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Three Social Media Predictions For 2012
January 18, 2012
A recent article on Forbes.com, by Avi Savar, Founder and CCO of Big Fuel, a social media agency that is part of Publicis Groupe, discusses three trends and tools to watch in 2012 in the ever-evolving landscape of social media. 1. Geo-Gaming – Savar predicts that 2012 will be the year that geo-location technology – which allows consumers to ‘check-in’ on social media sites – goes transactional, while also allowing relationships between brands and consumer to become more personalized: This is a game-changer for retailers because it enables them to put potential consumers in the context of time and place and more effectively influence purchase intent…The context of the offline world is crucial for marketers so they know what kind of message to deliver and how to interact with a customer at any given time. Is my potential customer in front of a store or on the couch? Is that person with people or alone? Savar explains that geo-location will transition... Read More →
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What International Aid Can’t Do
December 14, 2011
The Central Hotel, in North Australia, was destroyed in a cyclone and repaired by an influx of tourism afterward. Photo courtesy Jan Smith. In his recent article in The Atlantic, Joshua Foust acknowledges that the international community excels at disaster relief – at least the kind that comes in the days and weeks following a disaster. The bigger question he poses is how we can support the most important long-term recovery tool needed by disaster-leveled areas: “healthy business environments” that allow for entrepreneurial endeavor. Too often, he argues, the economic infrastructure of local areas hit hard by either man-made or natural disasters tend to stagnate or fail to re-build at all – leaving an area dependent on aid and fertile for violence and strife. In the article, he explores the complexity of this matter through the lens of several case studies – the Uzbek communities of Osh, Kyrgyzstan, the rural country of Belarus, and the civil-war torn Tajikistan.... Read More →
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The Global Code of Ethics for Tourism
December 11, 2011
Assistant Editor’s Note: The following content is from the World Tourism Organization’s (UNTWO) website, and is posted here because of the topic’s relevance to our industry audience. The Global Code of Ethics for Tourism sets a frame of reference for the responsible and sustainable development of world tourism. It draws inspiration from many similar declarations and industry codes that have come before and it adds new thinking that reflects our changing society at the beginning of the 21st century. With international tourism forecast to reach 1.6 billion arrivals by 2020, members of the World Tourism Organization believe that the Global Code of Ethics for Tourism is needed to help minimize the negative impacts of tourism on the environment and on cultural heritage while maximizing the benefits for residents of tourism destinations. The Global Code of Ethics for Tourism is intended to be a living document. Read it. Circulate it widely. Participate in its implementation.... Read More →
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Travel Industry Must Develop Long-term Thinking if it is to Survive the Many Tests in the Future
November 15, 2011
The travel industry needs to become more forward thinking if it is to survive the tests thrown at it in the future, delegates at World Travel Market heard onWednesday 9 November. That is the message of Leo Hickman, journalist and author of The Final Call which examined the trade’s attitudes to responsible tourism and sustainability, who was in the HOTseat for World Responsible Tourism Day for this year’s World Travel Market, the leading global event for the travel industry. With the industry predicted to explode in numbers as the Chinese and Indian markets emerge, he said the industry must be better prepared to cope with the numbers and protect the destinations. He said: “I can’t emphasise enough how little evidence there is about what people are doing for the future. “To me that is indicative of an industry that totally lives in the present , it doesn’t look to the future “It is incredibly short term thinking, to totally believe everything is going to... Read More →
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Ministers of Tourism of Major World Economies Call on Decision-Makers to Use Tourism to Stimulate the Economy
November 15, 2011
The Ministers of Tourism of the major economies meeting in Paris for the 3rd T20 Ministers’ Meeting have called on decision-makers to consider tourism within their strategies to foster the economy and when facing mounting challenges, namely that of job creation (Paris, France, 25 October 2011). The meeting approved a declaration calling on members of the G20 to “register the importance and impact of tourism as a topic of discussion in the coming years’ summits” considering the “significant economic and social potential of tourism for the global economy, employment and sustainable development”. “We need to convince our decision-makers of the importance of tourism to the economy and employment,” said Mr. Frederic Lefebvre, Minister of Tourism of France, opening the meeting. “In these challenging times, we need to maximize our strengths and tourism is one of them,” he added. “Tourism can be part of the solution to the economic difficulties facing the world,” said... Read More →
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An Open Letter From the Global Sustainable Tourism Council
October 12, 2011
Assistant Editor’s Note: The ATTA received this letter and would like to pass it on to our readership. To access the full letter, please open the PDF. Dear GSTC Member, The Secretariat would like to bring to your attention an open letter co-authored by GSTC Chair, Dr. Kelly Bricker and GSTC Executive Director, Erika Harms. The purpose of the letter is to again correct misinformation circulated by critics of the GSTC Criteria and to invite our critics to join us in direct dialogue. As the letter states, we have actively worked to respond to concerns raised in our community. However, we felt it appropriate to once again address the misinformation as it hurts both our common mission, creates avoidable division and can put our members in an awkward position. Please take a moment to review the letter and let us know if you have any questions or concerns. If you know some of our critics please provide them with an open invitation to join us in proactive dialogue. Kind regards, Janice... Read More →
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The Arts and Tourism
October 11, 2011
Assistant Editor’s Note: The following article was originally published in eTurboNews, and is re-posted here with full permission from its author, Dr. Peter Tarlow, Founder and President of Tourism and More. Dr. Peter Tarlow An area of tourism that is often overlooked is the question of the arts and tourism. One of the reasons for this consistent overlooking may be the fact that it is hard to define the term “the arts”. In popular parlance the term usually means what is technically called the “plastic arts”. That is those forms of the arts that are restricted to paintings, sculpture and other visual concepts. Of course, the term can mean much more, from musical and dance performances to theater, from architecture to poetry readings all are art forms. In fact, anywhere that we find that the embodiment of the soul in a communication with other souls we find art. As such we may also think of both athletics and religious expression as a form of art. To simplify... Read More →
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How the New Facebook Will Impact Travel (Hint: Massively)
September 30, 2011
Assistant Editor’s Note: This guest article by Travis Pittman, co-founder and CEO of TourRadar and speaker at the upcoming 2011 Adventure Travel World Summit, was originally published on Tnooz. The introductory paragraphs are posted here with their permission – be sure to link through to read the entire article. Watching the livestream of the Facebook F8 event last week, I was curious to see what “BIG” news the young billionaire Mark Zuckerberg was about to announce. Curious on one hand to know how their updates would affect my own business, but also curious to see how Facebook was going to extend its lead over the recently launched Google+ platform. Facebook promised a lot and, in some ways, delivered on that promise… In the last couple of days I’ve dug further into the new Open Graph developer documentation Facebook. In doing so, I have attempted to briefly summarise how the Open Graph changes may affect its users and the travel industry. To read Travis’... Read More →
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Travel Marketers Aren’t Prepared for Flood of Affluent Chinese Tourists
September 30, 2011
A recent article in Ad Age Global has reported that, according to Chinese travel experts, the global travel and tourism industry is ill-prepared for the coming flood of wealthy Chinese travelers. The growing number of affluent Chinese travelers “will completely change the face of tourism,” especially in hot destinations such as New York, Las Vegas, London and Paris, said Pierre Gervois, president-CEO of China Elite Focus, which specializes in affluent Chinese outbound tourism… “Everyone stands to benefit because the Chinese market is growing so fast,” said Bruce Ryde, general manager of InterContinental Hotels’ Hotel Indigo Shanghai on the Bund, who appeared on this week’s episode of “Thoughtful China,” a video program produced in China. As early as 2012, China is expected to oust Japan as the world’s largest tourism market, with sixty-six million Chinese traveling in 2011, a number expected to hit 100 million by 2020, according... Read More →
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Google, Facebook and TripAdvisor Weigh in on Upcoming Travel Trends
September 16, 2011
In a recent guest article on Tnooz, Marco Saio, Director of Global Research and Projects at EyeforTravel, polled key people from Google, TripAdvisor and Facebook to see what they think will be the next major trends in travel, given the current disruptive trends (flash deals and tablets, anyone?) and the quickly changing landscape of both travel tech and consumer preferences and behavior. Some of their key takeaways are excerpted below. For Rohit Dhawan, the Lead Product Manager at Facebook, it is the very nature of the web which is shifting to social, not just individual sites and services, meaning that (real) people are at the center of marketing like never before. The era of the “on-going, two-way dialogue between brands and their customers” is truly here: Because of this connection, we’re seeing that businesses can now achieve effective word-of-mouth marketing at scale for the first time. We’ve always known that the best recommendations come from your own friends... Read More →
