E-Tourism in England a Strategy

7/31/2019 E-Tourism in England a Strategy

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E-tourism in EnglandA st rategy for modernising English

tourism through e-business

ENG LISH TOURISM CO UNC IL Tou rism Techn olo gy / July 20 02


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AcknowledgementPreparat ion o f t h is st rategy has been gu ided by th e Tour ism Technology W orking Group ,w hich com prises representat ives of th e Eng l ish Tourism Co un ci l, Brit ish Tourist Au th ori ty,Region al Tou rist Boards, Local Governm ent A ssociat ion, Tourism M anagem ent Inst i tu te andot her dest inat ion m anagem ent experts. Dr Rog er Carter and Gael le Renault of TEAMprovided signi f icant inpu t into the d raf t ing of the st rategy.

Pub l ished by th e Eng l ish Tou rism Cou nci l

Thames TowerBlacks RoadLondonW 6 9EL

Tel: 020 85 63 3 000www.eng l i sh tour i sm.org .uk

20 02 Eng lish To u rist Bo ar d

The Engl ish Tour ism Coun cil (incorporated un der the D evelopm ent o f Tour ism Act 196 9 asEng l ish Tou rist Board) is th e strategic b od y fo r to urism in Eng land

The inform at ion in th is pub l icat ion is g iven in g ood fa i th and every ef for t h as been m ade toensure its accuracy. A l l l iabi l i ty for loss, disappo intm ent, n egl igence or ot her dam agecaused by rel iance on th e inform ation con tained in th is report is hereby exclud ed.


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Contents

Fo rew o rd 31 . Execu t ive su m m ary 42 . In t rod uct ion 73 . Backg rou nd 94 . St akeho lder and cu st om er req u irem en t s 145 . St rat eg ic o p t io ns 186 . Key ro les in sup po rt o f e-t ou rism d evelo pm en t 217 . A n agend a f o r act ion fo r e-t ou rism 268 . M o n ito ring and evaluat io n 33A ppend ix 1 Def in it ion o f t erm s 344A pp en d ix 2 E-to u rism in o t her co un t ries 355A pp en d ix 3 M arket an alysis 36A pp end ix 4 A n e-b usin ess m od el f o r d est in at ions 44

Forew ord

Nob od y can b e w orld-class w itho ut g oo d d ata. The availabi li ty of easi ly accessible, prom pt ,accurate, relevant information underpins al l our ef forts to create a ful ly competi t ive, healthytou r ism indust ry in th is coun t ry.

This is no t just a qu est ion o f em ail and t he developm ent o f w ebsites. W hat is required is fu l lin tegrat ion of inform at ion betw een nat ional , regional , and local system s. W e need to m akesure that info rmat ion on accomm odat ion qual i ty and availabi l ity in one part of the coun t rycan be seen tog ether w ith th e ful l array of to urism attract ion s and act ivi t ies in that Region,

and considered in the context of , fo r examp le, t ransport t o and f rom the area.

Fortun ately, w e do not need to re invent t he w heel. There are many excel lent dest inat iondatab ases aroun d th e count ry. Wh at is required is to join t hem up , regardless of t heirpart icular system s techn olog y, and create a nat ional system w hich can be used w itho utdi f f icul ty by tou r ism providers, nat ional bo dies, the g overnment and, no t least , th e tou r ismcustomer.

The key to del ivery of th is strategy is Eng landNet. England Net is a partnership, created byth e Eng l ish Tourism Co un ci l in close associat ion w ith t he Region al Tou rist Boards and o th erinterested p art ies. It h as been supp orted b y government fun ding, and w elcom ed by th eindust ry at large. It is arguably the mo st im portant developm ent w i th in tou r ism at the

present t im e. I very mu ch hop e that th is st rategy w i ll provide a f ramew ork fo r the m anyorg anisat ions involved in Eng l ish to urism to d evelop t heir ow n respo nse to t he newopp ortun i t ies that EnglandNet w i ll open up.

Alan Britten


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4 /4 4 A st rat eg y f o r m od ern isin g En g lish t o u rism th ro u g h e-b u sin ess Ju ly 2 0 0 2

1. Executive summary

Eng lands tou rism bu sinesses have the capacity to becom e w orld leaders by bet ter use ofinform at ion technology. We w ant to see tou r ism in England becom ing m ore com pet i t iveand p rof i table as i t realises th e new m arket op po rtu nit ies affo rded b y e-business. This

phi losoph y w i ll extend w ay beyond usage of e-m ail and developm ent of w ebsi tes and w i llimp act on virtu al ly every elem ent o f th e business pro cess. Prop er integrat io n b etw eennat ional, regional and local systems wi l l become a real i ty, producing enormous advantagesfor bo th th e consum er and t he tou r ism indust ry.

The grow th o f inform at ion and com m unicat ions techno logy (ICT) in to ur ism has beenpat chy and in con sisten t. M any bu sinesses, especially th e sm aller on es, have beenun derstandab ly reluctant t o invest in som ething th at th ey see as no n-essent ial . At local andsub -region al level, man y tou rism d est inat io ns m ost ly local auth ori ty run o r spo nsored -have implement ed system s in i t ia lly designed t o provide bet ter inf orm at ion, bu t laterextended to cover m arket ing, adm inist rat ion and research. W hi le many of these arecom prehensive for t he dest inat ion, th ere are a num ber of d i f ferent sof tw are solut ions inuse and t here is l it t le co-ordinat ion betw een them .

M ore recent ly, Regio nal Tour ist Board s (RTBs) and Regio nal Develop m ent A gen cies (RDA s)have started t o address th ese issues and several have p rod uced region al e-businessstrateg ies and ini t iat ives to st im ulate b usinesses to adapt . A t a nat ion al level, ETC and th eRTBs have collaborated on developing the EnglandN et pro ject , throu gh w hich th e regions,ETC, th e Bri t ish Tourist Au th ori ty (BTA), Dest inat io n M anagem ent O rganisat ions (DM Os),Tourist Info rm ation Cent res (TICs), oth er tou rism org anisat ion s and individual to urismbu sinesses can al l share info rm ation via a nat ion al netw ork .

The w ay forw ard

Our st rategy for e- tou r ism in England is to p rovide a f ramew ork w i th in w hich Englandsto urism b usinesses can becom e mo re com peti t ive and pro f i table. This fram ew ork w i l l servethe needs of th e consum er, of f er ing n ew m arket oppo rtuni t ies and a w ider range ofbo ok ing o pt ions. The solut ions deployed m ust be simp le to u se by bot h bu sinesses andconsum ers, easi ly accessible and capable of t aking ad vantage o f em erging techn olog y suchas digi tal interact ive television an d n ew gen erat ion m ob i le devices.

This strateg y prop oses a federal app roach th at w ou ld al low local dest inat ions and to urismproviders to exchange inf orm at ion w i th in a nat ional ly co-ordinated, on l ine to ur ismnetw ork, w hi le st i l l m ainta in ing th e integr i ty of thei r ow n system s.

The core infrastructure wi l l be provided by EnglandNet and wi l l include: Com m un ity Bui lding services to w i l l enable bu sinesses, pro fessionals and consum ers to

interact m ore ef fect ively w i th each oth er.

Cont ent M anagement services to enable tour ist boards to acqui re, edi t and pub l ishtour i sm in format ion fo r m arket ing .

E-com m erce services to enable end -consum ers and re-sel lers to access the w ho letou r ism produ ct of England, search, book and p ay for i t throu gh a single appl icat ion.

EnglandNet wi l l help tourism businesses and organisat ions to make the most of commercialopp ortu ni t ies as w ell as enabl ing them to u se new form s of m arket ing. Ul t im ately,Eng landNet w i l l also en sure t hat to urists can access w el l-org anised, com prehen sive

inform at ion via a w ide range of t radi t ional and new m edia channels. It w i ll provide l ive real-


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t ime cont ent on the availabi l ity of accomm odat ion, to urs, t ransport and t icket book ings,and enable th is to b e comb ined and presented in exci t ing new w ays to m eet the needs ofdi f ferent m arkets.

For to urism pro viders and b usinesses, the vision is to m ake th e input t ing and sharing o finform at ion m uch sim pler, w hi le at the sam e t ime m aking bo oking s m uch easier to receiveand f u l f i l. Im proved bu siness contact m ay also lead to t he developm ent o f new prod uctsand jo int m arket ing in i t iat ives. The end resul t should b e the provision o f b et ter inform at ionw i th less dup l icat ion of ef for t .

An agenda for act ion

The st rategy sets out an act ion agenda u nder th e fo l low ing h eadings:

1. Real ising th e pot ent ial of electro nic mark et ing . To do th is w e w i l l:

Redevelop th e TravelEng land w ebsite w ith f ul l e-com m erce services

Im prove dist r ibut ion o f England to ur ism inform at ion via other w ebsi tes and new m ediachannels

Extend Dest inat ion M anagem ent System services to areas no t yet ef fect ively covered

Encourage Cu stom er Relat ionship M anagement as an aspect of dest inat ion m arket ing

Explore m arket ing partn erships w ith p rivate sector p layers.

2. M odernising info rmat ion services of f ered t o con sum ers. To d o t h is w e w i ll :

Develop w eb-based netw ork services to l ink TICs, DM Os and RTBs

Build local onl ine com m un it ies l ink ing t ou rism pro viders, DM Os, RTBs

Explore th e del ivery of visi tor services th rou gh ot her new techn olog y channels.

3. Enh ancing t he com peti t iveness of bu sinesses and sup pl iers. To d o t his w e w i l l: Develop an interact ive bu siness-facing w eb po rtal

Integrate to ur ism content w i th in ot her regional and nat ion al info rmat ion services, andsup po rt bu siness-to -bu siness developm ents

Develop o ther o nl ine tour ism com m uni ty services and onl ine too ls for tou r ism providers.

4. Developing standards for t he com prehensive tour ism inform at ion. To d o t h is w e w i ll :

Develop and prom ote a f u l l e-com m erce interoperabi li ty standard for England, toenable DM O services, Eng landNet and BTA distr ibu t ion system s to be l inked

Enable tourism product data to be col lected and managed electronical ly.

5. Helping stakeho lders to m ake w ise investm ents. To do th is w e w i l l:

Provide g uidan ce fo r to urism bu sinesses and org anisat ions via ETC and RTB w ebsites

Provide Eng landNet t raining and aw areness act ivity for DM O staff

Deliver a prog ram m e of e-b usiness aw areness and training fo r sm all to urism bu sinesses.

These are set ou t in m ore det ai l w ith respon sibi l it ies fo r del ivery, includin g a sum m ary ofEng landNet del ivery m ilesto nes, in sect ion 7.

Final ly, the strategy sets ou t p rop osals fo r m on itoring pro gress, includ ing w ebsiteperformance evaluat ion and benchmarking, consumer and business user research.


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M oni tor ing t rends in e-bu siness solut ions, and benchm arking England w i th o ther leadingcom peti to r tou rism dest inat ions is also a part o f th is strateg y.

Conclusion

The success of th is strateg y depen ds on ou r abi l i ty to d el iver a nat ion al e-tourism systemth at can m eet the needs of bo th co nsum ers and ind ustry. In m any respects, th ose needs areth e sam e: the availabi li ty of t imely and accurate info rm ation d el ivered by user-fr iendlymeans.

The EnglandNet project is proposed as the core solut ion to meet this requirement, of feringthe m eans to connect w i th m any exist ing inf orm at ion system s to achieve an unp recedentedlevel of industry integrat ion.

To achieve this w i l l require th e act ive sup po rt o f t he fu l l rang e of p layers involved in Eng l ishtou r ism . New levels of col laborat ion betw een al l tour ism stakeholders and supp ortorganisat ions, including Governm ent departm ents and agencies involved in t ransport ,

coun tryside, business sup po rt and culture w i l l be crucial .

Fun ding sup po rt at n at ional level w i l l also p lay a vi tal role. By securing n ew resou rces w ecan ensure that th e necessary co-ordinat ion is achieved, result ing in redu ced du pl icat ionand t he infrastructu re Eng l ish to urism needs to succeed.


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2. Introduction

Tour ism is a m ajor com pon ent o f th e Engl ish econo m y cont r ibut ing som e 64 bi l lionann ual ly and represent in g o ne in seven of al l jobs. It is a vibrant ind ustry that com prisessom e 120,000 businesses, 90% of w h ich em ploy ten or few er peop le . In com m on w i th

oth er sectors, the indu st ry needs to take stock of the revolut ion in com m unicat iontechnologies and m ust adapt as a resul t of the em erging d ig i ta l econo m y .

Som e 38% of a l l UK households are now able to access the Internet f rom hom e, wi th t raveland t ou rism th e single largest catego ry of p rod ucts sold electronical ly. This gro w ing u se ofthe Internet p rovides massive op portu ni t ies to reach new m arkets and to imp rove businessef f ic iency. In addi t ion, e- tour ism can m ake the indust ry st rong er and m ore able to respon dposit ively to cr ises such as foot and m out h and the events of 11 Septem ber 20 01.

The tourism industry is hindered, however, by a lack of joined up communicat ion faci l i t ies.The principal chal leng e is i ts f ragm ented n ature, ref lect ing th e predom inance of very sm allbusinesses, making com m unicat ion and consol idat ion o f inform at ion di f f icul t both w i th inth e ind ustry and to consum ers. Nat ion al and Region al Tou rist Board s (RTBs), Dest inat ionM anagem ent Org anisat ion s (DM Os) and Tourist Inf orm ation Cen tres (TICs) need to harnessnew elect ron ic market ing op portu ni t ies, to m ake i t easier for consum ers to purchase theEngl ish tou r ism prod uct .

This st rategy sets out a f ramew ork w i th in w hich tou r ism in England can m ake best u se ofnew inform at ion and com m unicat ions technology. In t urn, th is w i ll enable Engl ish t our ismto real ise new op po rtu nit ies, to pro vide mo re effect ive visi tor services and t o enh ance theperform ance and com pet i t iveness of th e indust ry.

2.1 Context

The Eng l ish Tou rism Cou nci l (ETC) is th e statu to ry bo dy charged w ith d evelop ing Engl ishto urism . It is com m itted t o d evelop ing an indu stry th at str ives fo r high qu al ity, is respo nsiveto m arket needs and prom otes w ise and respons ib le growt h th roughou t the w ho le o f thetou r ism indust ry.

Given t he pro f i le of new elect ronic m edia as market ing and dist r ibut ion channels, one o fETCs key priori t ies is to f ocus on th e pot ent ial of e-bu siness and t o w ork t ow ards solut ionsfor t he indu st ry as a w hole. This pr ior i ty f its w ell w i th w ider Governm ent o bject ives ofaccess, adopt ion o f info rm at ion and com m unicat ion technologies ( ICT), and suppo rt fo rsmall b usiness.

ETC is w orkin g in p artnership w ith t he RTBs and ot hers to develop England Net. This pro jectis described fu rth er in sect ion 6 an d w i l l create an on l ine to urism netw ork l inking Eng l ishto urism region s, dest inat ion info rm ation system s and n ew e-business services, to b enef i tconsum ers, tou rism pro viders and d est inat io ns.

2.2 The defini t ion and concept of e-tourism

The term e-t ou rism is used in this do cum ent t o refer to e-b usiness in the f ield of t ravel andto urism ie th e use of ICT to en able tou rism pro viders and d est inat ion s to o perate m oreeff icient ly, and to reach and serve consum ers m ore eff ect ively w ith f aci li t ies to search,com pare and boo k to ur ism produ cts. A m ore detai led def in i t ion is set out in Ap pendix 1.


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E-bu siness no t on ly em braces th e use of n ew m edia, such as the Int ernet and e-mail , butalso en ables m ore eff icient u se of t radit ion al med ia such as bro chures and advert ising . Itincorporates the abi l ity to condu ct sales onl ine, w i th fu ndam ental impl icat ions for the w aybu sinesses w ork . E-bu siness has the po tent ial to transform th e w ay in w hich bu sinesses ororganisat ions funct ion, th roug h int egrat ing system s for m anagement of stock or availabi l ity(eg of ho tel room s), pro curem ent o f sup pl ies, f inancial adm inistrat ion , market ing, sales andother transact ions.

The Int ernet p rovides direct access to co nsum ers, and is also a to ol f or bu siness to b usinesscom m un icat ion . Increasingly, it w i l l pro vide con sum ers and int erm ediaries w ith far r icherinformation, increased choice and the faci l i ty to make bookings immediately. I t wi l l alsoof f er tou r ism organisat ions and businesses the too ls to prom ote, com m unicate and t ransactwith consumers and other tourism businesses.

2.3 Strategic vision and aims for e-tourism in England

2.3.1 Our vision

Ou r vision is fo r Eng lands tou rism org anisat ion s and b usinesses to b ecom e m orecom pet i t ive and pro f i table, capable of realising th e new m arket opp ortun i t ies af forded bye-tou rism , and ski l led in using e-business techn olog ies. W e shal l play a major part inachieving th is v ision th roug h t he creat ion o f th e EnglandNet o nl ine tour ism netw ork,integrat ion of regional and local dest inat ion management systems and ini t iat ives topro m ot e e-business aw areness and ski l ls developm ent.

2.3.2 Our aims

To m ob i lise eff ect ive org anisat ion al and techn ical respo nses to assist t he ind ustry,

especially sm all tourism b usinesses, adapt to th e new e-business environm ent

To impro ve the col lect ion and dist r ibut ion of com prehensive and appropr iate tou r ismin format ion to m eet the needs o f consumer grow th m arkets

To im pro ve business pro cesses fo r mark et ing , boo king and p urchasing o f to urismproducts

To adop t the m ost approp r iate comm unicat ions and t echnology solut ions to supp ortthe above

To achieve a fu l ly integrated e-business netw ork f or Engl ish to urism .


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3. Background

In to urism , as elsew here, the g row th o f ICT has been spo radic and som etim es react ive. Alack of resou rces has stu nt ed developm ent, w hi le the absence of any nat io nal strateg y hasm eant that system s have em erged on an ad ho c and un coordinated basis. How ever,

products such as central reservations systems (as used by travel agencies) havedem onstrated that w i th proper p lanning and fun ding, ICT can bo th imp rove consum erservice and im pro ve the ef f iciency and pro f i tabi l i ty of bu sinesses, large or small .

A t t he local and sub-regio nal level man y Eng l ish h ol iday dest inat io ns have system s w hichw ere ini t ial ly intro du ced to h elp TICs to of fer a bett er service. Local autho ri ty sup po rt hasplayed a key role in th is developm ent. Over th e years, this sup po rt w as extended to in cludem arket ing, adm inist rat ion and research. W i th f ew except ions, each dest inat ion o perated i tssystem independent of oth er dest inat ions, w i th l it t le or no elect ronic com m unicat ionbe t ween t hem .

Tow ards the end of t he 19 90s, as aw areness of t he imp ortance of th e Internet and e-bu siness increased, RTBs becam e m ore act ive and m ost developed region al w ebsites. M orerecent ly, ETC has col laborated w i th th e BTA in the d evelopm ent o f a n ew nat ional tou r ismpro du ct datab ase (Jigsaw ) to m anage basic descript ions of to urism pro du cts and en ablesuch data to be entered, im ported and d ist r ibuted t hrou gh the Internet . The Engl ish p art ofth is project w i ll be integrated into th e w ider EnglandNet f ram ew ork.

3.1 The present posit ion

How are tour ism businesses adapt ing t o t he op port uni t ies of e-business? Al tho ugh emai land w ebsites are only th e t ip of th e iceberg, th ey can st i ll be usefu l ind icato rs todem on strate t he l ikely predisposit ion to e-business. Nat ion al level data in Table 1 show s th e

fol low ing pat t ern for t he adop t ion o f th e Internet b y tour ism businesses in England.

Table 1: Adoption of the Internet by English tourism businesses*

Sector(all totals at Jan 02)

% w i t hemai l(Feb

2001)

% w i t hemai l(Jan

2002)

% w i t hwebsi tes

(Feb 20 01 )

% w i t hwebsi tes

(Jan 2 00 2)

% w i t honl ine

book ing(Jan 2 00 2)

Serviced (Hotels, B&Bs)Total : 16, 63 1

45% 5 8% 3 3% 4 5% 2%

Self CateringTotal : 8,95 1

47% 6 3% 3 8% 5 1% n /a

Camping and

CaravanningTotal : 1,17 9

40% 5 2% 4 3% 6 0% n /a

Youth and GroupTotal: 666

62% 7 2% 4 7% 6 7% n /a

At t rac t ionsTotal : 5,50 3

33% 4 8% 3 6% 5 3% n /a

EventsTotal : 7,39 4

50% 5 6% 4 7% 5 9% n /a

Averages 46% 58% 41% 56% n/a

* Eng lish bu sinesses and supp liers part icipating in the BTA/ETCtou rism p rodu ct info rmat ion dat abase.


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1 0 /4 4 A st rateg y f o r m od ern isin g En g lish to u rism t h ro u g h e-b u sin ess Ju ly 2 0 0 2

Source: BTA/ETC 2002

It is apparen t f ro m th is table that o ver half of to urism bu sinesses no w have a w ebsite andgrow th has been signi f icant over the last year. How ever, only 2% of servicedaccommodation businesses covered by this survey offered onl ine booking, probably

ref lect ing th e large prop ort ion of sm all guest accomm odat ion operators represented h ere,for w hom e-com m erce represents a fur ther stage of adapt at ion.

A s may be expected, t he level of e-bu siness act ivity in t he h ot el sector is mo re sub stant ial,a ltho ugh a recent survey revealed th at 42% of hot els surveyed did n ot have a formal e-business strategy.

1M ost major hotel grou ps and hol iday operators now of fer onl ine

booking faci l i t ies that are l inked to inventory management systems which also support cal lcentre and fron t d esk o perat ion s. Com m ercial t ravel agencies have used exten sive (andexpensive) com pu terised reservat ion system s linked to air t ravel carriers and m ajor to uroperators for m any years, largely supp ort ing out bou nd t ravel .

The developm ent of the w eb, w i th i ts low er operat ing costs, has resul ted in th e emergenceof n ew w eb-based boo king ag ents such as Travelocity and LastM inut e.com . Increasingly,ho tel grou p system s and t radit ion al t ravel agen cy system s are being l inked t o such w eb-based system s. It rem ains di f f icul t , how ever, fo r the smaller tourism p roviders to l ink t o suchsystem s, w hich generally requi re guaranteed ro om allocat ions or cont inuou s conn ect ion toho tel m anagem ent system s. The result is a patchw ork o f separate system s of feringselect ions of tou r ism prod ucts rather t han a coherent and com prehensive m arket p lace inw hich consumers can readi ly search, com pare and b ook .

The immediate chal lenge therefore is to provide a coherent e-business framework forto urism in Eng land. The sm aller enterprises w i l l th en need to be con vinced that e-business isw ort h invest ing in an d th e larger businesses persuaded th at th ey can also ben ef i t f rom

align ing t hem selves w ith such a nat ion al system .

3.2 Lessons learnt from abroad

Not surprisingly, since e-business is a global issue, many other countries have invested in e-to urism . A review of experience in ot her coun tries (described in A pp endix 2) reveals th atseveral countries have adopted some form of col laborat ive nat ional and regional approachto pro duct data m anagement as a p lat form for w eb-based market ing and dist r ibut ion.These precedents, w hi lst d i f ferent in st ructure and degree of integrat ion, supp ort thefed eral strateg y prop osed fo r Eng land. I t also m akes sense fo r Eng land to achieve as m uchconsistency as po ssible w ith t he d atabase stru ctures being d evelop ed in W ales andScot land.

3.3 Key trends in e-business

A f ul l analysis of t rends in th e use of th e Int ernet and e-com m erce is set ou t in A pp endix 3.The key market t rends:

Use of t he Int ernet has been increasing d ram atically aroun d th e w orld nearly ten-f oldover the past six years. Grow th is fo recast to co nt inue fo r the next f ive years, w ith w eb-enabled m ob i le devices helping to st im ulate th is trend . It is no t yet clear w hen t his is

1Hospitality e-Business: the Future, June 2001.


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l ike ly to reach saturat ion po int or m atur i ty, but som e 39% of a ll UK hou seholds arenow able to access the Internet f rom hom e.

Increasing pro port ion s of Internet users are buying onl ine, w i th a predicted 32% of U Kusers fo recast t o u se th e Int ernet f or ret ai l t ransact ions over the next f ive years.

Travel and t ou rism w il l gain an increasingly large share of th e global on l ine com m erce

market , f rom an est imated 30% today to around 50% in the fu ture . The dom inance of a i r t ravel has reduced f rom m ore than 80 % fou r years ago to abo ut

60% now , w hi lst hot els share correspon dingly has dou bled to near ly 25% .Accom m odat ion, car h i re and oth er groun d-based prod ucts wi l l gain a larger share ofg lobal onl ine com m erce in t ravel and t our ism .

User prof i les broadly match the target markets of many tourism organisat ions Internetusers tend to b e relat ively w ealthy, w el l educated , and interested in ind epend ent t ravel.

Data fro m th e Off ice for Nat ion al Stat ist ics abou t Internet u sage conclud es th at:

There is a consistent ly high (43-52 % ) level of Intern et usage am on gst all age group s up t o

th e age of 55 . Older people have a low er (bu t certainly no t insign if icant ) level of usage alm ost on e th i rd of tho se up to 6 4 and on e-sixth fo r those 65+ .

Usage increases consistent ly across th e social group s, f rom 18 % of socio-econo m icclassif icat ion DE (low incom e) to m ore th an 60 % of A Bs (professionals).

W hi lst th ree years ago, som e 35% of w om en w ere In ternet users compared w i th 42% ofm en, the gender gap has been closing. By October 200 1 th is had cl im bed to 5 1% ofw o m e n an d 5 5 % o f m e n.

3.4 The economic benefits of e-business

The econ om ic benef i ts of e-bu siness arise from gains in operat io nal ef f iciency andm arket ing effect iveness. These ben ef i ts are virtual ly imp ossible to est im ate accurately, but ,in bro ad term s, i t is reason able to p redict an increase in pro du ct ivity ( includin g eff iciencygains and value added) of betw een 25% and 33 % . Specif ic product iv ity benef i ts couldinclude f inancial gains, cost savings and no n-f in ancial benef i ts, part icularly in areas l ikebu siness adm inistrat ion and m arket ing co sts:

Pot ent ial areas to en able addit ion al incom e generat ion w i l l include sales of to urismprod ucts such as accom m odat ion and short - t erm specia l of fers via the w eb, e lect ronicm ail and oth er new m edia channels.

Pot ent ial areas fo r cost saving s could include redu ced costs fo r pu bl icat ions - prod uct ioncosts, print runs and distr ibut ion; and savings in staff t ime print product ion, enquiryhandl ing, reservat ions, communicat ions, etc.

Pot ent ial areas fo r no n-f inancial gains w i l l include increased m arket ing effect iveness andqu al ity of custom er service and relat ionship; increased pro du ct ivity; and enh ancedperform ance and b et ter evaluat ion m echanism s.

W hilst t here w ou ld also b e addit ional costs associated w ith e-b usiness, such as on l ine salescom m issions, the net imp act is l ikely to b e po sit ive.


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3.5 Barriers to t our ism e-business

The main barrier to m axim ising th e pot ent ial of e-bu siness is th at a signif icant p rop ort ion o fto urism bu sinesses are not p roact ive in th eir use of techn olog y and th e Int ernet and appearto have a limited aw areness of t he scop e of e-b usiness. Al l ied t o t his is th e fact th at th ew hole on l ine p rocess can app ear int im idat ing, t ime-consuming and f inancia lly prohib i t ive tosm aller businesses. Thu s, w hi lst electronic trad ing in to urism is a gro w th area for largerop erators, i t is m uch less so f or m any sm all to urism bu sinesses th at m ake up t he bu lk of t heindustry.

The lack of e-business aw areness and ski l ls amo ng UK t ou rism bu sinesses is con f irm ed b yth e results of a survey und ertaken b y ETC in 20 01 , on th e use of ICT by accomm od ationmicro-businesses. The survey reveals that the majority of very small businesses (ie under tenemp loyees) have l im i ted kno w ledge o f ICT and d o n ot use it t o i ts fu l l potent ia l

2.The survey

also sugg ests that th e m ain barriers prevent ing m icro-businesses fro m using ICT are cost,lack of kno w ledge, lack o f t im e and a bel ief that the exist ing m ethod s of g ain ing b usinessare satisfactory.

In add it ion, th ere are other b arriers to successfu l adop t ion of e-business including :

the lack of a v iable e-business environm ent no integrated netw ork w i th in w hichsm aller tou rism pro viders can w ork co st-eff ect ively and easi ly w ith exist ing w eb-b asedboo king system s

a var iety of tou r ism data fo rm ats that w ork t o l imi t in teroperabi li ty (ie systems w orkingw el l to geth er) instead several di f f erent system s th at are not conn ected are used bydest inat ions, hot el groups or tou r ism operators

a lack of integrat ion o f to ur ism data and e-comm erce tools mu ch tou r isminform at ion is as yet u nconn ected t o ef f ect ive real- t ime b ook ing and t ransact ionscapabi l i ty

a variety of m od els fo r ho lding invent ory (eg bed spaces to sell ) and b oo king s have beenadopt ed by d est inat ions and com m ercia l operators, w i th l imi ted abi l ity for these tow ork to geth er seamlessly

the cost for businesses in adopt ing individual solut ions with no guarantee that thesesolut ions w i ll meet con sum er needs or reach app ropr iate markets

l im i ts on t e lecomm unicat ions bandw idth in m any parts in many parts of t he count ry,constraining t he qu al ity of on l ine services a prob lem t hat is unl ikely to be fu l lyresolved unt i l 2005

restr ict ions on local auth ori ty fun ding , w hich imp act on th e resou rces available fo rpub l ic investm ent in ICT and staf f ing t hus m aking i t d i f f icul t to re ly on the DM O/TIC

stru ctures as th e cornersto ne th at th ey ideal ly sho uld b e.

To succeed, then , the strategy m ust of f er solut ions that o vercom e these barriers and en ableeasier access bo th f or visi tor inf orm ation an d b usiness-to-b usiness com m un icat ion .Ult im ately, such a system m ust del iver the capabi l i ty for bo ok ing o n-l ine, advert ising, dat agather ing and o ther e-comm erce benef i ts. The aim of t he EnglandNetpro ject is to createan on l ine tourism net w ork t hat d irect ly addresses or helps to resolve many of th eseproblems.

2

Unpublished. These findings are confirmed by other recent published research, for example byBlum andFallon, and Main, in Information Technology and Tourism, Vol. 4, Cognizant Communication, 2002


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This strateg y and th e Eng landNet p roject are both am bit iou s and i t is reason able toquest ion how i t can be achieved. The answer is by adopt ing a step-by- step app roach, w i ththe focus on:

establ ishing the ICT and database infrastructure to provide a plat form on whichdif f erent p layers can org anise their ow n act ivi ty, w ith assistance fro m Eng landNet

encouraging p art icipat ion by dest inat ions, by enabl ing th em to connect easi ly to theEnglandNet inf rast ructure fo r pu rposes of data exchange and then to use theEng landNet services as m uch (or as l i t t le) as th ey choo se, in relat ion t o t heir ow nexistin g system s.


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4. Stakeholder and customer requirements

4.1 The potential stakeholders and customers

The mo del set ou t in A pp endix 4 ident i f ies th e dif ferent categ ories of u sers of d est inat ion e-

bu siness system s. In tu rn, t hese can be spl i t into custom ers and stakeh olders. The cu sto m ersinclude:

Consumers

Travel trade

Travel m edia

Conf erence and event buyers and oth er intermediar ies.

The stakeh olders include:

Tourism businesses

RTBs and local dest inat io n m anagem ent o rganisat ions (DM Os)

TICs (and destination call centres)

Suppl iers of dest inat ion management systems

Sup pl iers of go od s and services to to urism bu sinesses, eg f oo d, laund ry, furn ishing s, etc.

Suppliers of e-commerce services, eg e-payment services.

4.2 User requirements

Users have two basic needs: for information and for an effect ive process for conduct ingbusiness.

4.2.1 Consumers

Con sum ers and t ravellers visi t ing d est inat io n w ebsites are loo king p rimari ly fo r in-dept h,up-to -date inform at ion on pot ent ia l dest inat ions, act iv it ies and accomm odat ion. Thefaci l it ies to create t ravel it ineraries, receive instant of fers, com pare p rices, con f irmboo kings and share exper iences w i ll becom e an increasingly im portant feature of dem and.Thus, th e key requirem ents for con sum ers are:

Fast, low cost, direct access to accurate inf orm ation , w ith f acil i t ies for sophist icatedsearch and for immediate, secure booking at competi t ive prices

Clear produ ct pricing, eg p er room , per traveller, sup plem ents, f inal price, etc

Tourism product qual i ty assurance from recognised standards bodies Access to al ternat ives to direct bo ok ing such as:

- call cent re supp ort fo r comp let ion of t he boo king- on l ine travel agencies/resel lers fo r com plet ion of b oo king

Enh anced visi tor services fo r t ravellers to an d w ithin t he dest inat ion, th rou gh t hepro vision o f electronic access to com prehen sive inf orm ation and reservat ion servicesfrom PCs or TVs in ho tel bedro om s, Int ernet cafs, kiosks, w eb-enab led payph on es,handheld cellular devices, etc.

W here peo ple are using t hese services in th e dest inat io n, th ey w i l l seek add it ional typesof information, for example, local t ransport , entertainment, events, restaurants, bars;inform at ion that m ay be available throug h DM S or f rom th i rd party com m ercial

suppliers.


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4.2.2 Travel trade

Pot ent ial requirem ents of t he travel t rade (to ur op erators, t ravel agencies, hand l ing agent s,etc) includ e:

ef f icient search fo r accom m odat ion, at t ract ions and ot her facil it ies of t en w i th a fo cuson group t rave l

abi l ity t o nego t iate al locat ions and release d ates, prices, com m issions/net p rices, andot her sales term s

m echanism s to co nt ract quickly and cost-effect ively

qu al ity assurance fro m recogn ised standards bod ies

access to local hand l ing agent s

opp ortun i t ies for f orm at ion of local /regional product con sol idat ion and d ist r ibut ion

opportuni t ies for domest ic promot ion to consumers

easy access to relevant st i ll and m oving imag e m aterial fo r use in p rom ot ions.

4.2.3 Travel media

The travel medias prim e requirem ent is fo r:

in form at ion on latest prod uct developm ents

in form at ion on qual i ty assured pro duct

well-researched material which can be used for features

easier cont act w i th experts on a w ide range of subjects

easy access to relevant st i l l and /or m oving imag e m aterial.

4.2.4 Conference and event buyers and other intermediaries

M any RTBs and DM Os, part icularly tho se th at cover large urb an areas, place considerableem ph asis on b usiness to urism . Given th at a relat ively large pro po rt ion o f bo th b uyers andsup pl iers are l ikely to use ICT on a day-to -day basis, th e po tent ial for e-bu siness in th issector is con siderable. The con ference bu yer or interm ediary w i ll general ly be seeking:

eff icient search and select ion o f app rop riate dest inat ion s and venu es oft en against avery detailed set o f requi rements the inform at ion fo r w hich m ay best beaccom m odated in supp lem entary databases

m echanism s to co nt ract quickly and cost-effect ively

prom ot ional m ater ia l to assist in the e-market ing o f con ferences.

4.2.5 Tourism businesses

The core requ irement s of bu sinesses are relat ively simp le m ore b usiness, hig her yield,low er costs and increased p rof i ts. Behind th ese hig h level object ives are specif ic needsincluding extended m arket ing and in creased op erat ional ef f iciencies. W hile businessesshou ld be act ive in thei r ow n r ight , t hey w i ll a lso at t ract new business by w orking w i th orth rough the ir l oca l DMO.


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Tourism bu sinesses w i l l be m arket ing -fo cussed an d w i l l seek:

Cost-effect ive access to po w erful d istr ibu t ion m echanism s. Tou rism bu sinesses needdistr ibut ion mechanisms which are appropriate for their products. Distr ibut ion servicesshould:- Enable cont ro l of d ist r ibut ion channels

- Enable o nl ine con trol o f p rices and availabi li ty- Enable cont ro l of autom at ic conf i rmat ion o r conf i rmat ion af ter intervent ion b yrecept ion staff

- Offer distr ibut ion to re-sel lers with negot iat ion of sales terms- Secure and cheap payment/clearing mechanisms- Clear and up -to -date back-o ff ice services- Be supported by call centre services.

Supp ort f rom DM Os for l inking up w i th other comp lem entary local prod ucts,dest inat ion market ing and ful f i lment (eg brochure distr ibut ion, TIC booking services).

4.2.6 RTBs and local DMOs

E-bu siness has th e po tent ial to p erm eate virtual ly every area of t he w ork of RTBs andDM Os. M ost h ave a dest inat ion m arket ing ro le targeted at consumers and t ravel t radeinterm ediaries. Ad dit ion al ly RTBs and m any DM Os requ ire access to d ata to u nd erpinresearch and bu siness sup po rt act ivi t ies. Local aut ho ri t ies also have a requ irement todem on strate value in th e del ivery of t heir services. Part icular needs includ e:

Increase in nu m ber of cl ients/m em bers fro m an enh ancem ent o f th e services th ey canof fer, eg e-com m erce services, nat ion al and int ernat ion al distr ibu t ion

Increase in th e value o f cl ient s/custo m ers by chargin g ap pro priate com m issions orsub script ion s for enhan ced services

New revenue opp ortun i t ies f rom consol idat ion o f local and regional product

New revenue o ppo rtuni t ies f rom provision o f cal l cent re services integrated w i th in anat ional cal l cent re netw ork

Integrat ion of new m arket ing services w i th d ist r ibut ion of boo kable, qual ity assuredproduct

Faci l i t ies to enable the bui lding of onl ine communit ies to support local/regional productcreat ion, market ing and sales

Effect ive com m unicat ion and co-operat ion b etw een pu bl ic sector bo dies involved inpro viding services to SM Es and consum ers

Easy access to nat ion al inf orm ation on to urism pro du cts and services

Abil i ty to market cost-effect ively.

4.2.7 Tourist Information Centres

TICs (and dest inat ion-b ased call centres) deal prim ari ly w ith pu bl ic enqu ir ies. They aregen erally dep enden t up on lo cal auth ori ty fun ding to supp ort t heir services. TICs havespecif ic requirem ents:

to quickly search in-depth, up-to-date, accurate information (including special of fers) onavailable accom m od ation, act ivi t ies, event s and m any oth er top ics and createschedu les and m ap-b ased i t ineraries

to m ake imm ediate bo okings, based on accurate pr ice inform at ion

To open new revenue o ppo rtuni t ies v ia integrat ion o f cal l cent re facil it ies w i th o nl ine

book ing m echan ism s


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To b e integrated into a nat ional TIC netw ork to obt ain advance bookings f rom nat ionaland internat ional custom ers.

W hilst dem and m ay be mainly for local info rm ation , mo st TICs need t o be able serviceenq uiries abou t ot her parts of th eir area or elsew here in Eng land and th erefore to h ave

access to t he nat io nal database and t o be able to com m un icate qu ickly w ith TICs in oth erareas.

4.2.8 DMS suppliers

Destinat io n m anagem ent system s are specialised sof tw are appl icat ion s w hich pro vide thefou ndat ion fo r the managem ent of dest inat ions, enabl ing tour ism p rodu ct info rmat ion toused t o suppo rt m arket ing and visi tor services and f or th e provision o f u p-to-d ate dataenabl ing onl ine boo king. The supp l iers of DM S sof tw are requi re a m arket that encou ragesinvestm ent in technical imp rovement and adopt ion by DM Os not yet covered. The creat ionof a nat ional Englandn et inf rast ructure w i th op en interoperabi li ty standards w ould enableDM S supp l iers adopt ing th ese standards to of fer DM Os the added conf idence of n at ional

d ist r ibut ion in addi t ion to the oth er com pet i t ive features of th eir system s.

4.2.9 Suppliers of goods and services

The sup pl iers of go od s and services to to urism bu sinesses are faced w ith t he costs andineff iciencies of d ealing w ith a h ighly dispersed and diverse range o f relat ively sm allcustom ers. If t ou rism bu sinesses had on l ine access to supp l ier catalogu es for p rod uct searchand pr ice/delivery comp arisons and order ing, th e supp l iers and procurem ent com paniesw ould h ave w ider and cheaper d ist r ibut ion. They may also b e able to p lan and p rovidecheaper logist ics. Enabl ing such a p rocurem ent service could b e bui l t into th e Eng landNetnat ional infrastructure.

4.2.10 Suppliers of e-commerce services

The take-up o f e-com m erce services by to urism org anisat ions has been h indered b y the lackof data and system s that w ork t ogeth er. This has held b ack t he developm ent o f e- tou r ismservices, w hich n eed a set o f n at ional standard s to be fu l ly ef fect ive. The con sequen ce isth at cost econ om ies and b readth o f supply of e-com m erce services have not yet b eenachieved. Nat ion al stand ards, driven by the requ iremen ts of England Net w i l l hasten thecreat ion and use of paym ent an d b ack-off ice services.

4.2.11 Commercial operators not primarily involved in tourism

This category is m ade up of o rganisat ions and com pan ies th at are not prim ari ly involved intou r ism but w ould b enef i t f rom access to t our ism data, for exam ple:

Dist r ibut ion organisat ions those that could pu bl ish England prod uct d ata throu ghtheir own distr ibut ion routes, for example, Internet service providers or mobi le phonecompanies.

Cont ent pro viders - tho se that could pro vide approp r iate content t o enhance the m ainsystem , for exam ple a t ra in operat ing com pany.

Data merchants - tho se that w ould p ay for th e use of th e database content fo r thei row n com m ercial purposes, for exam ple media produ ct ion com panies.

Travel good s sup pl iers, fo r examp le hot el furn ishing s sup pl iers.


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5. Strategic opt ions

Over th e past f i f t een years, th ere has been a con siderable investm ent in system s to col lect,m oni tor and m anage data at local , regional and nat ional level . In d etermining th e m ostapprop r iate st rategy fo r e- tour ism in England i t is imp ortant to recogn ise that th is does not

star t f rom a b lank sheet - the key requi rem ent w ould t herefore appear to b e the creat ionof a f ramew ork tha t can bu i ld upo n w hat has gone before .

This strateg y addresses th e issue of ho w best to d el iver an int egrated o r joined-up struct urethat w i ll enable consum ers and tou r ism providers to benef i t at local , regional and nat ionallevels. A key strategic object ive is therefore t o en able com prehen sive searching, plann ing,reservat ions, bookings and payments for tourism products to take place via the Internet andot her com m un icat ion s channels such as TICs, cal l centres, m ob i le devices and interact ive TVservices.

The core of any such st ructure w i ll be som e form of dest inat ion m anagement system (DM S) a co m b in at io n o f dat a m an ag em en t so f t w ar e, sea rch en g in e, boo k in g an d t ra nsact io nsfaci l it ies, al l operat ing w ithin a viable bu siness mo del.

There are three opt ions for th e developm ent o f a n at ional e- tour ism st rategy for England:

A m inimum intervent ion approach that re lies upo n the cont inuing developm ent of adiverse rang e of local and region al system s and com m ercial onl ine reservat ion services

The development of a complete integrated nat ional system

The developm ent of a federal mo del , w i th a nat ional netw ork inf rast ructure andservices design ed to w ork w ith exist ing an d em erging system s.

The relat ive meri ts of th ese appro aches are considered b rief ly in th e fo l low ing sect ion s.

5.1 A minimum intervention approach

This opt ion w ould re ly upo n the cont inuing d evelopm ent of regional and local DM Ssolut ions and com m ercial reservat ion system s. The nat ion al BTA /ETC Jigsaw datab ase w ou ldcont inue to be developed as a source of p rodu ct inform at ion, and DM S sof tw are supp l iersw ou ld be encouraged to adopt com mo n d ata def in i t ions tha t w ou ld fac il it a te da taexchange. Extensive data col lect ion into Jigsaw w ou ld st i l l be required and th ere w ou ld beon ly limited capabi l ity fo r searching o n p rod uct availabi li ty across Eng land. Investm entw ould b e requi red d evelop a nat ional w eb po rta l linking regions and dest inat ions, and th iscould include a search engine to enable consum ers to f ind p rodu cts held in d i f ferentlocat ions. DM Os that do not yet have a local e-com m erce enabled system w ould n eed to

consider th is, w i thou t assurance that t h is w ould fu l ly integrate w i th n at ional d ist r ibut ion.

The adopt ion o f th is appro ach seems unl ikely to achieve the e-to urism strategy aim s ofenabl ing p ub l ic access to co m preh ensive tourism con tent or helping sm all to urismenterp rises to ad apt t o an e-bu siness environm ent.

5.2 A national DMS

This opt ion would seek to bui ld or acquire a comprehensive nat ional system comprisingdata management software, search engine, booking and transact ions faci l i t ies. This wouldextend b eyond the Jigsaw produ ct inform at ion database into th e host ing o f a fu l l productavailabi l ity ( inventory) database and associated soft w are to m anage t his highly volat i le


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information. Technical ly, this would be the simplest solut ion, and could potent ial ly bedeveloped in partnership with a commercial operator, helping to spread the costs and risks.

The m ain d raw back, how ever, w ould b e that d est inat ions wi th exist ing d est inat ionm anagement solut ions w ould no t integrate d i rect ly into the nat ional DM Sand pot ent ia llyw ou ld lose business to i t . This is l ikely to det er the part icipat ion of dest inat ions w ith w el l-established local systems, including most seaside resorts and major cit ies, and result indup l icat ion. I t w ould a lso add inconvenience for tour ism providers, w ho w ould n eed tow ork w i th e i ther or bot h n at ional and local system s. Such no n-part ic ipat ion in t he schemeseems likely to render th is opt ion unat t ract ive to th e m ain stakeholders, w i th con sequent ia lreduct ion o f th e value to con sum ers. This w ou ld thu s fal l con siderably sho rt of a fu l lyintegrated Engl ish tourism industry.

5.3 A federal network approach

The federal approach com bines the advantages of each of the f i rst tw o o pt ions. It w oulddel iver the inf rast ructure th at w ould enable tou r ism produ ct inform at ion to be shared via a

nat ional interoperabil ity standard and a com m unicat ions backbon e. This w ould enable anat io nal level of con tent integ rat ion and search capabi l ity to enable easy access to to urismproduct information at nat ional, regional and local levels, including access to booking andpayment services. M uch o f t he inform at ion w ould be m aintained locally by RTBs, DM Os andTICs and exchanged via the com m unicat ions backbon e. DM S supp l iers w ould beencouraged to part icipate in d ef in ing the interop erabi l ity standard, enabl ing them to of f erDM Os integrat ion w i th the nat ional f ramew ork. DM Os not yet using such system s w ouldf ind i t easier to do so.

This hybrid o pt ion seem s m ore l ikely to attract th e greatest up take of dest inat ions andtou r ism providers, br ing m ost integrat ion and access to th e w idest sources of prod uctinfo rm ation f or th e consum er, and t hereby m axim ise the success of t he pro ject. This sho uldlead to an o verall reduct ion in dup l icat ion of data col lect ion and greater part ic ipat ion bytou r ism providers, leading to m ore cost -ef fect ive operat ion. A s such, th is opt ion w ouldappear to of f er the best prospects for cont r ibut ing to w ards the sustainabil ity of localtou r ism services, m ost of w hich are dependent upo n local auth or i ty supp ort .

This is therefore the recom m ended st rategic approach on e w hich w as w idely supp orted inth e consultat ion p rocess and fo rm s th e basis fo r the pro po sed Eng landNet O nl ine Tou rismNet work .

Eng landNet is th erefore b eing d evelop ed b y ETC and th e RTBs, th e org anisat ions current lyrespo nsible fo r m anaging nat ion al tou rism data services in Eng land, as th e vehicle to

imp lem ent th is st rategy. It w i ll be an indust ry-w ide netw ork o f fer ing a range of e lect ronicbusiness and m arket ing services to t he indust ry, and d esigned f ro m the ou tset to w ork w i thexist ing dest inat ion m anagem ent system s at region al and local level. It is vi tal that t heimp lem entat ion o f t h is project shou ld be m utu al ly benef ic ia l to a l l concerned, leading tostronger, more effect ive working relat ionships across the whole sphere of tourismdeve lopment .

The Eng landNet o bject ives and p rop osed out pu ts are discussed fu rth er in sect ion 6 .

In ado pt ing th is strateg y, Eng landNet m ust be realist ic about th e abi li ty of al l DM Os andDM Ss to d el iver the necessary inp ut , w heth er in term s of q ual i ty or quan t i ty. Inevitablyth ere w i l l be situ at ion s w here DM Os do no t have th e resou rces or, in som e cases perhap s,

the m ot ivat ion, t o d eliver the inpu t requi red w i th in the federal approach. Recognising th is,


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RTBs w i l l have an imp ort ant ro le to qu al ity assure th e local inpu t and op erate back-upm echanism s to d eal with any def iciencies or gap s in data p rovision.

5.4 Complementary act ivi ty

Com plementary to EnglandNet , act ion w i ll a lso b e requi red to explo i t ot her to ur ism -relatedcont ent and featu res at region al and local level (such as coun tryside, leisure o r events data),to provide consumer access through regional websites, publ icat ions and other channels(eg via l ibraries and local kio sk access projects). There is also a n eed f or a sustainedpro gram m e of Business An imat ion act ivity at local level to p rom ot e e-business aw areness,ski l ls and b est pract ice for t ou rism pro viders, and st imu late part icipat io n in t he on l ineto urism netw ork to enable access to invento ries, reservat ion and paym ents faci li t ies.

Diagram 1: Schematic illustration of the recommended strategic approach


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6. Key roles in support of e-tourism development

As has been no ted, signi f icant w ork h as already been un dertaken in the d evelopm ent o flocal dest inat ion m anagement system s w i th in England. There is therefore m uch inform at ionand expert ise already avai lable. How ever, there is also a nat ural reluctance to re-invest an d

to chang e bu siness pract ices. If new system s are to be int rod uced successfu l ly, th e exist ingplayers m ust be involved in th e process, invi ted to cont ribut e expert ise and o ff ered solut ionsw hich f i t exist ing f ram ew orks.

W hi lst t here w i ll be o ppo rtuni t ies for com m ercial ly sustainable e-comm erce developm entson ce Eng landNet is in place, a sub stant ial part o f th e e-tou rism agend a has w ider, strategicob ject ives - ie to en han ce ind ustry perform ance thro ug h th e provision of w idely-accessibleservices th at do no t d irect ly generate incom e. There is th erefore a strong case fo r pu bl icfunding to support the essent ial core elements of the system.

The Eng landNet p roject w i l l be th e cornersto ne fo r del ivering th e aim s of t he strateg y,provid ing the cent ra l operat ing f ram ew ork and th e focus for co-ordinated act ion at regionaland local level. This needs to be co m plem ented by eff ort s to raise aw areness and ski l lsam on gst to urism pro viders, especially the smaller businesses, to be able to take f ul ladvantage of e lect ronic m arket ing and e-com m erce.

6.1 EnglandNet

The fu ndam ental a im of EnglandNet is to enable on e-stop -shop ping for a l l Englandsto urism pro du cts. To achieve this, the pro ject w i l l pu rsue th e fol low ing key ob ject ives:

Create a nat ional interoperabi li ty standard and inf rast ructure f or England to connectexist ing regional and local tourism information systems

Provide a secure and eff ect ive com m un icat ion netw ork f or ETC and RTBs

Ensure th at al l dest inat ions are able to ado pt viable DM S services

Deliver high qu al ity dat a to m eet th e service requirem ents of th e BTA , ETC, RTBs andoth er organisat ions concerned w i th to ur ism at n at ional and local level

Off er an end-to -end b oo king service to end con sum ers and re-sel lers.

The p roducts of EnglandNet are therefore of three types:

Com m un ity Bui lding Services: These w i l l enable RTBs, DM O/TICS, ETC, BTA t o p rom ot e th edevelopm ent o f com m un it ies of t ravel lers, t raders, sup pl iers, providers via fo r foru m s etcw hich w i ll encou rage greater u se of th e ot her services of fered b y RTBs, DM O/TICs, ETC,

BTA. The first example of a community service is the ENTICE TIC extranet.

Co nt ent M anag em ent System (CM S) services: This w il l enab le BTA, ETC, RTBs, to acqu ire,edi t and pu bl ish to ur ism inform at ion for m arket ing. Data for th e CM S w i ll be acqui red viaw eb fo rm s and f rom onl ine connect ions to DM Ss operated b y DM O/TICs and RTBs. TheCM S w il l also b e used to supp ort t he com m un ity services.

E-com m erce Services: This w i l l enab le end-co nsum ers and re-sel lers to access the w ho leSM E tou r ism prod uct o f England, search, bo ok, and pay for i t t hroug h a single appl icat ionsuch as Visi tBritain or TravelEng land. This w i l l requ ire Eng landNet infrastructu re tointero perate w ith th e DM Ss op erated by RTBs and DM O/TICs. Int eroperabi l i ty mu sttherefore be developed for :


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DM Ss and o th er cont ent system s (also n eeded f or t he CM S service)

Third party e-com m erce providers, such as e-paym ent service providers

Cu sto m er appl icat ions auch as the BTA /ETC w ebsites.

In add it ion, a m od el has been p repared fo r a nat ion al virtual call cent re based up on call

cent re services op erated by RTBs, DM Os and TICs. The o bjective o f t he call centr e is tosupport the onl ine booking services.

In gen eral Eng landNet w i l l pro vide:

Qual ity of Data m anagement guidel ines

m odel com m ercial cont racts (eg betw een providers and DM S operators)

Qu ality o f Service (SLA) g uidel ines for D M S op erators

custom er re lat ionship m anagement guidel ines

Securi ty g uidel ines

W ill prom ulgate new opp ortun i t ies for tou r ism providers, DM O/TICs and RTBs that w i llarise from the onl ine EnglandNet infrastructure.

The EnglandNet m odel envisages that data w i ll be m aintained on DM Ss, w i th repl icat ion ofnon-volat i le data (product descript ions) to the EnglandNet central database (which includesJigsaw). Customer bookings wi l l require rout ing of the avai labi l i ty queries and bookingrequ ests to th e regional/ local DM Ss.

Eng landNet w i l l also o ff er ho st ing solut ions on a rem ot e-access basis, such as DM Ss,f inancia l managem ent sof t w are, mem bership m anagement or custom er relat ionshipm anagem ent app l icat ions in ord er to redu ce the m aintenan ce costs to D M O/TIC, RTBs.

A chieving t hese ou tp ut s is expected to result in a range of tang ible benef i ts: Increased num ber of b ook ings and spread of b ook ings of t our ism produ ct in England

Increased value of produ ct sold by enabl ing th e packaging of produ ct by the end -custom er and by re-sel lers

Redu ced net costs of m arket ing an d distr ibut io n fo r sm all to urism bu sinesses

Im pro ved cost-effect iveness of m arket ing fo r BTA , ETC RTBs and DM Os

Increased revenu e to h elp sustain RTB, DM O and TIC services

Im proved com m uni ty access to tou r ism inform at ion

Im pro ved econo m ic com peti t iveness and assist in d el ivering go vernm ent e-b usinessobjectives.

Substant ive progress is now being made on the development of EnglandNet. Treasuryfun ding has been grant ed to assist t he developm ent , and a Project Di rector and oth erEnglandNet team m emb ers appointed. Const ruct ion of the core Cont ent M anagementSystem is un derw ay, and t he ENTICE TIC extran et h as been bu i lt .

ETC and t he RTBs w ill oversee th e pro jectvia the EnglandNet M anagement Co m m it tee (orcom pany bo ard), w hi le the RTBs w i ll be respon sib le for prom ot ing and p rovid ing i tsservices, acqu ir ing co nt ent and developing b usiness op po rtu nit ies w ithin each region . Theexist ing Tour ism Techno logy W orking Group w i ll cont inue t o have a consul tat ive ro le.


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As EnglandNet develops3, the potent ial for involving commercial partners wi l l be explored,

w here th is can br ing added value in t erms of technical developm ent , m arket ing ore-bu siness services. This is discussed f urt her in t he f ollow ing section .

6.2 Public and private sector roles

The scope fo r at tract ing p rivate sector sup po rt to in vest in pro viding m any of th e servicesrelevant t o t his strateg y w as tested in m arket soun ding s and research carried o ut by ETC inearly 2001. Several companies have expressed an interest in being involved as suppliers inaspects of t he EnglandNetproject , but t h is has not extended to fun ding o r underw r i t ingany of t he required core com po nen ts. It is l ikely that on ly th e pub l ic sector can m ake theini t ial investm ent in th e netw orkin g of t ou rism dest inat ion services because th e openstand ards and com prehen sive natu re of such w ork is no t a priori ty for private sectorinvestment .

The mo st real ist ic approach w ou ld appear to b e one w hich recogn ises th e need to sat isfybroader socia l and econom ic object ives and to upg rade and im prove th e prof essional ism of

the w hole to ur ism indust ry. There may w ell be po tent ia l for at t ract ing pr ivate sectorinvolvement in fut ure developm ents once the f ramew ork is in p lace. Opt ions for pub l icprivate partn ership shou ld th erefore be review ed as Eng landNet pro gresses. The abi l i ty forEng landNet to gen erate realist ic revenu e stream s w i l l help to attract such private sectorinvolvement .

The aim of any publ ic-private col laborat ion should be to develop a sustainable future forEnglandNet th at w ould keep th e long -term pu bl ic sector com m itment t o th at necessary toensure that the core object ives of open standards and comprehensive coverage cont inue tobe ful f i l led.

6.2.1 English Tourism Council

ETC is account able to DCM S for t he f inancial and m anagement cont ro l of Governmentfu nd ing f or t he Eng landNet pro ject. A s such i t has a key role in overseeing th e successfu limp lem entat ion o f EnglandNet , including the establ ishm ent o f th e legal ent i ty underpinningthe p roject in p artnership w i th RTBs and in l ine w i th Go vernm ent g uidel ines for pub l icprivate part nerships.

A s th e statu to ry nat ion al tourism o rganisat ion fo r Eng land, ETC also h as a leadership role insupp ort of e- tour ism generally, w hich includes:

dr iving t he developm ent and explo i tat ion o f EnglandNet , and supp ort ing act iv it ies suchas aw areness and t ra in ing program m es

guiding fut ure m arket ing and e-tou r ism st rategies in col laborat ion w i th nat ional andregional partners such as RTBs, RDAs and industry bodies

encouraging the adop t ion of com m on d ata standards by DM S sof t w are supp l iers

l ia ising w i th BTA to ensure th at op portu ni t ies for col laborat ion in technicaldevelopm ent , m arket ing and d ist r ibut ion of content are explo i ted ef f ect ively.

Op erat ional ly, ETC is respo nsible for en suring th at to urism data is col lected an d m anaged tom eet nat ional requi rem ents, pub l ishing nat ional W here to Stay guides, and f or

3

Up-to-date information on EnglandNet is available on the project website,www.englandnet.org.uk.


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6.2.5 Regional Development Agencies

Region al Developm ent A gencies (RDA s) have an increasingly imp ort ant ro le in supp ort o fregion al econom ic develop m ent. This includ es developing cross-sectoral ICT strateg ies fo rthe d evelopm ent o f e-business and f or th e supp ort ing comm unicat ions inf rast ructurerequi red. RDA s recogn ise the imp ortance of b roadband com m unicat ions for regionaldevelopm ent, and seek to ad dress th e chal leng es of en suring th at rem ot e rural areas arenot excluded f ro m such services. W hi lst t he dr ivers for b roadband netw orks may be th edata-rich requ irement s of h ealth and educat io nal services, rural to urism services could alsobenef i t .

RDA s sho uld t herefo re assist th e develop m ent o f e-bu siness in to urism by con sidering:

The needs and op port uni t ies for tou r ism w i th in th eir ow n ICT st rategies

The po tent ia l for tou r ism services to b enef i t f rom , and cont r ibute to, com m unicat ionsinfrastructure/broadband ini t iat ives eg by strengthening the case for local informationintegrat ion f or residen ts as w el l as fo r visi tors

Supp ort ing RTBs and DM Os in t our ism inform at ion system implem entat ion E-bu siness animation and training ini t iat ives aimed at small to urism bu sinesses

The needs of t he to ur ism sector in the im plement ing of regional indu st ry ext ranets oron l ine po rtal services including th e n eed f or access to specialist resou rces pro vidednat io nal ly (eg via Eng landNet).

6.2.6 Other organisations

A n um ber of o th er organisat ions have respo nsibi l i t ies relevant to th e sup po rt of e-businessdevelopm ent , and should th erefore be encouraged t o support th is st rategy and play a partin del ivering som e of th e sup po rt ing act ivi t ies. These include th e Cou nt ryside Ag ency, th e

Sm all Business Service and U K o nline fo r b usiness.

The Tou rism Techno logy W ork ing Grou p (TTW G), chaired b y ETC and involving BTA, RTBs,the Tour ism M anagement Inst itut e, Local Governm ent A ssociat ion and oth errepresentat ives, w i l l cont inue t o act as an advisory fo rum on DM O e-b usiness issues. Itshould also be a consultat ive forum for EnglandNet to ref lect the user requirements of localauth ori t ies and o th er dest inat io n m anagem ent org anisat ion s. It w i ll also overseedisseminat ion o f inform at ion on project ou tcom es via regional w orkshop events and ot hermeans.


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7. An agenda for act ion for e-tourism

A f ive-point agend a for act ion is prop osed as a f ramew ork w i th in w hich Englands tour ismbu sinesses and org anisat ion s can real ise th e op po rtu nit ies offered by e-bu siness.

7.1 Realising the potential of electronic marketing

The advent of Int ernet, m ob i le telepho ny and d igi tal int eract ive television is having a m ajorimp act o n th e w ay tour ism prod ucts are marketed and sold. The w eb can be a cost -ef fect ive medium for p ubl ishing inform at ion and provid ing a t ransact ional capabi li ty forcustom ers as part o f a dest inat ion m arket ing strategy. Em ail conveys info rm ation d irect ly,cheaply and at sho rt no t ice to prim e prospects. Electro nic mark et ing en ables org anisat ion sto eng age w i th custom ers on a o ne-to-on e basis, and can be used also to prom ote on e-to-m any act ivit ies, w hereby large num bers of p ot ent ial visi tors can be attracted t o adest inat ion o r com panys w ebsi te.

E-market ing should, how ever, be undertaken in harmo ny w i th t radi t ional of f l inem arket ing act ivit ies as part o f an e-b usiness strateg y m ore closely int egrat ing th eprom ot ional , sales and fu l f i lment ro les of w ebsi tes, brochu res and te lepho ne supportservices. Camp aign strategies w i ll need to p osit ion t he role of p rinted m edia alon gsideelect ronic market ing t o m axim ise returns on investm ent .

On e strateg ic priori ty fo r Eng land at nat ional level is to en sure th at go od q ual i ty con tent isrou ted th rou gh BTA and t he Visi tBritain fam ily of w ebsites to reach overseas m arkets, andto redevelop the TravelEngland w eb po rta l as a p lat form for d om est ic market ingcampaigns. At tent ion shou ld a lso b e given t o l inking the lat ter to pro-act ive e-m arket ingcamp aigns using custom er databases, person al isat ion an d m arket ing p artnerships.

To real ise the po tent ial of electron ic m arket ing access to o nl ine bo ok ings and transact ion sfaci li t ies w i l l need t o b ecom e m ore w idely available across th e indu stry. There m ay beop po rtu nit ies at th e nat ion al level to l ink t o specif ic w eb-based reservat ions system soperated by com m ercial group s and consort ia, and th is shou ld be explored. How ever, apr ior i ty for EnglandNet should b e to enable searching and boo king b ased on up-to -dateinvento ry held on local Dest inat ion M anagement System s w here these exist , and to supp ortth e extension o f t hese services to ot her areas. To en sure th at revenues con t inu e to beavailable to sup po rt local DM O and TIC services, this w i l l need t o b e und erpinned by arevenue-sharing bu siness mo del.


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Key Act ions Lead role Othersinvolved

Time

Redevelop t he TravelEng land w ebsite as anat ional w eb porta l to supp ort a range of

England m arket ing camp aigns

En g lan d Net ETC , RTBs,o ther

partners

From late2002

onwardsLaun ch f ul l e-com m erce services onTravelEngland

En g lan d Net ETC , RTBs,o therpartners

ByDecember2003

Ensure that improved England tourisminformation is avai lable for distr ibut ion tooverseas markets via the VisitBritain websi teand ot her channels

BTA Eng lan dNet ,ETC, RTBs,D M O s

f rom late2002onwards

Sup po rt t he extension of DM S services to areasno t yet ef f ect ively covered

En g la nd N et RTBs, RD A s,DM Os, DM Ssuppl iers

From late2002onwards

Implement Customer Relat ionship

M anagement and M arket ing as an integral andimp ortant aspect of dest inat ion m arket ing. Thisw i ll requi re developm ent o f an accurate, wel l -researched custom er database, com piled atd i f ferent points of custom er cont act , and thetoo ls to explo i t them.

En g lan d Net RTBs, D M O s,

possiblecol laborat ionw i th BTA

late 200 3

Develop a sustainable bu siness mo del fo ronl ine bookings via EnglandNet

Eng land Net ETC, RTBs BySeptember2002

Establ ish t he fo und at ions for fut ure m arket ingpartn erships w ith k ey private sector p layers

En g lan d Net ETC , RTBs,RDAs, DM Os

By M arch2004


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7.2 Modernising information services offered to consumers

ICT and e-business have major im pl icat ions fo r th e del ivery of info rm ation an d reservat ionsservices to consumers, whether at home, travel l ing or within the dest inat ion. They enableexist ing services to be o perated m ore ef f ic ient ly w hi le also o pening up m any new channelsthrou gh w hich inform at ion m ay be accessed. These new channels w i ll need to be evaluatedand t r ialed as th ey becom e of po tent ial signif icance.

A n Info rm ation Services Strateg y w as com m issioned by th e RTBs in 20 00 , based o n a surveyof th e w ho le TIC netw ork and consu l ta t ion w i th DM Os. An o utcome o f th is w ork w as arecom m endat ion that an appl icat ion be developed to impro ve com m unicat ion and t he f lowof info rmat ion betw een TICs, DM Os and RTBs that w ould com plement exist ing local DM Sservices. Northumbria Tourist Boards ENTICE TIC extranet successfully demonstrated thisconcept du r ing 20 01. Developm ent o f a nat ional version of th is is therefore propo sed, toinclude access to th e nat ion al prod uct d atabase, onl ine b ul let in bo ards and discussionfo rum s. The app l icat ion w ou ld be del ivered by RTBs, w ith th e technical infrastructure beingprovided b y EnglandNet .


Time

Develop t he ENTICE web-b ased n etw ork toenable TICs and DM Os to access bo th th enat ional produ ct database and a range ofbro w ser-enabled fu nct ion s and services.

En g lan d Net RTBs, RD A sDM Os,supportf rom RDAs

A vailable toall TICs byend o f 2002

Bui ld local onl ine com m un it ies l ink ing TICs viathe Internet t o t our ism providers, e i ther bye-m ail, or by access to t heir w ebsites.

En g la nd N et RTBs, RD A s,DM Os,

By end o f2003

Und ertake tr ials fo r th e del ivery of visi torservices th rou gh new chann els eg w eb accessf rom hot el room s; Internet -enabled p aypho nes;handheld mobi le devices, etc

En g lan d Net ETC , RTBs,DM Os,o therpartners

FromJanuary2003

7.3 Enhancing the competit iveness of businesses and suppliers

The Internet provides an o ppo rtuni ty to create an o nl ine netw ork (technically, an ext ranet )that w i ll enable stakeholders to com m unicate easi ly w hi le also provid ing a w ide range ofoth er funct ions. Such a netw ork cou ld help ra ise the com pet i t ive perform ance of tou r ismbusinesses by imp roving day-to-day comm unicat ion betw een tou r ism m arket ing

org anisat ion s and bu sinesses, and m ore specif ically by enabl ing to urism pro viders to : access to urism info rm ation (eg o n events) fo r gu ests

use on l ine t ools such as prop erty m anagement /book ing system s, e-procurementservices, enabl ing, fo r exam ple, accom m od ation p roviders to m aintain th eir availabi li tyon com m on d atabases to enable onl ine book ings

access business support services such as research and intell igence information

com m unicate and do business more easi ly w i th each oth er.

The technical requ irement s for a basic indu stry extranet are relatively straight forw ard.How ever, the o peration al aspects of im plem enting it are costly. If t he system is to be cost-

effective, it w ill need to have the suppo rt of a crit ical m ass of sup pliers.


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This same netw ork, w i th som e mo di f icat ions, may be used for th e involvem ent of the w idercom m un ity (schoo ls, col leges, com m un ity grou ps, etc) to create aw areness of t heimp ortance of t our ism , and an u nderstanding of t he indust ry. It could a lso p rovide amechanism for consultat ion on future tourism strategies. Similarly, the extranet couldprovide the m eans for p rovincial and local governm ent departm ents and oth er publ icagencies to access the kno w ledge b ase to help est imate econo m ic im pact and to guidespecific po licy decision s.


Time

Develop an int eract ive business-facing w ebport a l to pro vide a convenient po int o f accessto w eb fo rm s, business advice and int el ligence

Eng land Net RTBs FromDecember2002

Prom ote integrat ion of to ur ism cont ent w i th inregional info rm at ion system s and supp ort

bu siness-to -bu siness d evelop m ent ini t iat ives.

RTBs RDA s,EnglandNet

FromDecember

2002Promo te in tegrat ion o f tour i sm content w i thoth er tour ism related content at nat ional level

ETC Eng lan dNet ,BTACountrysideAgency,o thers

FromJanuary2003

Develop oth er onl ine tour ism com m uni tyservices

En g lan d Net ETC , RTBs,DM Os,TTWG

2003-04

Develop n ew onl ine too ls for u se by to ur ismproviders

Eng land Net RTBs 20 03 -0 4

7.4 Developing standards for comprehensive tourism information

Accurate, up-to-date info rmat ion is cent ra l to a ll aspects of tou r ism m anagement including m arket ing, p rodu ct developm ent and research. A k ey pr incip le for info rmat ioncol lect ion th at un derl ies th is strateg y is to col lect o nce and d istr ibu te freely throu gh arange of channels and m edia, to m eet the needs of consumers . The aim should b e toenable pro du ct data to be col lected electronical ly.

How ever, to b e truly ef f icient i t is vi tal th at any exist ing du pl icat ion of ef fo rt is el im inatedand that com m on standards for d ata col lect ion and storage are def ined. The pr ior i ty is to

agree a def in i t ion for England-w ide standards of tou r ism data types and st ructures that can: provide a f ramew ork for local / sub-regional tou r ism data col lect ion and d ist r ibut ion

be effect ively distr ibu ted an d u sed by a variety of org anisat ion s

be integrated into a n at ional, England-w ide tour ism prod uct database.

In th e longer t erm , as stand ards for data exchang e (or int eroperabi l i ty) evolve, the ind ustryw i l l m ove aw ay from tradit ion al stru ctured d atabases. It w i l l becom e possible to search dataheld in di f f erent fo rm ats and p resent th e results in a consistent w ay.

The developm ent b y BTA and ETC of the n ew Jigsaw tou r ism prod uct database using w ebcom patible stand ards fo r data has, in ef fect, establ ished a core data set on w hich DM S

sup pl iers have been con sulted. Co m patib le dest inat io n d ata could, o n t his basis, be


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imp ort ed into Jigsaw . This is, how ever, on ly a f i rst step tow ards achieving th e kind o finteroperabi l i ty that is required to ful ly support electronic searching and booking. Furtherw ork is requi red as part of the EnglandNet d evelopm ent to extend the core data standardsto cover prod uct invent ory (eg room or t icket avai labi l ity) data. Dest inat ion system sup pl iersw hose sof t w are is com pl iant w i th the agreed data standards shou ld then b e endorsed byEnglandNet to advert ise as such. This endorsement could take the form of a ki temark-typeaccreditat ion.


Time

Develop a ful l e-commerce interoperabi l i tystandard fo r England, to enable DM Oinventories, EnglandNet services and BTAdistr ibut ion system s to be l inked

Eng land Net DM Ssuppliers,ETC, BTA,RTBs, TTW G,D M O s

BySeptember2002

Prom ote the EnglandNet interoperabi li ty

standard to Englands to ur ism indust ry

En g lan d Net ETC , BTA ,

RTBs, TTW G,D M O s

October

2002onwards

Enable tour ism prod uct d ata to be col lectedand managed electronical ly

En g lan d Net ETC , BTA ,RTBs

From late2002

7.5 Helping stakeholders to make w ise investments

Detai led pract ical gu idance for DM Os on p lanning an d specif icat ion o f dest inat ion system sand w orking w i th system supp l iers w as provided in Im pact Throug h IT prod uced in 199 9by ETB. Further web-based information is in the course of preparat ion and wi l l include other

m aterial relevant t o f ut ure e-bu siness, including m arket int el ligence, best p ract ice casestu dies and l inks to o th er sou rces. The Tourism Techno logy W ork ing G rou p (TTW G) hasform ed a Kno w ledge Netw ork sub-g roup t o help prepare and advise on m ater ia l thatsho uld b e dissem inated in th is w ay.

Al l of t h is advisory inform at ion w i ll be set w i th in the cont ext of th e EnglandNet p roject .EnglandNet w i ll provide w eb access to the nat ional produ ct database and t o re latedapp l icat ions. Decisions on local act ion sho uld b e taken in t he kn ow ledge of th e services th atw i ll be provided by EnglandN et .

The pro m ot ion of DM O p art ic ipat ion in EnglandNet and o f t he advisory services that areavailable w i l l require a signif icant p rog ram m e of t raining and aw areness act ivity for DM O

staff . Achieving widespread understanding and part icipat ion in the new electronic servicesam on g sm all tourism b usinesses w i ll also req uire a sub stant ial aw areness and trainingpro gram m e. It w i ll be especially im po rtant to assist t he less conf ident bu siness op erators torecognise the potent ial benef i ts to their operat ions.


Time

M ake up-to-d ate guidance and inte l ligence forto urism bu sinesses and org anisat ions avai lableon ETC and RTB w ebsites.

ETC TTW G, RTBs No w an dongo ing


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M aintain a comm unicat ions st rategy to keepRTBs, DM Os and t he ind ustry ful ly advised o fthe progress of EnglandNet

ETC &EnglandNet

RTBs, TM I,LGA, DM Ssuppl iers

Ongo ing

Provide Eng landNet t raining and aw arenessact iv ity for DM O staf f .

En g la nd N et RTBs, ETC ,D M O s

July 20 02 M arch 2003

Deliver a prog ram m e of e-b usiness aw arenessand t ra in ing ta i lored to the n eeds of sm allto urism bu sinesses

ETC RTBs,EnglandNet ,UK onl ine forbusiness,SmallBusinessService, etc

September2002 M arch 2004

7.6 Taking the strategy forward

It is clear that Eng landNet is th e core vehicle for im plem entin g t his strateg y. The ant icipated

del ivery t imetab le for Eng landNet can b e sum m arised as fo l low s:

EnglandNet milestones Target dates

Eng land Net b usiness m od el Co m p leted , RTB versionsby end o f July 2002

RTB Reg ion al p ro ject p lans End o f Ju ly 20 02

The ENTICE extran et f or TICs is no w available, and ro llout andtraining o f users has begu n

A ll TICs to have access byM arch 2003 .

Nat ional and regional EnglandNet k ick-of f conferences to

involve national and regional bodies such as RTBs, RDAs,Governm ent Departm ents and agencies, eg Co unt rysideAgency, UK online for business, SBS.

July-October 2002

A w areness and t raining pro gram m es fo r RTBs, TIC and D M Ousers

From July 20 02

A w aren ess an d t rain in g f or sm all t ou rism bu sin esses Fro m Sep tem b er 2 00 2 t oM arch 2004

Eng landNet t o be est ab lish ed as a legal en t it y Sep t em b er 20 02

Eng land Net In t ero perab ilit y St andard com plet ed Oct ober 200 2

Prof essional access to EnglandN et Con tent M anagem entServices availab le

From Decem ber 200 2

Pub l ic access to Eng landNet Com m un ity Services (enab l ing th erelaunch o f im pro ved services on th e TravelEng land w ebsite)

January 2003

First lo cal in teg rat io n p ro ject s in ru ral reco very areas Jan uary 2 00 3

Pub l ic launch of e-com m erce services fo r ho l iday-makers viaTravelEng land and VisitBritain (via BTA )

December 2003

Public launch of e-commerce services for re-sellers (eg travelagents)

M arch 2004


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A com m unicat ions plan has been p repared w hich ident i f ies indust ry audiences that need tobe m ade aw are of EnglandNet , ho w they shou ld be addressed, and w hen. This coversindustry organizations such as UK online for business, Small Business Service, CountrysideA gency, nat ional b usiness associat ions, the Business Links netw ork , Go vernm entdepartm ents and m any others.

Com m unicat ions underw ay or p lanned include:

Presentat ions to target ed au diences includin g Brit ish Travel Trade Fair and Harrog ateTour ism Info rmat ion conference (com pleted) and oth er indust ry conferences andseminars

A n at ional k ick-of f conf erence and regional w orkshops for a w ide range of cont actsf rom July to Septem ber 200 2

A pro ject info rmat ion w ebsi te, w w w .englandn et .org.uk, has been launched, anint rodu ctory brochure pu bl ished and in course of being d ist r ibuted, and an elect ronicnew slet ter p lanned.

The ro le of the Tour ism Technology W orking Group as a consul tat ive forum for EnglandNetw i l l also b e streng th ened t o involve oth er organ isat ion s w hich m ay be able to assist ininf luencing ICT strategies and programmes relevant to tourism.

In th e l ight of t he grow ing imp ortance of Regional Developm ent A gencies, and thei rincreasing role in working with other non-departmental publ ic bodies ( including RTBs) ineach region, som e pract ical steps shou ld be taken t o impro ve comm unicat ions andengagem ent w i th the Eng landNet programm e:

Involve RDAs in the planning and del ivery of the proposed EnglandNet kick-off conference and regional w orkshops

Consult on EnglandNet proposals, notable the EnglandNet business model,

interoperabil

E-Tourism in England a Strategy

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