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PROMOTING & MANAGING CARIBBEAN TOURISM ON-LINE Arley Sobers, Caribbean Tourism Organization, November 2005

PROMOTING & MANAGING CARIBBEAN TOURISM ON-LINE Arley Sobers, Caribbean Tourism Organization, November 2005. Caribbean Tourism. Visitation 22.5 million tourists 20.8 cruise passenger visits Economic Contribution Spending: US$22.5 billion; 34% of total exports Total Employment: 950,000

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PROMOTING & MANAGING CARIBBEAN TOURISM ON-LINE Arley Sobers, Caribbean Tourism Organization, November 2005

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  1. PROMOTING & MANAGING CARIBBEAN TOURISM ON-LINEArley Sobers, Caribbean Tourism Organization, November 2005

  2. Caribbean Tourism • Visitation • 22.5 million tourists • 20.8 cruise passenger visits • Economic Contribution • Spending: US$22.5 billion; 34% of total exports • Total Employment: 950,000 • Other • Main Markets: North America 55%, Europe 30%; Other 15% • Hotel rooms: 270,000

  3. Caribbean Tourism Organization • Government Membership: 31 countries in English, French, Spanish and US Caribbean; varying in size and level of tourism development; • Private Sector membership: market and destination-based travel related businesses; close working relationship with the Caribbean Hotel Association (CHA); • Main Activities: Regional Marketing, Statistics & Research, Education & Training, Tourism Development;

  4. Impact of Information Technology • Driven by marketplace changes in consumer behavior and in distribution systems; initially in US • Opportunity or threat? • Variable quality of member country websites; • Loss of natural URLs; • Destination management information • First regional site in 1994; current system implemented in 2001

  5. Caribbean Regional Approach • Three Inter-related Systems • Consumer Internet Site DoItCaribbean.com • Regional Intranet OneCaribbean.org • Management Information System CTO-MIST

  6. Consumer Site www.doitcaribbean.com

  7. Consumer Site: DoItCaribbean.comto attract and “funnel” site visitors to the official internet sites of CTO member countries Enquiries – Trade and Consumer DoItCaribbean.com member country official sites Technical Support to Member Countries

  8. DoItCaribbean.com (cont) • information in six languages; • country sections, with link to official website • targets 16 specific market segments (Gateways), each with link to the relevant section of the country site • modular design for easy addition/deletion of gateways • management system for in-house editing, etc • other Features include: • Interactive Vacation Planner, Interactive Map • Calendar of Events (database-driven), Travel Agent Finder, Weather, Currency Converter, etc

  9. Regional Tourism Intranet www.onecaribbean.org

  10. Regional Intranet: OneCaribbean.org • to share information and enhance communication between Caribbean tourism interests • hierarchical access; • self-administered “virtual groups” with controlled access, chat forums, document storage and retrieval, etc • web-based email, member directories, etc • shared resources with the consumer site (DoitCaribbean) e.g. calendar of events, travel agent database • tourism statistics & reports, market research/intelligence • sale of reports, conference registration, PR releases, etc • some information accessible by non-members

  11. CTO-MISTTourismManagement Information System • to advance the tourism planning, marketing and research processes through improved use of IT • earlier work • three main modules • Performance • processing & analysis of Immigration cards • visitor surveys, other indicators (economic, etc) • Product Inventory • accommodation, restaurants, attractions, events, etc • Market Data • market research/intelligence, etc • travel agent & tour operator databases, fam trips, etc

  12. Inter-related Systems

  13. CARIBBEAN INTERNET NETWORK

  14. Management Issues • Consumer Site: • Managed by Research Department with direction and significant inputs from Marketing Department; • European chapters role in foreign language sites • Marketing Department to play a greater role in future • Intranet: OneCaribbean.org • Intranet Administrator, in association with other staff • Inputs from established groups and member countries • CTO-MIST • Technical support to countries provided by Research Department • Some maintenance work by developer

  15. Performance • Consumer Site: DoItCaribbean.com (DiC) • Approx 150,000 visits per month; • Consumer preference for single site; DiC more self-contained than initially planned; • Information only site; addition of booking engine • Intranet: OneCaribbean.org • Approx 30,000 visits per month; • Navigation issues • CTO-MIST: Management Information System • Used in 7 countries; 2 more using inventory module

  16. Towards the Future • Plans to upgrade the entire system in 2006 • DoItCaribbean.com (DiC) • Joint with the Caribbean Hotel Association • Will have a more commercial orientation • Third party review underway • OneCaribbean.org • Upgrade navigation • CTO-MIST • Completely re-build system • New model Immigration card: barcode, e-mail address and “survey” questions • CRM

  17. Thank You!! *****

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