10 NEWS ETC Works on
10 NEWS ETC Works on Europe Image European Travel Commission works on consolidating and differentiating Europe’s brand values EXCELLENCE IN EXHIBITING The CBS Best Exhibitor Awards this year will again foster and promote design, authenticity and creativity Culture and gastronomy will be among key messages to be underlined by the European Travel Commission at ITB Berlin 2014. The ETC’s Executive Director, Eduardo Santander, will be participating in several conferences in the ITB Berlin Convention, where work will revolve around consolidating a common brand to differentiate Europe from other international regions. According to Mr Santander, “The VisitEurope brand is meant to be the umbrella brand for all European National Tourism Organizations. This corporate identity can realize its full potential only if it projects a clear and instantly recognizable message to the travel industry and end consumers.” One of the key instruments in building the awareness and effective promotion on the VisitEurope brand is the visiteurope.com consumer portal. However, according to the latest information from the ETC, expectations of the users of the portal are higher than it is currently possible for the website to fulfil. Consequently, the ETC has announced that the visiteurope.com portal will be completely renewed and updated in order to increase its inspirational value, focusing on visual content and social media in line with the new “VisitEurope App” for tablets. ETC’s long-term strategy will focus on the promotion of pan-European, transnational thematic tourism products and experiences that have high potential for overseas tourist, such as cultural routes, heritage, active and adventure tourism, education, health and wellbeing, sporting activities, religious tourism, shopping and gastronomy. The latter is the first pan-European theme of this programme to be developed. Thanks to thenew gastronomy portal TastingEurope.com, which lists food fairs and festival across Europe. “THE ETC WILL HOLD A PRESS CONFERENCE AT 1 PM ON 4 TH MARCH AT PALAIS AM FUNKTURM” (Hammarskjöldplatz, Empore West). At the conference, ETC President, Peter de Wilde, will give an insight into the “Destination Europe 2020” initiative, as well as announcing interim results. He will discuss trends and future challenges in the most important source markets THIS CORPORATE IDENTITY CAN REALIZE ITS FULL POTENTIAL ONLY IF IT PROJECTS A CLEAR AND INSTANTLY RECOGNIZABLE MESSAGE TO THE TRAVEL INDUSTRY AND END CONSUMERS with a special focus on China and Brazil. Pedro Ortún, Director European Commission Directorate- General for Enterprise and Industry - will present current facts and figures about European tourism with a view to supporting the “Destination Europe 2020” initiative. Eduardo Santander will also be participating at the panel “New Values and the Council of Europe’s Cultural Routes” - hall 4.1.b and “Responsible Tourism and Adventure Travel” scheduled for 6th March 2014 from 11:30 am to 12 am. This year again the students of the Cologne Business School are judging exhibitors at ITB Berlin for the Best Exhibitor Awards. For more than ten years, the BEA has been a quality indicator for an “attractive trade fair appearance”. It is organised by the CBS Cologne Business School on behalf of and in co-operation with Messe Berlin. A jury consisting of 30 potential tourism managers from the CBS evaluates every single stand of the approximately 12,000 exhibitors at ITB Berlin and sorts them into a total of 11 categories: Germany, Europe, Asia/Australia /Oceania, America/The Caribbean, Near/Middle East, Africa, Hotel Business, Carriers, Travel Organisations, Travel Support & Media and NGOs & Non- Profit Institutions. Martina Leicher of the Cologne Consultancy COMPASS GmbH, which has been mentoring the project since its initiation explains that important aspects of the evaluation include design, authenticity and creativity, as well as the quality of the information and services on hand: “Friendliness, competence, the appropriate amount of staff relative to the booth‘s size and a uniform appearance are all key features”, adds Ms Leicher. “Quality aspects like service competencies, information transfer and creativity are valued highly.” The Best Exhibitor Award-Show on the Saturday night of the fair has become a fixed component of the supporting ITB Berlin programme, which is also reflected in the international high-ranking guest list of the event. ITB BERLIN NEWS • Friday 28 th February 2014 www.itb-berlin-news.com
NEWS 11 33 More Visitors Equate to One New Job Taking the US to the world - Brand USA spearheads powerful presence at ITB Berlin The success of President Obama’s “Travel Promotion Act” that enabled Brand USA to spearhead a powerful promotional campaign over the past couple of years is becoming increasingly evident. Brand USA is back in force at ITB Berlin 2014 with new events on the show floor such as “A Taste of the US” – with culinary specialities from various regions of the United States. Jay Gray Vice President, Global Partnership Development, Brand USA Since 2011, Brand USA has been working on building a global representation network, establishing partnerships with international stakeholders to attract increased private sector funding, promoting the United States as a premier global tourism destination. Jay Gray, Vice President, Global Partnership Development at Brand USA told ITB Berlin News that one of the main aims of his organisation is to change the way the world looks at his country: “Many people may have thought that if they had gone to the three, four or five iconic destinations, that they’d ‘done’ the US. What we are focusing on is ‘beyond the gateway’ or ‘gateway plus one’. We know that those iconic destinations WE HAVE SEEN A TWELVE TO FOURTEEN PERCENT INCREASE IN ‘INTENT TO TRAVEL’ FROM PRE- TO POST-CAMPAIGN are going to be a draw, but instead of just going to New York City, the question is how do we get people out of mid-town? How do we create those itineraries to take people beyond the specific gateway? Through our campaigns and through working with the trade, we are illustrating a lot more of the diversity the US has to offer and the plethora of products that are there.” Indeed, the US has destinations, activities and experiences that many international visitors may have never considered or thought available. Gray says Brand USA is working on expanding what people understand about the US and what that product really has to offer, primarily through creative promotional campaigns, which, he says, have measurable results: “In areas where we have been running brand campaigns long enough to start getting metrics, we have seen a twelve to fourteen percent increase in ‘intent to travel’ from pre- to post-campaign. We have developed a number of new partnerships. One worth mentioning is BA in the UK, or Thomas Cook – also in Europe, and we have campaigns running with United in Asia. A great thing about these partnerships is that we can obtain specific metrics every time we run a campaign, whether it be TV marketing or a ‘fam’ tour; we can measure the conversions, and the results have been extremely positive.” All this of course is aimed at helping the US economy, as President Obama’s Travel Promotion Act was created because of its projected economic impact. “For every 33 extra visitors we get to the US, that makes one new job,” says Gray. “If we look at the increase we have managed to achieve from 2011 to 2013 and divide that number by 33, that’s the economic impact we have. It equates to tens of thousands of jobs. Travel and tourism is the number one service export from the United States.” In addition to booth presence, it is reported that Brand USA will be organising a big evening event at ITB Berlin this year. A media event as well as a special event for the trade will take place on the show floor, the latter being a kind of ‘taste f the US’, with regional culinary specialities, according to Jay Gray: “It all helps us get to know the buyers better”. Hall 2.1 Stand 201 ITB BERLIN NEWS • Friday 28 th February 2014
