The first ever International Travel and Tourism Awards were held recently in London, presented by WTM. The Winner were adjudged by an independent panel of experts worldwide, led by the Divisional Director of WTM’s parent company- Reed Exhibitions. The Tusmo de Centro in Portugal got the gold medal for the Best National Tourism Board. Visit Flanders won the award for the best regional or city campaign. For technology innovation, South African Tourism and Drive South Africa were feted. For the best digital marketing campaign, the award went to DEC BBDO’s campaign on Canary Islands Tourism. This also won the Best PR Campaign award. Little-star Tourism came top in the Tourism Marketing Agency category. India’s Kerala Tourism got top award in the Responsible Tourism category. For food, it was Norther Ireland Food NI that topped. In luxury, it was Mauritius Tourism Promotion Authority, while Air Canada got a special award for the overall contribution.

Source:http://www.ttnworldwide.com/Article/285638/Inaugural-International-Travel–Tourism-Awards-winners-revealed

Uploaded Date:10 November 2018

The World Tourism Day in 2018 is aptly themed as “Tourism and the Digital Transformation”. Digital technologies have immense potential in tourism, and are already being used in several functions. This has bene highlighted across several studies made by the World Bank. One of them is titled Tourism and the Sharing Economy and another is The Voice of Travelers produced in collaboration with Trip Advisor. The World Bank is committed to investing substantially in tourism as it is one of the most potent means of empowering local communities. At present, more than three-hundred million people worldwide are employed in tourism jobs. As per data provided by the UNWTO, tourism accounts for over a tenth of the world’s GDP. The next major thrust area of the World Bank is set to be sustainable tourism, because the belief exists that if properly planned and executed, it can bring great rewards. The World Bank is already working on such empowerment and sustainable tourism projects in the Gambia and Peru.

Source:http://www.worldbank.org/en/news/feature/2018/09/25/digital-platforms-and-the-future-of-tourism-a-world-tourism-celebration

Uploaded Date:10 November 2018

Airbnb has been facing severe regulatory hurdles across several markets, including its home city of San Francisco. This has led to reduction in listings and subsequently revenues. This has led to diversification in business and the launch of the Airbnb Experiences platform. This organizes niche tours among small groups to savor in the local culture. Disruptive business innovations often tap into such diversifications to duck regulatory pressures, as done by Uber through its Uber Eats initiative. A demand for localized tours existed as confirmed by Skift which claims that more than half of luxury travelers in the US are keen on connecting with local people and experiencing authentic local culture. And that is why even Hilton has partnered with Foursquare and The New York Times with Urban Adventures creating the 36 Hours series.

Source:https://www.vox.com/the-goods/2018/10/1/17915782/airbnb-experiences-hotels-travel

Uploaded Date:10 November 2018

The World Travel and Tourism Council (WTTC) is set to experiment with biometric technology across flights between Dallas and London. The technology will be used to facilitate care hire, hotel booking, airline check-in, border management, cruise and boarding. This Seamless Traveler Journey Initiative is used to enhance the experience of low-risk travelers who make up more than 99% of all travelers. The Fort Worth International Airport in Dallas will now be fitted with such technology. Tourism consulting firm Oliver Wyman is the main facilitator for this entire project. Travel and tourism as an industry is set to grow with the number of travelers increasing, accompanied by the creation of a hundred million tourism jobs.

Source:https://ftnnews.com/technology/35369-wttc-to-test-the-use-of-biometric-technology-between-dallas-and-london

Uploaded Date:10 November 2018

Several cities are extremely dependent on tourism for their city GDP. This overdependence and the spiraling numbers in tourist count has led to conflicts with locals in cities such as Venice, Barcelona, Dubrovnik, Lisbon and Amsterdam. A report has bene published listing the cities in terms of dependency. Cancun in Mexico finds itself right on top with about 49.6% dependence on tourism. Marrakesh, Macau, Orlando, Antalya, Dubrovnik, Las Vegas, Venice, Dubai and Bangkok complete the top ten. Cancun also tops the index of percentage of people employed in tourism jobs, with the figure hovering at 37.7%. Macau and Venice come next. A similar report was published on cities’ share as percentage on a national tourism earnings. Here, Budapest tops with 95.7% of tourism revenues as percentage of Hungary’s. Dublin, Dubai, Lima, Buenos Aires, Prague, Santiago, Brussels, Bangkok and Kuala Lampur make up the top ten. Cairo though remains the highest among growing cities.

Source:http://www.traveller.com.au/cities-most-reliant-on-tourists-for-their-economies-named-highest-percentage-of-gdp-from-tourism-h1717r

Uploaded Date:09 November 2018

The travel and tourism industry generates a total of US$ 625 billion revenue contributing to 6.7 % of the GDP of 72 cities surveyed. This marketing research was carried out by the World Travel and Tourism Council for its Cities Report. This report is particularly significant because urban areas are now home to more than half the world’s residents now. There are four cities from the US ranked in the top 20 which are- Orlando, New York, Las Vegas and Los Angeles- with Orlando on top at 4^th position. Majority of Orlando’s tourism footprint though is domestically driven standing at 86% of the total. The Chinese market is the one most booming, both inbound as well as outbound, and remains set for the highest growth in the coming years. Shanghai and Beijing are in fact the world’s top two with the former having a revenue of US$ 35 billion. Paris, Tokyo, Bangkok, Mexico City and Shenzhen also find themselves in the top ten.

Source:https://www.travelmarketreport.com/articles/Four-US-Cities-Among-the-Top-Global-Cities-Driving-Travel

Uploaded Date:08 November 2018

The inaugural meeting of the Global Tourism and Resilience Crisis management center took place in London recently. Discussions during this event veered around key points related to the travel and tourism industry such as digital transformation, cybersecurity, effects of climate change, entrepreneurship, talent management and communication. It was held just before the World Travel Market kicked off in London. It brought together key personnel from different stakeholder groups within the industry such as booking agencies, tour operators, government boards, policy makers, online portals, customer groups and environmentalists. The UNWTO’s presence was missed though. A Global Tourism Resilience Barometer will be established to measure the level of resilience built into member states at present.

Source:https://www.eturbonews.com/237071/london-was-about-tourism-resilience-and-crisis-management

Uploaded Date:08 November 2018