Presentation given at the 10th International Conference on Information Management, Sopot, Poland, June 2011. Covering development and deployment of the National Tourism Open Platform (EnglandNet) by VisitBritain and UK tourism industry partners.

1. Online marketing and e-commerce for tourism:
the Open Platform approach
Andrew Daines
Freelance Travel and Tourism Consultant
10th International Conference on Information Management, Sopot, June 2011

2. Agenda
• Introducing the UK tourism industry
• Development of EnglandNet / National
Tourism Open Platform (NTOP)
• Stakeholder relationships and commercial
models
• Performance
• Future direction, opportunities and challenges

3. UK Tourism Headlines
• Tourism is worth £115.4 billion to the UK economy,
8.9% of Gross Domestic Product (GDP)
(source: Deloitte, The economic contribution of the Visitor Economy: UK and the Nations, June 2010)
• UK currently ranks 6th in terms of international
arrivals
(source: Deloitte, The economic contribution of the Visitor Economy: UK and the Nations, June 2010)
• In 2010:
– 29.6 million overseas visitors spending £16.7 billion
– 116 million domestic overnight trips, worth £20.4 billion
Sources: International Passenger Survey / United Kingdom Tourism Survey (UKTS)

4. UK national tourism organisations
• VisitBritain – funded by UK Government
Department for Culture, Media and Sport
Strategic Partners:
• VisitEngland – funded by VisitBritain
• Visit Wales - incorporated within the Welsh
Assembly Government
• VisitScotland – funded by the Scottish
Parliament
Other partners:
• Northern Ireland Tourist Board, Isle of Man
Tourism, Guernsey Tourism, Jersey Tourism

5. Recent and on-going trends
• UK tourism industry fragmentation
• Devolution of UK nations
• Regionalisation localisation in England
• Tourism delivery structural
changes

6. visitbritain.com…
….at the time of the first International Conference on Information Management

7. Accommodation data – pre-2005
Scotland
TRIPS interface
Britain Visitor
Centre
Northern England
TRIPS interface
Central England BTA Overseas
TRIPS interface offices
Leased line
Southern England connections TRIPS
TRIPS interface
Database
South West
England TRIPS
interface
London
TRIPS interface
Wales
TRIPS interface
BTA / ETB
TRIPS interface

8. TRIPS database
• Reasonably comprehensive in terms of
quantity of data, but limited in depth
• Data collected and managed by, national and
regional tourist boards
• Data updated once per year
• Extracting data difficult – distribution limited
to visitbritain.com, overseas offices and
Britain Visitor Centre

9. TRIPS product record - visitbritain.com 2000

10. Evolution of
Destination Management Systems (DMSs)
• Destination management ‘in a box’
• Product database at its core
– Mechanism to collect and manage data
• Product data populates a variety of services
• ‘Self-service’ or ‘serviced’ models
• Long-standing DMS suppliers:
– Tiscover
– New Vision Group (NVG)
– New Mind

11. DMSs emergence in the UK – late
1990s onwards
Call centre
Destination
Management Website
Product
database
System
Brochure
production
Kiosk
Destination Website
Management Product
database
System Tourist
Information
Centre
Member
comms
Destination
Website
Management Product
database
System Hotel TV

12. Destination Management Systems
• Met the requirements of the destination, in
terms of functionality and budget
• Product data much richer than TRIPS
• Ability of offer lots of services to tourism
businesses – but limited distribution
opportunities available

13. Overall situation
• Duplication of effort regarding product data
management
– Confusion for tourism businesses and visitors
– Inconsistencies
• No national value-add services (e.g. booking)
• Limited distribution of content
• Failure to meet consumer and industry
expectations

14. A call for action
• 2001: the year of:
– Foot and Mouth outbreak in the UK
– Large parts of country devastated by flooding
– Fuel crisis
– 9/11 Terrorist Attacks
• 2002: English Tourism Council:
– E-tourism in England strategy
– Partnership formed with the
10 English regional tourist
boards to create EnglandNet
(the National Tourism Open Platform)

15. E-Tourism for England, 2002:
Key objectives
• National product database: data collected once only
• Bookability of accommodation and other product
• Systems flexible, to enable distribution onto new
platforms, e.g. mobile
• Integration at a Britain level with systems used in
Wales and Scotland
• Global distribution via British Tourist Authority
networks
• The prize: England gains competitive advantage as a
destination by serving consumer and industry

16. EnglandNet:
Key objectives at outset
• Investment into Destination Management Systems
by Regional Tourist Boards and Destinations should
be protected
• Flexibility for Regional Tourist Boards and
Destinations to choose their own systems /
solutions
• Integration with global players – Global
Distribution Systems, Travel Agents, Tour
Operators, etc.
• Core requirement: common approach -
interoperability

17. EnglandNet /
National Tourism Open Platform
• Services
– National Tourism Product Database (2004)
• Accommodation, attractions, events, activities, destination guides
– Interoperability Gateway (2004)
– Polling Service (2005)
– White Label Product Search (2009)
– Product Search / Polling Application Programming
Interfaces (APIs) (2009)
– Portable Travel Channel (2010)
– Smartphone Application (2010)
• Core principle: open platform

18. National Tourism Product Database
• 50,000 accommodation products
• 12,000 attractions
• 6,000 events
• 700 activities
• 1,000 destination guides
• One product, one owner
• Product owners:
– National product owner
– National, regional or destination tourism organisation
(default owner)
– Marketing Group

19. Content supply: product owners

20. National Data Aggregation
Official product
ratings / awards
National
Tourism
Product
Database VisitBritain
Destination
Management
Application
Interoperability
Gateway
Property Nation / Nation / Nation / National National Marketing
Management Region / Region / Region / Product Owner Product Owner Group
System Destination Destination Destination
Tourism Tourism Tourism
business business business

21. National Data Consolidation
Nation / Interoperability National
Region / Gateway Tourism
Destination
Product
Database
Destination Management Bespoke development by Espire on
Systems: behalf of VisitBritain
New Mind
New Vision
Tiscover
Tourist-I
World.Net
In-house / bespoke systems

22. Look Book – ‘Polling Service’
• Real-time availability and price checking for
accommodation product
• Non transactional
• Provides a ‘deep link’ to one of 40 sales agents,
where the transaction can be completed
• Sales agent partners:
– National, regional and sub-regional tourism
organisations
– National Product Owners
– Marketing Groups
• Over 16,000 unique pollable products

23. Polling Service
Sales
Agent
Product
Product National Sales
Sales search
search Tourism Agent results Agent
form Product
Database
Sales
Agent
Sales Agent systems Sales Agent
integration with Polling systems
Service to provide live transaction
price and availability
data
Polling Service licensed by VisitBritain from Eviivo

27. Polling Service: key benefits
• For the tourism businesses:
– Wide range of sales agents / commercial models
• For the consumer:
– Wide range of bookable accommodation product
– Opportunity to compare prices
• For VisitBritain:
– Opportunity to offer bookability without handling the
transaction
• For national product owners / OTAs
– Open platform – routes to market

28. Global, national and regional distribution
VisitBritain
offline / print
Third party
websites
Global and Other online
national National devices
websites Tourism
Product
Database
Third party
offline
Interoperability
Regional Gateway
campaign
TIC extranet
Cross-regional
campaign

29. White Label Product Search deployment

30. Polling Service deployment

31. API deployment

32. Portable Travel Channel

33. Smartphone Application

34. Stakeholder relationships
• April 2006 – March 2010 each of the English
Regional Development Agencies pay £25,000 per
year for access to all NTOP services, including:
– Interoperability Gateway for product content
– Distribution of product content (inc. visitbritain.com)
– Connection of booking services to Polling Service
(RDAs / DMOs liable for no fees / commissions)
– Deployment of White Label Product Search
– Deployment of Polling Service
– Access to APIs
– Opportunity to shape future development

35. Stakeholder agreements
• Master Service Agreement
– The general terms of the relationship, including
definitions of terms
• Service Level Agreement
– The provision and use of the platform and services
• Data Supply Agreement
– Governs how product data is supplied and how the
data can be used
• Data Distribution Agreement
– Governs how and where data will be displayed

36. National Tourism Open Platform:
commercial models
• White Label Product Search
– Ratecard for fees levied to channels deploying White Label
Product Search. Channels retain commissions earned on
bookings.
• Product Search / Polling APIs
– Ratecard for fees levied to channels deploying Product
Search / Polling APIs. Channels retain commissions earned
on bookings.
• Portable Travel Channel
– No cost to channels deploying Portable Travel Channel.
Channels retain 30% of commissions earned on bookings.
• Smartphone Application
– Fees apply, variety of business models.

37. National Tourism Open Platform:
commercial models
• National Tourism Product Database entry
– No cost for tourism businesses
– Fees for data extracts
• Interoperability Gateway
– No cost levied by VisitBritain, no subsidies to offset
technical development
• Polling Service
– Tourism businesses must have account with Sales Agent
(cost models vary)
– Negotiated fees / commissions charged to Sales Agents for
connection
– Ratecard for fees levied to channels deploying Polling
Service

38. Performance: White Label Product Search
Polling Service
2007/8 2008/9 2009/10 2010/11
Number of referrals 17,637 18,929 82,422 272,554
Value of referrals 4,588,343 4,161,855 17,015,325 64,274,618
(£)
Number of 1,228 2,297 10,898 13,741
bookings
Value of bookings 187,982 391,545 1,803,750 2,335,907
(£)
Source: VisitBritain, May 2011

39. Future direction: challenges
• April 2010: RDAs collectively withdraw their
support for platform (£225,000 per annum)
• From May 2010: Changes in government
landscape; large scale disbanding of regional
tourism promotion
• October 2010: Government funding for
VisitBritain will be cut by 34% from April 2011
• December 2010: NTOP repositioned within
VisitEngland, services maintained (UK-wide)
• 31 May 2011: VisitEngland announces withdrawal
of support for NTOP, effective September 2011
…the end of the National Tourism Open Platform?

41. Should consumers turn to Facebook?

43. Book Norway
• Very similar principles to the UK’s National
Tourism Open Platform
• Key functions within public and private sector
committed to achieving success
– Inc. Innovation Norway, DMOs, accommodation
groups, transport operators
• Operated by a private sector company
– Board made up of key stakeholders
• One year development, live service launched
April 2011

44. Conclusions
• NTOs can add value by providing leadership and
an environment for collaboration
• Working together isn’t necessarily the easiest or
quickest option
• Each stakeholder must have a clear
understanding of the role every stakeholder plays
• Stay focused on the end goals and prizes

45. Sources of information / inspiration
• www.visitbritain.org
• www.visitengland.org
• www.visitbritain.com
• www.bitreisliv.no
• www.visitnorway.com

46. Thank you
Andrew Daines
andrew@andrewdaines.com
www.linkedin.com/in/andrewdaines