Tourism as Export

Tourism is often overlooked by economic developers and business experts when in fact it should be regarded as a major export that, if used properly, can also be a major economic development too.

Tourism is not only big business but also tourism should be seen and protected as perhaps one of the world's premier export products. The fact that tourism is an export industry is noted in a recent study which stated: "An export industry is one that sells a significant share of its goods or services outside of the country, thus bringing new money into the local economy. The Jamaica Tourist Board reports that over 90 per cent of our tourists are international and the Bank of Jamaica reports that the industry contributed some US$1,975,519,000 to foreign exchange earnings in 2008" .

What especially makes tourism a valuable export product is that, if cared for properly, it is a sustainable and renewable resource although of course it must be protected. Tourism, like any commodity, can be overused, exploited poorly or allowed to decline and needs the support of the local community. Without this support, tourism often becomes an unsustainable product. In order then to utilise the tourism industry as an export, the following guidelines should be followed:

1. Educate your community about the fact that tourism is the world's largest peacetime industry, and of its economic benefits. According to the World Tourism Council in 2006 tourism produced over US$6 trillion. It is estimated that the world's tourism industries provided around the world 221 million jobs, with an expectation that by 2015 tourism will be providing some 269 million jobs. Even with the world's economic problems it is hoped that by 2015, tourism's growth rate is expected to average 4.6% per year. The Organization for Economic and Operational Development reports on its web site that: "Tourism…is a key component of the service economy (30% of international trade in services in the OECD area). Tourism, which has expanded dramatically over the past 30 years, looks set to continue growing as societies become more mobile and prosperous."

2. Demonstrate to your community how tourism adds to your local economy in a variety of ways. Included are hotel and restaurant expenditures and taxes, conventions and meetings, taxes paid on transportation, attractions of foreign capital, especially in hotel construction, creation of additional jobs in such areas as public services and infrastructure renewal.

3. Make sure that people understand that tourism not only generates employment but also may be a major renewable export source. The tourism industry is all about the selling of memories. The industry helps to bring foreign money to a place where visitors buy local goods and services. Visitors take home the memory of the good time. Tourism professionals understand that the vacation memory is an abstract export commodity. Furthermore, tourism attractions rarely get depleted or disappear; thousands/millions of people can see the same attraction. Foreign visitors also become a major source of foreign exchange, and helping a nation's balance of payment. It must be noted however that for tourism to be a renewable resource it must be developed in a sustainable/responsible manner. That means that where ecologies are fragile, numbers and activities must be tightly controlled, pollution must be prevented, and local cultures protected.

4. Tourism can be an export product even in rural areas. Tourism is about seeing what is different. Rural areas that may be losing population or industry can become tourism centers and create need job opportunities for their younger people. Visitations by foreign tourists also can result in cross-national networking opportunities.

5. Use creative marketing to attract new money to your area. For example, according to the Travel Association of America, in the United States the tourism industry produces over $600 billion dollars in revenue and over $100 billion in taxes paid to local, state and federal governments. Much of this money comes from visitors from overseas, who earn their money in their home nation and then bring it to another nation. Tap into this market with creative marketing and do not be afraid to flaunt your region, what may seem common place to you may become an international attraction to others.

6. Market in as many languages as possible. Turning your tourism product into an export market means being open to the world. Develop foreign language brochures, encourage the teaching of foreign languages in your school system, and teach your own culture. Tourism does best when it represents the best of who you are to others. Ironically when you celebrate your own culture you become an export market for visitors from other cultures.

7. Emphasize that tourism is an important economic development tool for emerging and minority communities around the world. Because tourism is based on the appreciation of the other, tourism industries have been especially open to giving disadvantaged groups around the world opportunities that have often been denied to them by other economic sectors. In this respect tourism should not been viewed only at the surface level. Tourism produces not only income from foreign guests but also provides large numbers of entry level jobs, and often means the difference between a smaller community's business success and failure.. In nations where there is a decline in manufacturing, the tourism industry can be an essential method to reinvigorate local economies. The bottom line is that tourism is an export commodity that can also become an economic and educational development tool bringing wealth to the local economy while protecting its cultural ecology.

(Our thanks to

Montenegro Planning Rules!

Fes have just returned from Montenegro where we had some interesting meetings with a developer just south of Bar.

Montenegro really is one of our favourite places, proudly boasting the only Fjord outside of Scandinavia and the second deepest gorge in the world after the Grand Canyon. The people are friendly and the infrastructure starting to improve.

We had a useful meeting in a cafe in the centre of modern Bar and over a lunch consisting mainly of meat we discussued the developers plans for a new hotel in the beach side area near Dobra Voda. It was only after several plates of lamb kebabs that we learnt this was the developers second project; his first on the beach front was six months in when the authorities discovered he did not have the necessary papers and literally bulldozed his hotel to the ground!!

We can report that negotiations are off for the moment until he can assure us he has his planning papers in order this time!!

Airspace re-booted in Europe!

Have a look at this fantastic visualisation of the effect that the eruption of Eyjafjallajökull had on European aviation.

The emptiness of the skies of north-western Europe on April 16th and 17th gradually gives way to the usual mad frenzy!

This is mesmerising..

By the way, Flightradar24 is responsible for the data and thanks to Gadling.

Airspace Rebooted from ItoWorld on Vimeo.

ETOA Successful Tourism Charter

Our friends at ETOA have just launched a Charter for Successful Tourism in conjunction with European Cities Marketing (ECM) and the International Road Transport Union (IRU) and warmly welcomed by the tourism industry and government alike. At a meeting in Brussels the ETOA brought together several industry groups and Brian Simpson, chairman of the European Parliament’s Committee on Transport and Tourism, for the first time.

The charter sets out a code of best practice for welcoming and managing tourist groups and covers issues such as coach access, capacity planning, changes to regulations and prices, creation of intelligent systems, and collaboration of the various interest groups. It was drawn up to address a number of issues that have been the cause of logistic challenges in cities and to encourage greater collaboration between government and industry on marketing and planning.

Tourism in Europe accounts for over EUR 320 billion in revenue. Seven to eight million jobs depend directly on tourism and 20 million jobs indirectly.
Group tourism accounts for many of the tourists from long-haul destinations, as well as many intra-European tourists. Around 13 percent of European tourism arrivals are from outside the EU, and in theory, this segment of the market represents substantial opportunities for valuable future export growth.
However, Europe’s tourism success is under threat. Its share of global tourism has declined, as measured by international arrivals, from 60 percent of the global total in 1990 to 53 percent in 2008 (source: UNWTO).

In this context, representatives of industry and government (on both local and European levels) were keen to endorse an initiative designed to stimulate closer collaboration to attract tourists and improve the experience of those visiting Europe.

Brian Simpson said that he was very pleased to welcome ETOA’s Charter because it provided a number of practical steps that would help underline the key goals of his committee, in particular promoting Europe as a destination, developing the competitiveness of the European tourism industry, and ensuring the sustainability of the sector.

Tom Jenkins, executive director, ETOA, added: “Groups represent all that is good about tourism. They are sustainable socially, economically, and environmentally, but they are not always well-regarded, and they are not always well-treated. That is caused by misperceptions, and this charter is the start of a dialogue that should dispel misunderstanding.”

Dieter Hardt-Stremayr, president, European Cities Marketing, said: “The charter represents a helpful step forward in the dialogue between the industry and local government. Cities will stay in the lead for group tourism, and we will deal with the group tourism sector as professionally as we do with all other sectors.”

Yves Mannaerts, vice-chairman, IRU, concluded: “Coach tourism is the cleanest travel option in all travel scenarios. Tourists traveling by coach spend 40 percent more at their destinations than other tourists.

"Promoting group tourism by coach is, therefore, a commendable goal from a public interest point of view. However, to realize the full potential of coach tourism, local authorities, coach operators, businesses, and tourist attractions must work in partnership and provide conditions in which coach travel can prosper. Adequate parking facilities, pick-up and drop-off points, together with suitable access to amenities, are essential if authorities want to make their localities even more welcoming to coach parties. Yet, something else is also urgently needed from the outset, and that is the creation of a pro-coach societal and political framework, in which bus and coach services can thrive.”

ETOA’s Charter for Successful Tourism can be viewed at:

http://theenvironment.vfolio.co.uk/etoa2010/2/

Taking the Water in Bulgaria

The town of Hisar, in Bulgaria, boasts one formidable collection — hundreds of kidney-, bladder- and gallstones which have been expelled after treatment with water from the 22 mineral springs in the region.

"We use the water as medicine," says Doctor Svetya Tuzharov from the rehabilitation hospital in the town, where spa and wellness hotels have mushroomed in recent years.

Hisar, founded by the Romans and once surrounded by high walls to protect the healing springs, is among dozens of resort towns in the Balkan country trying to revive their traditions in balneotherapy and attract well off tourists.

From the Black Sea resorts of Albena and Pomorie in the east to Velingrad and Sandanski in the southwest, new luxurious hotels have already gained a reputation among Bulgarians and foreigners alike for the high quality of their services.

Tourism, which accounts for about eight percent of GDP, remains one of the few sources of foreign revenues for the poorest European Union nation, whose economy shrank five percent last year and is expected to stagnate this year.

Revenues from international tourism were roughly unaffected last year at 2.6 billion euros ($3.46 billion).

Officials registered an annual 7.8 percent increase in visitors to ski resorts in the first two months of this year. Early bookings for the summer season were on the rise, too, with more visitors expected from Germany, Russia and Israel.

Before the fall of communism in 1989, people from Scandinavia, the former Soviet bloc and the Middle East were regular guests in Bulgaria's spas which specialized in treating medical conditions varying from gout to sterility.

But in the past decade, Bulgaria marketed itself almost entirely as a cheap destination for summer and winter holidays, turning its back on its varied natural resources.

Still, the negative consequences of rampant construction in popular ski and Black Sea resorts have forced the Balkan country to find new ways to attract tourists by bringing its spa resorts and historical heritage into the limelight.

Spa tourism has attracted some $5.4 billion in investment in the past five years, according to data by the Bulgarian Union for Balneology and Spa Tourism. Companies from Israel, Russia, Kuwait, Qatar and Oman have already invested or shown interest.

Finns Hejari-Hashemi and Jukka Yrjola, who stayed in a five-star hotel in Velingrad — a charming mountain town that boasts 80 mineral springs — said they were particularly attracted by the warm climate and affordable prices.

"We are both at the age where we enjoy these kinds of spa services," Hejari-Hashemi, 54, quipped. "This is my first time here but not the last for sure."

With Europe's aging population on the rise and the availability of spa services all the year round, government and industry officials hope spa tourism could be the sector's driving force with an annual growth of 10 percent.

"What we can offer as competitive advantages are the uniqueness of the mineral waters, the ecologically clean locations, the good price-quality balance," Deputy Economy Minister Ivo Marinov said. "The potential is huge."

The industry is now advertising itself at fairs in Germany, the Balkans, Israel and Russia.

But to lure tourists away from the Czech Republic and Hungary, Bulgaria's biggest spa competitors in Eastern Europe, the government must start spending more on marketing and revamping Soviet-era potholed roads, railway and bus transport.

Sigrun Lang, president of the European Spas Association, says Bulgaria's rich natural resources, long-term traditions in balneotherapy and well-qualified specialists in the sector may come to nothing if the country does not market itself.

"It is a country of many opportunities," Lang told Reuters. "Marketing is most important because if nobody knows that you have great locations, people cannot come."

Visitors from the West are amazed to discover that Bulgaria has 220 km (137 miles) of Black Sea beaches, and its mountains boast 130 peaks over 2,000 meters (6,560 feet) with excellent skiing and hiking as well as more than 600 mineral springs.

Mention Bulgaria and many in the West will list associations with corruption, but few know it is one of the oldest countries in Europe teeming with Thracian tombs, golden treasures and valleys of roses.

The new center-right government, elected last July, remains oblivious and has allocated a meager 2 million euros for tourism advertising this year. This compared with 12 million euros earmarked by debt-stricken, neighboring Greece — one of the world's most visited destinations.

The industry has managed to change the common misconception at home that spa resorts are beneficial only to the elderly who complain from pain in the bones. Bulgarians account for some 80 percent of the visitors in the high-end wellness hotels.

People in their 30s and 40s who once went to "to the baths" with their grandparents or on organized school trips are now coming back to take advantage of the remedies and keep fit.

"Friends recommended it. We haven't been here since we were kids," said dentist Ivanka Ivanova, 33, speaking near the pool of her Velingrad hotel. "We like it. The landscape is great."

The big share of Bulgarian tourists seems paradoxical for a country where the average monthly salary is about 250 euros and the economic crisis is at its peak. Hotel managers say their clients are mainly people of means, whose numbers rose earlier this decade during six or seven years of booming growth.

The spa industry union says tourism's share of GDP could double in the next three years if Bulgaria established itself at the European market as a full year destination betting on spa and cultural tourism which can be easily combined together.

"With what it has, Bulgaria can turn into a mecca for balneology," said Rumen Draganov, head of the Institute for Analysis and Assessment in Tourism. "But it needs a strategy." Now's there's an idea........!

Montenegro benefits from .me registrations

As fans of Montenegro, we have been following developments since the country separated from Serbia. Following their independence, the .me domain was launched for the country. Today, it is the fastest-selling country domain on the planet.

“From the beginning it was clear that .me would have its share in the market, and a lot of the .me names are actually selling post-purchase at auction for figures like US$10,000-$15,000,” said Predrag Lesic, executive director of the .me registry in Montenegro. Due to their universal appeal and quality to be easily remembered .me names have become essential online branding tools.

.Me names are short, personal, popular, and very rememberable – with generic names like sell.me, kiss.me, marry.me, insure.me, etc. Travel and tourism is also starting to embrace the name with a Queensland entrepreneur grabbing the fiji.me name last year, which now competes against the fijime.com FVB Internet site.

With the now ubiquitous use of text messaging, the integration of ‘4’ for the word ‘for’ is also becoming a predominant part of domain name branding, particularly with .me travel domains.

Names such as travel4.me, rentalcar4.me airfares4.me, are all on offer on the secondary market. All the major online brands now have .me sites in the pipeline (microsoft.me) with Yahoo recently revealing that it had purchased the 'me.me' domain for its new messaging service called MEME, which is designed to compete with twitter.

WTTC asks for Government Action

We see the The World Travel & Tourism Council (WTTC) is wading in and demanding action to safeguard the health of the travel and tourism economy in light of continued travel disruption caused by volcanic ash.

“While public safety must be paramount, decisions must not be made lightly as they can have serious impact on the $5.75 trillion travel and tourism economy,” said Jean-Claude Baumgarten, WTTC’s president and CEO. “Although it represents 9.2 percent of world GDP and employs 235 million people worldwide, its influence on nearly every facet of our lives is rarely appreciated by governments until a crisis occurs. A coordinated approach to assessing the situation and implementing recovery measures is crucial for the sake of travelers and business alike.”

Baumgarten called for more attention to aviation, which is just beginning to recover from 9/11 and the global recession. Airlines face the double whammy of loss of business coupled with compensation costs for stranded passengers. Baumgarten said it is too early to know the full extent of economic damage the volcano has caused airlines. He said that a series of events -- 9/11, SARS, swine and avian flu, tsunamis, earthquakes and now a volcano -- have affected travel in the past decade. And legislation that could help the industry recover its losses is controlled through many different places and sometimes restricts trade rather than benefits it.

Governments must now intervene as the financial burden of the current crisis is too great for the private sector to bear, Baumgarten said. “It is time for governments and organizations such as the United Nations, European Commission, G8 and G20 to re-examine the way policies that affect global travel and tourism are coordinated and implemented,” he said. An important step forward, said Baumgarten, would be the introduction of centralized air traffic control for the whole of Europe, which could reduce the need for blanket bans on flights in the future.

Now the bankers are sitting pretty again and rebuilding their balance sheets, it's time to help the travel business which has for too long been ignored by the EU and Governments alike.