Marketing Tourism Destinations Online

As we are entering the new millennium, it has become impossible to think about the promotion and distribution of tourism products without considering the new information distribution technologies, particularly the Internet.With this mind, the World Tourism Organization Business Council prepared this report that aims at providing tourism industry professionals, both from the public and private sectors, with a practical guide of the new information and promotion technologies available today.Starting with the core tourism product the destination -, the study analyses the influence of the Internet on the claim of tourism supply. It focuses on the tremendous changes in consumers expectations for the major tourism generating countries caused by the Internet. It explores the activities of new entrants into the travel and tourism industry and describes who they are and why they have entered the market.Special attention is paid to Destination Marketing Organization Web Sites, their key features and best practices. To provide an overview of the state-of-the-art, 25 Web Sites were evaluated and 6 detailed case studies were undertaken.Marketing Tourism Destinations Online: Strategies for the Information Age shows the dramatic challenges and impacts to be faced by the tourism industry in this information age and thus suggests the need to achieve public-private partnerships that will help the industry in devising its best promotion strategies.