Eduardo Santander, the recently appointed Executive Director of the European Travel Commission (ETC), the independent body responsible for promoting Europe as a destination, has revealed a programme of activity which will produce a new marketing strategy for Europe by the end of 2013.
The new strategy, named Destination Europe 2020, is in response to the constantly changing marketplace. Mr Santander said,“New, promising origin markets are opening up, consumers’ aspirations and perceptions of destinations are shifting and methods of distributing and selling travel products and services are evolving at an incredible pace, most notably with the rapid growth of social media.”
As a destination, Europe’s share of international tourism arrivalshas been falling for decades. In 2011 it was 51%, compared to 60% in 1990, and its share of international tourism receipts has also declined, from 49% to 44% over the same period.
Despite the falling market share, tourism is still of enormous value to the EU economy. In 2010 tourism directly produced 5% of EU GDP and indirectly 10%. International tourism receipts were €306 billion and six of the world’s top ten tourism destinations by arrivals, and five by receipts, were in Europe. The tourism industry employed 9.7 million people. Therefore, a significant improvement in the EU’s performance as a destination would help it tackle both its economic and its currency crises.
Mr Santander continued: “As the body that coordinates the promotion of Europe, we appreciate that we will be most effective if we can gain the enthusiastic support of the whole inbound tourism industry and take initiatives that it considers helpful. This process is all about increasing knowledge and conceiving smart initiatives that will enhance the appeal of Europe as a destination. I am looking forward to listening.”
The Strategy Development Process
This will take place in three stages. The first comprises a number of ‘Start-up Actions; the second comprises a series of seminars and workshops to consult the travel industry and develop a pilot campaign and the third involves a conference where ideas andintelligence gathered previously will be used to formulate the Destination Europe 2020 Strategy.
Stage One Start-up actions include setting up think tanks,upgrading the VisitEurope.com website and launching a competition to inspire consumers to create their dream European holiday and share their ideas on social media.
Stage Two Overseas workshops will take place in four major origin markets, the USA, Canada, China and Brazil. These are aimed at the travel trade and are designed to gain a deep understanding of how best to sell Europe and to gain input into a pilot marketing campaign. The European seminars will engage with the industry at a high level and with the media. The pilot marketing initiative will see the development of an interactive ‘trip inspirer’ tool on VisitEurope.com and the extensive use of online video.
Stage Three A detailed plan will be produced, including campaign themes, schedules for each market, recommendations on communications channels and industry collaboration, a brand manual and forecasts of travel volumes and consumer behaviour.
Development of the Destination 2020 Strategy has been funded principally by a grant from the European Commission as well asby ETC’s own resources.
