E-tourism in England a strategy .pdf

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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. 5/44 A strategy for modernising English tourism through e-business – July 2002
Page 1 and 2: E-tourism in England A strategy for
Page 3: Contents Foreword 3 1. Executive su
Page 7 and 8: 2. Introduction Tourism is a major
Page 9 and 10: 3. Background In tourism, as elsewh
Page 11 and 12: likely to reach saturation point or
Page 13 and 14: This strategy and the EnglandNet pr
Page 15 and 16: 4.2.2 Travel trade Potential requir
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Page 21 and 22: 6. Key roles in support of e-touris
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Page 25 and 26: 6.2.5 Regional Development Agencies
Page 27 and 28: Key Actions Lead role Others involv
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Page 31 and 32: Maintain a communications strategy
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Page 37 and 38: 1.1 Internet users’ profile Inter
Page 39 and 40: Thus, over a period of only five ye
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