly volatile 


information. Technically, this would be the simplest solution, and could potentially be 

developed in partnership with a commercial operator, helping to spread the costs and risks. 

The main drawback, however, would be that destinations with existing destination 

management solutions would not integrate directly into the national DMS and potentially 

would lose business to it. This is likely to deter the participation of destinations with wellestablished 

local systems, including most seaside resorts and major cities, and result in 

duplication. It would also add inconvenience for tourism providers, who would need to 

work with either or both national and local systems. Such non-participation in the scheme 

seems likely to render this option unattractive to the main stakeholders, with consequential 

reduction of the value to consumers. This would thus fall considerably short of a fully 

integrated English tourism industry. 

5.3 A federal network approach 

The federal approach combines the advantages of each of the first two options. It would 

deliver the infrastructure that would enable tourism product information to be shared via a 

national interoperability standard and a communications backbone. This would enable a 

national level of content integration and search capability to enable easy access to tourism 

product information at national, regional and local levels, including access to booking and 

payment services. Much of the information would be maintained locally by RTBs, DMOs and 

TICs and exchanged via the communications backbone. DMS suppliers would be 

encouraged to participate in defining the interoperability standard, enabling them to offer 

DMOs integration with the national framework. DMOs not yet using such systems would 

find it easier to do so. 

This hybrid option seems more likely to attract the greatest uptake of destinations and 

tourism providers, bring most integration and access to the widest sources of product 

information for the consumer, and thereby maximise the success of the project. This should 

lead to an overall reduction in duplication of data collection and greater participation by 

tourism providers, leading to more cost-effective operation. As such, this option would 

appear to offer the best prospects for contributing towards the sustainability of local 

tourism services, most of which are dependent upon local authority support. 

This is therefore the recommended strategic approach – one which was widely supported in 

the consultation process – and forms the basis for the proposed EnglandNet Online Tourism 

Network. 

EnglandNet is therefore being developed by ETC and the RTBs, the organisations currently 

responsible for managing national tourism data services in England, as the vehicle to 

implement this strategy. It will be an industry-wide network offering a range of electronic 

business and marketing services to the industry, and designed from the outset to work with 

existing destination management systems at regional and local level. It is vital that the 

implementation of this project should be mutually beneficial to all concerned, leading to 

stronger, more effective working relationships across the whole sphere of tourism 

development. 

The EnglandNet objectives and proposed outputs are discussed further in section 6. 

In adopting this strategy, EnglandNet must be realistic about the ability of all DMOs and 

DMSs to deliver the necessary input, whether in terms of quality or quantity. Inevitably 

there will be situations where DMOs do not have the resources or, in some cases perhaps, 

the motivation, to deliver the input required within the federal approach. Recognising this, 


RTBs will have an important role to quality assure the local input and operate back-up 

mechanisms to deal with any deficiencies or gaps in data provision. 

5.4 Complementary activity 

Complementary to EnglandNet, action will also be required to exploit other tourism-related 

content and features at regional and local level (such as countryside, leisure or events data), 

to provide consumer access through regional websites, publications and other channels 

(eg via libraries and local kiosk access projects). There is also a need for a sustained 

programme of ‘Business Animation’ activity at local level to promote e-business awareness, 

skills and best practice for tourism providers, and stimulate participation in the online 

tourism network to enable access to inventories, reservation and payments facilities. 

Diagram 1: Schematic illustration of the recommended strategic approach 


6. Key roles in support of e-tourism development 

As has been noted, significant work has already been undertaken in the development of 

local destination management systems within England. There is therefore much information 

and expertise already available. However, there is also a natural reluctance to re-invest and 

to change business practices. If new systems are to be introduced successfully, the existing 

players must be involved in the process, invited to contribute expertise and offered solutions 

which fit existing frameworks. 

Whilst there will be opportunities for commercially sustainable e-commerce developments 

once EnglandNet is in place, a substantial part of the e-tourism agenda has wider, strategic 

objectives - ie to enhance industry performance through the provision of widely-accessible 

services that do not directly generate income. There is therefore a strong case for public 

funding to support the essential core elements of the system. 

The EnglandNet project will be the cornerstone for delivering the aims of the strategy, 

providing the central operating framework and the focus for co-ordinated action at regional 

and local level. This needs to be complemented by efforts to raise awareness and skills 

amongst tourism providers, especially the smaller businesses, to be able to take full 

advantage of electronic marketing and e-commerce. 

6.1 EnglandNet 

The fundamental aim of EnglandNet is to enable ‘one-stop-shopping’ for all England’s 

tourism products. To achieve this, the project will pursue the following key objectives: 

• Create a national interoperability standard and infrastructure for England to connect 

existing regional and local tourism information systems 

• Provide a secure and effective communication network for ETC and RTBs 

• Ensure that all destinations are able to adopt viable DMS services 

• Deliver high quality data to meet the service requirements of the BTA, ETC, RTBs and 

other organisations concerned with tourism at national and local level 

• Offer an end-to-end booking service to end consumers and re-sellers. 

The products of EnglandNet are therefore of three types: 

Community Building Services: These will enable RTBs, DMO/TICS, ETC, BTA to promote the 

development of communities of travellers, traders, suppliers, providers via for forums etc 

which will encourage greater use of the other services offered by RTBs, DMO/TICs, ETC, 

BTA. The first example of a community service is the ENTICE TIC extranet. 

Content Management System (CMS) services: This will enable BTA, ETC, RTBs, to acquire, 

edit and publish tourism information for marketing. Data for the CMS will be acquired via 

web forms and from online connections to DMSs operated by DMO/TICs and RTBs. The 

CMS will also be used to support the community services. 

E-commerce Services: This will enable end-consumers and re-sellers to access the whole 

SME tourism product of England, search, book, and pay for it through a single application 

such as VisitBritain or TravelEngland. This will require EnglandNet infrastructure to 

interoperate with the DMSs operated by RTBs and DMO/TICs. Interoperability must 

therefore be developed for: 


• DMSs and other content systems (also needed for the CMS service) 

• Third party e-commerce providers, such as e-payment service providers 

• Customer applications auch as the BTA/ETC websites. 

In addition, a model has been prepared for a national virtual call centre based upon call 

centre services operated by RTBs, DMOs and TICs. The objective of the call centre is to 

support the online booking services. 

In general EnglandNet will provide: 

• Quality of Data management guidelines 

• model commercial contracts (eg between providers and DMS operators) 

• Quality of Service (SLA) guidelines for DMS operators 

• customer relationship management guidelines 

• Security guidelines 

• Will promulgate new opportunities for tourism providers, DMO/TICs and RTBs that will 

arise from the online EnglandNet infrastructure. 

The EnglandNet model envisages that data will be maintained on DMSs, with replication of 

non-volatile data (product descriptions) to the EnglandNet central database (which includes 

Jigsaw). Customer bookings will require routing of the availability queries and booking 

requests to the regional/local DMSs. 

EnglandNet will also offer hosting solutions on a remote-access basis, such as DMSs, 

financial management software, membership management or customer relationship 

management applications in order to reduce the maintenance costs to DMO/TIC, RTBs. 

Achieving these outputs is expected to result in a range of tangible benefits: 

• Increased number of bookings and spread of bookings of tourism product in England 

• Increased value of product sold by enabling the packaging of product by the endcustomer 

and by re-sellers 

• Reduced net costs of marketing and distribution for small tourism businesses 

• Improved cost-effectiveness of marketing for BTA, ETC RTBs and DMOs 

• Increased revenue to help sustain RTB, DMO and TIC services 

• Improved community access to tourism information 

• Improved economic competitiveness and assist in delivering government e-business 

objectives. 

Substantive progress is now being made on the development of EnglandNet. Treasury 

funding has been granted to assist the development, and a Project Director and other 

EnglandNet team members appointed. Construction of the core Content Management 

System is underway, and the ‘ENTICE’ TIC extranet has been built. 

ETC and the RTBs will oversee the project via the EnglandNet Management Committee (or 

company board), while the RTBs will be responsible for promoting and providing its 

services, acquiring content and developing business opportunities within each region. The 

existing Tourism Technology Working Group will continue to have a consultative role. 


As EnglandNet develops 3 , the potential for involving commercial partners will be explored, 

where this can bring added value in terms of technical development, marketing or 

e-business services. This is discussed further in the following section. 

6.2 Public and private sector roles 

The scope for attracting private sector support to invest in providing many of the services 

relevant to this strategy was tested in market soundings and research carried out by ETC in 

early 2001. Several companies have expressed an interest in being involved as suppliers in 

aspects of the EnglandNet project, but this has not extended to funding or underwriting 

any of the required core components. It is likely that only the public sector can make the 

initial investment in the networking of tourism destination services because the open 

standards and comprehensive nature of such work is not a priority for private sector 

investment. 

The most realistic approach would appear to be one which recognises the need to satisfy 

broader social and economic objectives and to upgrade and improve the professionalism of 

the whole tourism industry. There may well be potential for attracting private sector 

involvement in future developments once the framework is in place. Options for public 

private partnership should therefore be reviewed as EnglandNet progresses. The ability for 

EnglandNet to generate realistic revenue streams will help to attract such private sector 

involvement. 

The aim of any public-private collaboration should be to develop a sustainable future for 

EnglandNet that would keep the long-term public sector commitment to that necessary to 

ensure that the core objectives of open standards and comprehensive coverage continue to 

be fulfilled. 

6.2.1 English Tourism Council 

ETC is accountable to DCMS for the financial and management control of Government 

funding for the EnglandNet project. As such it has a key role in overseeing the successful 

implementation of EnglandNet, including the establishment of the legal entity underpinning 

the project in partnership with RTBs and in line with Government guidelines for public 

private partnerships. 

As the statutory national tourism organisation for England, ETC also has a leadership role in 

support of e-tourism generally, which includes: 

• driving the development and exploitation of EnglandNet, and supporting activities such 

as awareness and training programmes 

• guiding future marketing and e-tourism strategies in collaboration with national and 

regional partners such as RTBs, RDAs and industry bodies 

• encouraging the adoption of common data standards by DMS software suppliers 

• liaising with BTA to ensure that opportunities for collaboration in technical 

development, marketing and distribution of content are exploited effectively. 

Operationally, ETC is responsible for ensuring that tourism data is collected and managed to 

meet national requirements, publishing national ‘Where to Stay’ guides, and for 

3 Up-to-date information on EnglandNet is available on the project website, 

www.englandnet.org.uk. 


coordinating support programmes linked to EnglandNet, such as TIC modernisation and 

e-business awareness activities. 

6.2.2 British Tourist Authority and UK National Tourist Boards 

BTA’s objectives are to exploit new media and communications technologies with a view to 

motivate and inform potential overseas customers about the whole of Britain and its 

tourism services and products. In addition to BTA and ETC collaborating on the 

development and use of tourism product data, other opportunities for joint working or 

cooperation should be explored where functional requirements are similar and efficiency 

savings may accrue. 

This should include collaboration on interoperability standards at national level. There is a 

particular need for collaboration between BTA, EnglandNet, VisitScotland, Wales Tourist 

Board and the Northern Ireland Tourist Board to ensure that open data exchange standards 

are applied, to enable ease of access to tourism information across the UK. Other 

opportunities could include collaboration over the development of geographical 

information systems, content distribution opportunities, customer interaction services, and 

research into the effectiveness of online services. 

6.2.3 Regional Tourist Boards 

RTBs will have a key role in managing the rollout of EnglandNet, including overseeing data 

quality and managing the ENTICE rollout to TICs. They should also lead the delivery of 

activities to promote e-business awareness and skills, and improve businesses’ participation 

in EnglandNet. 

Most RTBs have prepared, or are preparing, regional e-tourism strategies to guide the 

development and support for e-business within the region and the ways in which this can 

be integrated with their own corporate plans. 

Regional e-tourism strategies should set out clearly the way in which local data 

management and network developments will relate to the national picture for England. This 

will need to cover the way in which local data is defined, collected and quality-checked, and 

how regional and local DMS solutions will interact with EnglandNet. To assist in this process 

several RTBs have also set up regional e-tourism/ICT working groups or forums, and are 

exploring collaborative opportunities with RDAs, DMOs and business support agencies. 

6.2.4 Destination Management Organisations 

DMOs invariably have the closest contact with local tourism providers, often made tangible 

via local TICs. Most DMOs have traditionally been operated or at least part-funded, by local 

authorities, now under an increasing obligation to demonstrate how their services meet 

Best Value criteria. Some services could be reduced as this pressure increases. An effective 

e-business strategy could assist the sustainability of DMOs by demonstrating how local 

services can link into regional and national frameworks, reducing duplication and increasing 

market reach. DMOs have an important part to play in encouraging local tourism providers 

to adapt to e-business, and could assist this by supporting local ICT/e-business forums or 

business advisory workshops. RTBs will be responsible for developing working relationships 

with DMOs as part of the rollout of EnglandNet and related regional ICT and training 

services. 


6.2.5 Regional Development Agencies 

Regional Development Agencies (RDAs) have an increasingly important role in support of 

regional economic development. This includes developing cross-sectoral ICT strategies for 

the development of e-business and for the supporting communications infrastructure 

required. RDAs recognise the importance of broadband communications for regional 

development, and seek to address the challenges of ensuring that remote rural areas are 

not excluded from such services. Whilst the drivers for broadband networks may be the 

data-rich requirements of health and educational services, rural tourism services could also 

benefit. 

RDAs should therefore assist the development of e-business in tourism by considering: 

• The needs and opportunities for tourism within their own ICT strategies 

• The potential for tourism services to benefit from, and contribute to, communications 

infrastructure/broadband initiatives – eg by strengthening the case for local information 

integration for residents as well as for visitors 

• Supporting RTBs and DMOs in tourism information system implementation 

• E-business animation and training initiatives aimed at small tourism businesses 

• The needs of the tourism sector in the implementing of regional industry extranets or 

online ‘portal’ services – including the need for access to specialist resources provided 

nationally (eg via EnglandNet). 

6.2.6 Other organisations 

A number of other organisations have responsibilities relevant to the support of e-business 

development, and should therefore be encouraged to support this strategy and play a part 

in delivering some of the supporting activities. These include the Countryside Agency, the 

Small Business Service and UK online for business. 

The Tourism Technology Working Group (TTWG), chaired by ETC and involving BTA, RTBs, 

the Tourism Management Institute, Local Government Association and other 

representatives, will continue to act as an advisory forum on DMO e-business issues. It 

should also be a consultative forum for EnglandNet to reflect the user requirements of local 

authorities and other destination management organisations. It will also oversee 

dissemination of information on project outcomes via regional workshop events and other 

means. 


7. An agenda for action for e-tourism 

A five-point agenda for action is proposed as a framework within which England’s tourism 

businesses and organisations can realise the opportunities offered by e-business. 

7.1 Realising the potential of electronic marketing 

The advent of Internet, mobile telephony and digital interactive television is having a major 

impact on the way tourism products are marketed and sold. The web can be a costeffective 

medium for publishing information and providing a transactional capability for 

customers as part of a destination marketing strategy. Email conveys information directly, 

cheaply and at short notice to prime prospects. Electronic marketing enables organisations 

to engage with customers on a one-to-one basis, and can be used also to promote ‘one-tomany’ 

activities, whereby large numbers of potential visitors can be attracted to a 

destination or company’s website. 

‘E-marketing’ should, however, be undertaken in harmony with traditional ‘offline’ 

marketing activities as part of an e-business strategy more closely integrating the 

promotional, sales and fulfilment roles of websites, brochures and telephone support 

services. Campaign strategies will need to position the role of printed media alongside 

electronic marketing to maximise returns on investment. 

One strategic priority for England at national level is to ensure that good quality content is 

routed through BTA and the VisitBritain family of websites to reach overseas markets, and 

to redevelop the TravelEngland web portal as a platform for domestic marketing 

campaigns. Attention should also be given to linking the latter to pro-active e-marketing 

campaigns using customer databases, personalisation and marketing partnerships. 

To realise the potential of electronic marketing access to online bookings and transactions 

facilities will need to become more widely available across the industry. There may be 

opportunities at the national level to link to specific web-based reservations systems 

operated by commercial groups and consortia, and this should be explored. However, a 

priority for EnglandNet should be to enable searching and booking based on up-to-date 

inventory held on local Destination Management Systems where these exist, and to support 

the extension of these services to other areas. To ensure that revenues continue to be 

available to support local DMO and TIC services, this will need to be underpinned by a 

revenue-sharing business model. 


Key Actions Lead role Others 

involved 

Redevelop the TravelEngland website as a EnglandNet ETC, RTBs, 

national web portal to support a range of 

other 

England marketing campaigns 

partners 

Launch full e-commerce services on 

TravelEngland 

Ensure that improved England tourism 

information is available for distribution to 

overseas markets via the VisitBritain website 

and other channels 

Support the extension of DMS services to areas 

not yet effectively covered 

Implement Customer Relationship 

Management and Marketing as an integral and 

important aspect of destination marketing. This 

will require development of an accurate, wellresearched 

customer database, compiled at 

different points of customer contact, and the 

tools to exploit them. 

Develop a sustainable business model for 

online bookings via EnglandNet 

Establish the foundations for future marketing 

partnerships with key private sector players 

EnglandNet 

BTA 



ETC, RTBs, 

other 

partners 

EnglandNet, 

ETC, RTBs, 

DMOs 

RTBs, RDAs, 

DMOs, DMS 

suppliers 

RTBs, DMOs, 

possible 

collaboration 

with BTA 

Time 

From late 

2002 

onwards 

By 

December 

2003 

from late 

2002 

onwards 

From late 

2002 

onwards 

late 2003 

EnglandNet ETC, RTBs By 

September 

2002 


ETC, RTBs, 

RDAs, DMOs 

By March 

2004 


7.2 Modernising information services offered to consumers 

ICT and e-business have major implications for the delivery of information and reservations 

services to consumers, whether at home, travelling or within the destination. They enable 

existing services to be operated more efficiently while also opening up many new channels 

through which information may be accessed. These new channels will need to be evaluated 

and trialed as they become of potential significance. 

An Information Services Strategy was commissioned by the RTBs in 2000, based on a survey 

of the whole TIC network and consultation with DMOs. An outcome of this work was a 

recommendation that an application be developed to improve communication and the flow 

of information between TICs, DMOs and RTBs that would complement existing local DMS 

services. Northumbria Tourist Board’s ENTICE TIC extranet successfully demonstrated this 

concept during 2001. Development of a national version of this is therefore proposed, to 

include access to the national product database, online bulletin boards and discussion 

forums. The application would be delivered by RTBs, with the technical infrastructure being 

provided by EnglandNet. 



Develop the ENTICE web-based network to EnglandNet RTBs, RDAs 

enable TICs and DMOs to access both the 

DMOs, 

national product database and a range of 

support 

browser-enabled functions and services. 

from RDAs 

Build local online communities linking TICs via 

the Internet to tourism providers, either by 

e-mail, or by access to their websites. 

Undertake trials for the delivery of visitor 

services through new channels – eg web access 

from hotel rooms; Internet-enabled payphones; 

handheld mobile devices, etc 



RTBs, RDAs, 

DMOs, 

ETC, RTBs, 

DMOs, 

other 

partners 

Time 

Available to 

all TICs by 

end of 2002 

By end of 

2003 

From 

January 

2003 

7.3 Enhancing the competitiveness of businesses and suppliers 

The Internet provides an opportunity to create an online network (technically, an ‘extranet’) 

that will enable stakeholders to communicate easily while also providing a wide range of 

other functions. Such a network could help raise the competitive performance of tourism 

businesses by improving day-to-day communication between tourism marketing 

organisations and businesses, and more specifically by enabling tourism providers to: 

• access tourism information (eg on events) for guests 

• use online tools such as property management/booking systems, e-procurement 

services, enabling, for example, accommodation providers to maintain their availability 

on common databases to enable online bookings 

• access business support services – such as research and intelligence information 

• communicate and do business more easily with each other. 

The technical requirements for a basic industry extranet are relatively straightforward. 

However, the operational aspects of implementing it are costly. If the system is to be costeffective, 

it will need to have the support of a critical mass of suppliers. 


This same network, with some modifications, may be used for the involvement of the wider 

community (schools, colleges, community groups, etc) to create awareness of the 

importance of tourism, and an understanding of the industry. It could also provide a 

mechanism for consultation on future tourism strategies. Similarly, the extranet could 

provide the means for provincial and local government departments and other public 

agencies to access the knowledge base to help estimate economic impact and to guide 

specific policy decisions. 



Develop an interactive business-facing web 

portal to provide a convenient point of access 

to web forms, business advice and intelligence 

Promote integration of tourism content within 

regional information systems and support 

business-to-business development initiatives. 

Promote integration of tourism content with 

other tourism related content at national level 

Develop other online tourism community 

services 

Develop new online tools for use by tourism 

providers 

Time 

EnglandNet RTBs From 

December 

2002 

RTBs 

ETC 


RDAs, 



BTA 

Countryside 

Agency, 

others 

ETC, RTBs, 

DMOs, 

TTWG 

From 

December 

2002 

From 

January 

2003 

2003-04 

EnglandNet RTBs 2003-04 

7.4 Developing standards for comprehensive tourism information 

Accurate, up-to-date information is central to all aspects of tourism management – 

including marketing, product development and research. A key principle for information 

collection that underlies this strategy is to ‘collect once and distribute freely through a 

range of channels and media, to meet the needs of consumers’. The aim should be to 

enable product data to be collected electronically. 

However, to be truly efficient it is vital that any existing duplication of effort is eliminated 

and that common standards for data collection and storage are defined. The priority is to 

agree a definition for England-wide standards of tourism data types and structures that can: 

• provide a framework for local / sub-regional tourism data collection and distribution 

• be effectively distributed and used by a variety of organisations 

• be integrated into a national, England-wide tourism product database. 

In the longer term, as standards for data exchange (or interoperability) evolve, the industry 

will move away from traditional structured databases. It will become possible to search data 

held in different formats and present the results in a consistent way. 

The development by BTA and ETC of the new Jigsaw tourism product database using web 

compatible standards for data has, in effect, established a core data set on which DMS 

suppliers have been consulted. Compatible destination data could, on this basis, be 


imported into Jigsaw. This is, however, only a first step towards achieving the kind of 

interoperability that is required to fully support electronic searching and booking. Further 

work is required as part of the EnglandNet development to extend the core data standards 

to cover product inventory (eg room or ticket availability) data. Destination system suppliers 

whose software is compliant with the agreed data standards should then be endorsed by 

EnglandNet to advertise as such. This endorsement could take the form of a kitemark-type 

accreditation. 



Develop a full e-commerce interoperability EnglandNet DMS 

standard for England, to enable DMO 

suppliers, 

inventories, EnglandNet services and BTA 

ETC, BTA, 

distribution systems to be linked 

RTBs, TTWG, 

Promote the EnglandNet interoperability 

standard to England’s tourism industry 

Enable tourism product data to be collected 

and managed electronically 



DMOs 

ETC, BTA, 

RTBs, TTWG, 

DMOs 

ETC, BTA, 

RTBs 

Time 

By 

September 

2002 

October 

2002 

onwards 

From late 

2002 

7.5 Helping stakeholders to make wise investments 

Detailed practical guidance for DMOs on planning and specification of destination systems 

and working with system suppliers was provided in ‘Impact Through IT’ produced in 1999 

by ETB. Further web-based information is in the course of preparation and will include other 

material relevant to future e-business, including market intelligence, best practice case 

studies and links to other sources. The Tourism Technology Working Group (TTWG) has 

formed a ‘Knowledge Network’ sub-group to help prepare and advise on material that 

should be disseminated in this way. 

All of this advisory information will be set within the context of the EnglandNet project. 

EnglandNet will provide web access to the national product database and to related 

applications. Decisions on local action should be taken in the knowledge of the services that 

will be provided by EnglandNet. 

The promotion of DMO participation in EnglandNet and of the advisory services that are 

available will require a significant programme of training and awareness activity for DMO 

staff. Achieving widespread understanding and participation in the new electronic services 

among small tourism businesses will also require a substantial awareness and training 

programme. It will be especially important to assist the less confident business operators to 

recognise the potential benefits to their operations. 

Key Actions Lead role Others Time 


Make up-to-date guidance and intelligence for 

tourism businesses and organisations available 

on ETC and RTB websites. 

ETC TTWG, RTBs Now and 

ongoing 


Maintain a communications strategy to keep 

RTBs, DMOs and the industry fully advised of 

the progress of EnglandNet 

Provide EnglandNet training and awareness 

activity for DMO staff. 

Deliver a programme of e-business awareness 

and training tailored to the needs of small 

tourism businesses 

ETC & 



ETC 

RTBs, TMI, 

LGA, DMS 

suppliers 

RTBs, ETC, 

DMOs 

RTBs, 


UK online for 

business, 

Small 

Business 

Service, etc 

Ongoing 

July 2002 – 

March 2003 

September 

2002 – 

March 2004 

7.6 Taking the strategy forward 

It is clear that EnglandNet is the core vehicle for implementing this strategy. The anticipated 

delivery timetable for EnglandNet can be summarised as follows: 

EnglandNet milestones 

EnglandNet business model 

Target dates 

Completed, RTB versions 

by end of July 2002 

RTB Regional project plans End of July 2002 

The ENTICE extranet for TICs is now available, and rollout and 

training of users has begun 

National and regional EnglandNet ‘kick-off’ conferences to 

involve national and regional bodies such as RTBs, RDAs, 

Government Departments and agencies, eg Countryside 

Agency, UK online for business, SBS. 

Awareness and training programmes for RTBs, TIC and DMO 

users 

Awareness and training for small tourism businesses 

All TICs to have access by 

March 2003. 

July-October 2002 

From July 2002 

From September 2002 to 

March 2004 

EnglandNet to be established as a legal entity September 2002 

EnglandNet Interoperability Standard completed October 2002 

Professional access to EnglandNet Content Management 

Services available 

Public access to EnglandNet Community Services (enabling the 

relaunch of improved services on the TravelEngland website) 

From December 2002 

January 2003 

First local integration projects in rural recovery areas January 2003 

Public launch of e-commerce services for holiday-makers via 

TravelEngland and VisitBritain (via BTA) 

Public launch of e-commerce services for re-sellers (eg travel 

agents) 

December 2003 

March 2004 


A communications plan has been prepared which identifies industry audiences that need to 

be made aware of EnglandNet, how they should be addressed, and when. This covers 

industry organizations such as UK online for business, Small Business Service, Countryside 

Agency, national business associations, the Business Links network, Government 

departments and many others. 

Communications underway or planned include: 

• Presentations to targeted audiences including British Travel Trade Fair and Harrogate 

Tourism Information conference (completed) and other industry conferences and 

seminars 

• A national ‘kick-off’ conference and regional workshops for a wide range of contacts 

from July to September 2002 

• A project information website, www.englandnet.org.uk, has been launched, an 

introductory brochure published and in course of being distributed, and an electronic 

newsletter planned. 

The role of the Tourism Technology Working Group as a consultative forum for EnglandNet 

will also be strengthened to involve other organisations which may be able to assist in 

influencing ICT strategies and programmes relevant to tourism. 

In the light of the growing importance of Regional Development Agencies, and their 

increasing role in working with other non-departmental public bodies (including RTBs) in 

each region, some practical steps should be taken to improve communications and 

engagement with the EnglandNet programme: 

• Involve RDAs in the planning and delivery of the proposed EnglandNet ‘kick-off’ 

conference and regional workshops 

• Consult on EnglandNet proposals, notable the EnglandNet business model, 

interoperability standards, and regional pathfinder/integration pilot projects, and how 

these relate to RDA regional ICT strategies. 

• Liaise over strategic issues such as access to Broadband services and e-Government 

targets 

• Assess the implications of the forthcoming White Paper on Regional Government for 

national/regional collaboration on e-tourism strategies. 


8. Monitoring and evaluation 

To evaluate the impact of this strategy requires indicators to be defined. These indicators 

should measure performance both in terms of providers and of end-users. To achieve this 

coverage, several strands of research and monitoring will need to be undertaken as 

indicated in the following table. 



Regular collection and collation of website EnglandNet ETC, BTA, 

usage data as a basis for performance 

RTBs, DMOs 

evaluation and benchmarking 

Regular research on website users, to analyse 

reactions to the various EnglandNet products 

and other industry sites, and to provide the 

basis for benchmarking 

Consumer research to enable assumptions 

about the impact of the web to be tested and 

assessed over time and to identify the likely 

growth in the use of other new media 

Establish a web-based system for maintaining 

information about RTB and DMO ICT/ebusiness 

activities – with an initial research 

programme to establish the database 

Collection of TIC visits and booking data on a 

regular basis, and comparative analysis of 

these across England 

Monitoring of small tourism businesses’ 

adoption of websites and email 

An e-business impact study of the tourism 

sector 

Monitoring the 'state of the art' e-business 

solutions, benchmarking England with other 

leading competitor tourism destinations. 


ETC 

ETC, RTBs, 

BTA 


BTA, RDAs, 

RTBs, 

academia, 

private sector 

Time 

Annual 

evaluation 

(October) 

From January 

2003 

October 2002 

and ongoing 

EnglandNet RTBs, ETC July- 

September 

2002 

RTBs DMOs, TICs Monthly 

ETC BTA, RTBs Ongoing (via 

TRIPS/Jigsaw 

system) 

UK online 

for business 

(DTI) 

ETC, RTBs 

June- October 

2002 

ETC EnglandNet Annually 


Appendix 1: Definition of terms 

For the purposes of this report, ‘e-tourism’ is taken to mean ‘e-business for 

tourism.’ 

The World Tourism Organisation report, ‘E-Business for Tourism’, explains the concept of 

e-business as follows: 

‘….for tourism destinations and businesses, e-business is about realising the 

opportunities of improved connectivity both externally, through the Internet, and 

internally, through intranets. 

The external dimension is about transformation of the value chain, linking the 

tourism supplier (or service provider) to the customer, and of the supply chain, 

linking the tourism supplier with its own suppliers. This brings in e-marketing, 

e-commerce and e-procurement: 

• e-marketing exploits the Internet and other forms of electronic communication 

to communicate in the most cost-effective ways with target markets and to 

enable joint working with partner organisations, with whom there is a common 

interest 

• e-commerce is the sales activity undertaken through electronic distribution 

channels 

• e-procurement streamlines the purchasing process by allowing a business to tie 

its inventory and procurement systems into the despatch and billing systems of 

its suppliers, or vice versa. Not only does this reduce costs through automation, 

it also facilitates identification of best value sources of supply.’ 

The internal dimension is about transformation of the way in which the organisation 

functions, enabling it to work in a fully integrated way, through the use of common 

systems. The transformed organisation should: 

• Be fully networked for internal and external communication 

• Use a common set of tools, protocols and standards 

• Share product and customer data as a common resource 

• Have staff operating as teams, focused on maximising shared resources. 


Appendix 2: E-tourism in other countries 

ETC has drawn upon published sources and commissioned comparative reviews to compare 

progress on e-tourism initiatives in comparable competitor countries. 

Scotland and Wales each have their own tourism e-business projects. The Scottish Tourist 

Board launched its Ossian project in 1997. This project was re-branded visitscotland.com in 

2000 and a public-private partnership (PPP) with SchlumbergerSema was launched in May 

2002. A new product database structure was designed and populated in 1998, and is now 

being maintained by the Area Tourist Boards. The development of visitscotland.com was 

undertaken in-house and the investment since 1997 has been estimated at £5m-£6m. 

E-commerce (in the form of accommodation transactions) was launched in 2000. Some 

elements of the original development programme remain to be completed, and up to 

£11 million of further investment is planned under the new PPP. 

The Wales Tourist Board initiated its project in 2001 and has taken a different route, 

inviting tenders in response to a very detailed specification. The contract for system supply 

was awarded to World.Net, which offers fully web-enabled software for use both by 

destination organisations and by tourism businesses across various sectors. This solution is 

now under construction. 

In Europe, Austria, Finland, Sweden and Denmark all have fully integrated systems linking 

all parts of the tourism support structure. In Switzerland and the Netherlands, partnership 

web projects have been implemented at the national level and participation is being 

extended to regional and local tourism organisations. The Netherlands Board of Tourism 

decided not to proceed with a planned public-private partnership company, but rather to 

fully integrate all aspects of e-business within its own operations, whilst still working in 

partnership with key commercial players. 

In Germany, Belgium, France and Spain, the picture is more fragmented, with the main 

focus of activity at the regional/provincial and local level, as in England. Many different 

systems have been implemented at these levels in each country with a lack of consistency 

and interoperability. In all cases, except Belgium, there have been national initiatives to 

achieve a greater degree of co-ordination and establish certain basic standards. 

The situation in England is perhaps most analogous to that in Germany and France, where 

different destination systems have been developed across the country. Action has been 

taken jointly by the German regional tourism organisations to achieve a consistent 

approach, but with limited success to date. France appears to have made more progress 

through the Tourinfrance project, which has focused upon developing interoperability 

standards to link regional DMS services within a national framework. Implementation of this 

is, however, still at an early stage. 

It seems clear from these examples that a key issue for the success of a national solution in 

England will be the ability to achieve interoperability between existing regional and local 

destination systems. 


Appendix 3: Market analysis 

1. The growth of Internet usage worldwide 

The dramatic growth in the number of Internet users over the past five years and 

projections (a nine-fold increase) for the next five years are shown in Figure 1. 

1,400 

1,200 

1,000 

800 

600 

400 

200 

0 

1,333 

1,174 

979 

814 

665 

533 

413 

284 

184 

44.5 

1995 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 

Figure 1: Number of Internet users worldwide (millions) 

[Source: eTForecasts, July 2001] 

Future growth in Internet user numbers is expected to vary markedly between the different 

regions of the world, as shown in Figure 2. North America is expected to have a relatively 

slow rate of growth. Europe is predicted to grow substantially faster, but the largest growth 

overall is forecast for in Pacific Asia. The assumption of rapid growth in Asia is based on 

rapidly increasing use of cellular devices. 

600 

500 

400 

300 

200 

100 

N. America 

W. Europe 

E. Europe 

Asia 

S/C America 

M. East/Africa 

0 

1997 2000 2003 2006 

Figure 2: Internet users by regions (millions), 1997-2006 

[Source: eTForecasts, July 2001] 


1.1 Internet users’ profile 

Internet users tend to be relatively: 

• wealthy 

• well educated 

• interested in independent travel 

As the number of Internet users grows, particularly through increases in the use of new 

access channels (especially interactive TV and mobile devices), the user profile will change, 

broaden and become less up-market. 

As the market has matured, there has been and will be substantial growth in both the 

number and the percentage of Internet users who are buying – see Figure 3. 

Figure 3: IDC Internet Commerce Market Model – worldwide (millions) 

[Source: IDC, 2001] 

1.2 Travel and tourism’s market share 

Travel and tourism have become rapidly the single largest category of products sold over 

the Internet. In 1998, Datamonitor estimated that their share of Internet commerce 

increased from 7% in 1997 to 11% in 1998 and they projected an increase then to 35% by 

2002. Other sources have suggested that this forecast may have been achieved already. 

Jupiter has forecast that, as a result of these trends, US online travel industry sales will 

increase from $24 billion in 2001 to $64 billion in 2007, of which nearly half will come 

from the corporate travel market. PhoCusWright’s projections for Europe are that online 

travel and tourism sales will increase from $6 billion in 2001 to $10.91 billion by 2002. 

1.3 Travel products purchased 

Travel Industry Association of America (TIA) research in 2001 has shown that a large 

majority of Internet using US travellers have bought air tickets and made hotel reservations 

online (see Figure 4). Because of the size and frequency of air ticket transactions, they have 

taken the largest share of the market, but that share is diminishing, from 80% in 1998 to a 

forecast 59% in 2005 (Jupiter). 


Made a hotel reservation 78% 

Rented a car 59% 

Booked entertainment tickets 33% 

Booked tickets for amusement park 18% 

Booked a travel package 17% 

Booked a cruise 8% 

Figure 4: US consumer online travel booking by sector 

[Source: The Travel Industry Association of America (http://www.tia.org), 

Results from a Travel Media Usage Survey of 1,300 US adults, conducted in July 2001] 

1.4 The impact of Internet use on traditional channels 

A key question for DMOs and tourism businesses is the way in which the Internet is 

affecting the use of traditional channels of marketing. A number of recent surveys cast light 

on this: 

• A travel media usage survey for TIA in July 2001 (Figure 5) showed that, in the US, the 

Internet had already become the number one source of information consulted when 

choosing or planning a vacation. The Internet was also considered to be the most useful 

media for travel planning (at 24%). 

Internet 40% 

Motor Club Magazine 26% 

Newspaper Travel Section 25% 

Television Travel Shows 20% 

Travel Guidebooks 17% 

General Interest Magazines 17% 

Figure 5: Media most used in the US in the past year to plan vacations 

[Source: The Travel Industry Association of America (http://www.tia.org), 

Results from a Travel Media Usage Survey of 1,300 US adults, conducted in July 2001] 

• TIA research in 2001 (Figure 6) showed that about 70% of Internet-using travellers 

were using travel agents and state tourism offices less often. A similar proportion was 

calling airlines less often, whilst nearly 60% were using other travel call centres less. 

In 2000, US on-line travellers reported that since they started 

planning their trips on-line, they were … 

Using travel agents less often 71% 

Calling or visiting state tourism offices less often 68% 

Placing fewer calls directly to airlines 68% 

Placing fewer calls directly to rental companies 58% 

Placing fewer calls directly to lodging companies 57% 

Ordering travel brochures by phone less often 57% 

Figure 6: Consequences of increased use of Internet for traditional channels 

[Source: The Travel Industry Association of America (http://www.tia.org), Results from a Travel Media Usage 

Survey of 1,300 US adults, conducted in July 2001] 


Thus, over a period of only five years, the Internet has become a primary source of travel 

information for the more mature markets of Internet users, which are also major tourism 

generating countries. At present, the proportion of travel booked through the Internet is 

relatively small (between 6 and 15% in the US, according to sector, and less elsewhere), but 

will increase substantially, as the number of Internet users grows and the propensity to 

purchase increases. It seems reasonable to anticipate that transactions across the Internet 

may account for 20-25% of all tourism sales in the main markets, over the next four or five 

years. 

2. UK online market 

2.1 The growth of Internet usage 

The growth in the number of households online over the past four years are shown in 

Figure 7. According to National Statistics, over the period July to September 2001 an 

estimated 9.7 million households were online in the UK, representing approximately 39% 

of the total number of households in the UK. 

The proportion of homes with Internet access for individual regions is detailed in Figure 8. 

In the UK as a whole, from October 2000 to September 2001, 37% of homes were online 

while in the South East and London Region up to 45% of homes were online. Home 

Internet penetration is greater in England than in other part of the United Kingdom. 

Figure 7: Number of Households online in the UK (millions) 

[Source: National Statistics ‘Internet Access – Households and Individuals’ (December 2001) including figures for 

the periods between July and September for the years 1998 to 2001 from the Family Expenditure Survey and 

the Expenditure and Food Survey] 


Figure 8: Households with home Internet access by Government Office 

Region and UK: October 2000 to September 2001 

[Source: National Statistics ‘Internet Access – Households and Individuals’ (December 2001), including 

figures from the Family Expenditure Survey and the Expenditure and Food Survey] 

2.2 Travel and tourism’s market share 

Travel (flights and holiday accommodation) is the most popular online purchase in the UK 

(31%), followed by books or magazines (37%), tickets for events (23%) and music or CDs 

(19%), according to respondents to the National Statistics Omnibus Survey of online 

purchasing in the three months to October 2001). The online UK leisure travel market was 

worth £592 million in 2000 and Forrester Research predicts that it will reach £3.7bn by 

2005. By that time, online leisure travel sale should account for 14% of the total UK leisure 

travel sales. 

Jupiter MMXI estimates that: 

• UK was the biggest online travel market in Europe in January 2002, with almost six 

million people visiting travel sites. 

• In June 2001, travel sites were most popular with people earning over £45,000 per 

annum - but they are popular with people in all income brackets. 

2.3 Travel products purchased 

A MORI research conducted in September 2000 among UK holidaymakers for ABTA reveals 

that: 

• Only 3% of UK holidaymakers booked their last package holiday online 

• 17% had used the Internet to book some travel services online at some time such as 

flights, car hire and ferry crossings 

• 39% have already used the Internet as a source of travel information 

• 56% have access to the Internet at home, at work or in another place. 


It also indicates the reasons cited by holidaymakers with Internet access who did not book 

over the Internet for their decision: 

• Preference for face to face advice (18%) 

• Lack of Internet access at the time (16%) 

• Worries about security (14%) 

• Lack of convenience (10%) 

• Access to better bargains elsewhere (10%) 

According to NetValue (www.netvalue.com), Lastminute.com was the most popular travel 

and tourism site in February 2002 with 679,000 unique visitors, up from 628,000 in 

September 2001. 

Jupiter Communications indicates that UK male and female Internet users have different 

preferences in term of travel sites: women prefer sites offering flights only such as 

Cheapflights.com, EasyJet.com and Ryanair.com while men do not have a preference 

between different types of travel sites. 

2.4 The impact of Internet use on traditional channels 

A recent survey in the UK by MORI shows the way in which the Internet is affecting the use 

of traditional channels of marketing within the UK market. In March 2001, the Internet and 

brochures were used in similar proportions, as sources of information for booking holidays 

or other forms of travel, by Internet using travellers (Figure 9). In a similar survey in May 

2000, when interviewees were asked which source provided the most complete 

information, the Internet was rated much more highly than brochures or any other source – 

see Figure 10. 

Brochures 51% 

Internet 50% 

Travel Agent 47% 

Friends/Relatives/Colleagues 29% 

Teletext 24% 

Guide Books 16% 

National Press 16% 

Magazines 12% 

TV Travel Programmes 11% 

Figure 9: Use of different sources of information for booking 

decisions by UK Internet users 

[Source: Results from theE-Travel Tracker Survey from www.scotexchange.net, 

March 2001. Base: all who use the Internet (605) March 2001] 


Internet 31% 

Brochures 22% 

Travel Agent 16% 

Guide Books 12% 

Friends/Relatives/Colleagues 11% 

Teletext 2% 

TV Travel Programmes 2% 

National Press * 

Magazines * 

Figure 10: Most complete source for researching and planning 

travel by UK consumers 

[Source: Results from the E-Travel Tracker Survey from www.scotexchange.net, May 2000. Base: all who have 

used any source of travel information May 2000 (1,112)] 

2.5 Profiles of UK Internet Users 

According to the ‘Internet Access – Household and Individuals’ Report by National Statistics 

published in December 2001, Internet uptake is continuing to grow across all consumer 

groups. Internet penetration remains highest amongst: 

• Younger and middle aged groups 

• Men 

• Higher income groups (households within the highest income decile group were almost 

eight times as likely to have Internet as those on the lower income decile group) 

Figure 11: Percentage of male and female and of each age group online 

in October 2001 

[Source: National Statistics ‘Internet Access – Households and Individuals’ (December 2001), including figures 

from the National Statistics Omnibus Survey] 


60% 

55% 

50% 

45% 

40% 

35% 

30% 

25% 

20% 

15% 

10% 

5% 

0% 

35.0% 

54.0% 

57.0% 

Small (1-2) Medium (3-4) Large (5+) 

Figure 13: Percentage of each type of households (by size) online 

in November 2001 

[Source: Consumers’ Use of the Internet, Oftel residential survey Q7, http://www.oftel.gov.uk, 

Base: UK adults, (November 2001)] 

70% 

65% 

60% 

55% 

50% 

45% 

40% 

35% 

30% 

25% 

20% 

15% 

10% 

5% 

0% 

67.0% 

52.0% 

39.0% 

23.0% 

AB C1 C2 DE 

Figure 14: Percentage of each social grades online in November 2001 

[Source: Consumers’ Use of the Internet, Oftel residential survey Q7, http://www.oftel.gov.uk, 

Base : UK adults, (November 2001)] 


Appendix 4: An e-business model for destinations 

For tourism organisations, it is helpful to have an appreciation of the full potential of 

Internet-enabled destination e-business systems. Figure 15 illustrates this by providing a 

diagrammatic representation of such a system. This shows how the system can serve 

different categories of users, accessing the system through their own dedicated web 

gateway or interface, using one or more channels (PC, handheld device, interactive TV, etc). 

Having accessed the system, the users may select from a wide variety of services (or 

applications) that will draw, in turn, on the appropriate database. The user categories, 

channels and applications may be varied in different destinations, to meet local 

requirements. 

This model serves to provide a menu of opportunities for the implementation of systems by 

English destinations. Such systems will best be implemented on a phased, modular basis. 

The key issue for England is to achieve interoperability between systems and common 

product and knowledge datasets shared between users. 

© TEAM 2000 

Consumers 

at home 

Internet 

Community 

TV 

Handheld 

Tourism 

Businesses 

/Suppliers 

Conference 

Buyers 

Handheld 

PC 

PC TV TV 

Visitors – 

Handheld Mobile 

PC 

Kiosk 

Handheld TV 

Print 

PC/TV (Hotel) 

Info mgmt 

Web 

search 

Handheld 

PC 

Publishing 

PC 

Handheld 

Handheld 

PC 

Reservations 

Data 

editing 

MIS/ 

evaluation 

Private 

Sector 

Partners 

PC 

Travel Trade 

Product 

Data 

Impact 

Analysis 

Database 

Servers 

Knowledge 

PC 

Public 

Partners 

CRM/ 

Contact 

mgmt 

Travel 

Media 

Customer 

Data 

Handheld 

PC 

Image 

library 

Market 

research/ 

analysis 

‘Push’ 

marketing 

Events Orgs. 

PC 

PC 

PC 

Tourism 

Organisns. 

Figure 15: Destination e-business system model 

[based on a version prepared by TEAM for Western Cape, South Africa, 

reproduced in ETC’s Insights, September 2001] 

Call 

Centres 

Tourism 

Information 

Centres 

© TEAM 2000

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