The European Travel Commission (ETC) is spearheading tourism industry efforts to boost and secure Europe's share of the international tourism market. Examples of its pioneering work are set out in the organisation's 2005 Annual Report, which is published today.
The preparations for the launch (in March 2006) of the new tourism portal visiteurope.com, and the creation of a new European brand identity, Brand Europe, are prominent among them.
Writing in the annual report, the ETC President, Arthur Oberascher, Chief Executive of the Austrian National Tourist Office, hailed Brand Europe as a historic achievement and added, "Brand Europe and visiteurope.com are two sides of the same coin: marketing Europe as a whole, rather than as a patchwork of competing destinations".
This theme of European integration in tourism is central to ETC's activities and goes far beyond the borders of the European Union. In 2005, ETC was proud to welcome Ukraine as its 34th member and discussions were launched with a number of other candidate countries. (Three of these - Serbia, Montenegro and San Marino - subsequently joined ETC in October 2006).
Within the EU itself, ETC has been maintaining its efforts to push tourism higher up the political agenda. October 2005 saw the publication of its Vienna Declaration on the Future of European Tourism and an invitation to policymakers in the EU institutions and elsewhere to join with ETC in enhancing the competitiveness of the tourism sector.
At the heart of the organisation's activities, however, remains the marketing of Europe as a tourism destination:
• In 2005, core funding of nearly € 1 million generated substantial additional funding, mostly for marketing activities by ETC's Operations Groups in the long-haul markets (Americas and Asia).
• The organisation's Research Group, recently renamed the Market Intelligence Group, invested over € 100,000 in market research work to support ETC's and its members' marketing activities. Its studies are available on ETC's corporate website at http://www.etc-corporate.org
• Its New Media Group played a vital role in the development of visiteurope.com, alongside ETC's newly appointed Online Marketing Manager, Karine Bruère.
• 2005 was declared the 'Year of E-Marketing'. ETC's first ever Executive Summit and Symposium, held in Vienna in October, was dedicated to this theme.
"Innovation is essential if European tourism is to hold its own in today's highly competitive international marketplace," commented Rob Franklin, ETC's Executive Director. "ETC is leading by example. With a dynamic and growing membership and the creation of visiteurope.com, the future looks promising."
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