EUROPEAN TRAVEL COMMISSION ANNUAL REPORT 2016 CONTENTS EUROPEAN TRAVEL COMMISSION Rue du Marché aux Herbes 61 - 1000 Brussels - Belgium Website www.etc-corporate.org Email [email protected] LinkedIn European Travel Commission Twitter @ETC_Corporate Image credits: Page 1 RossHelen Page 2 canadastock Page 4 l i g h t p o e t Page 6 Bucchi Francesco Page 8 Patryk Kosmider Page 10 OPIS Zagreb Page 12 Gaspar Janos Page 13 Boris Stroujko Page 13 funnyangel (lower image) Page 16 Capricorn Studio Page 18 michelangeloop Page 20 Kanuman Page 22 Alex_Traksel Page 24 Lukasz Janyst Page 25 Sergey_Bogomyako Page 26 ivan bastien Page 29 Vicky SP Page 30 Michael Thaler Page 31 Image of European Parliament © European Union - Source: EP. 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PAGE 2 / ANNUAL REPORT 2016 / EUROPEAN TRAVEL COMMISSION CONTENTS President’s Foreword 5 Research Activities 13 Destination Europe 2020 26 The Executive Unit 7 Brazil Operations Group 16 Associate Members 29 Executive Director’s Message 9 Canada Operations Group 18 Advocacy 30 Tourism Trends 10 USA Operations Group 20 ETC Partnerships 32 Market Intelligence Group 12 China Operations Group 22 Funding 33 Getting Closer to China 24 Who is Who at ETC 34 Marketing Group 25 ETC Members 35 ETC Contact Details 36 ANNUAL REPORT 2016 / EUROPEAN TRAVEL COMMISSION / PAGE 3 PRESIDENT'S FOREWORD PAGE 4 / ANNUAL REPORT 2016 / EUROPEAN TRAVEL COMMISSION PRESIDENT’S FOREWORD Dear friends and partners destinations and experiences of ETC, to be discovered. 2016 was another year Partnerships are crucial for of accomplishments and ETC in its mission to raise success for one of Europe’s awareness and understanding oldest tourism organisations. among national European Through increased authorities and the general marketing efforts in long- public of the importance haul markets, a well-defined of tourism and the need to research programme and a ensure its development. powerful advocacy agenda, In 2016, ETC expanded ETC strengthened its position its network of strategic as a major player in the tourism field, both on a partners, working together European and global level, thus increasing the with key industry representatives such as the visibility and importance of its members. International Gay and Lesbian Travel Association (IGLTA), Global Tourism Economy Research In the past year, ETC was again very active Centre (GTERC) and European Destinations of in bringing up the topic of tourism on the EU Excellence (EDEN) who share our common goal. agenda as well as emphasising its role as Our associate membership programme a driver of sustainable economic and social generated high interest among key players in growth. Despite the fragmentation of Europe’s the marketplace. We are delighted to welcome tourism industry, ETC was successful in bringing four new private companies joining ETC: Eurail together a large number of public and private Group GIE, STA Travel, Value Retail and Welcome stakeholders under the European Tourism Chinese. Manifesto for Growth & Jobs initiative, to stand united in front of the EU tourism policymakers. ETC is seen as a reliable partner by the European Commission, which awarded the organisation a With the support and guidance of the Vice- new grant in 2016. Main achievements include a Presidents, the organisation moved forward newly-developed visual identity for Destination its advocacy agenda on visa facilitation and Europe to be used by public institutions and sustainability. A study commissioned by ETC stakeholders, inspiring pieces of pan–European on the possible outcomes of visa facilitation content on the VisitEurope.com portal, as well as for Europe revealed that greater liberalisation new features of the ETC Executive Dashboard. delivers greater economic return. I would like to thank ETC members for ETC closely monitored the impact of tragic believing in and supporting my vision of building events, geopolitical turmoil and economic woes the strongest corporate tourism brand in Europe. on international tourist arrivals to Europe. I am confident that the Executive Unit, under the Encouragingly, in 2016, European tourism leadership of its Executive Director, Eduardo demand continued to grow and proved resilient Santander, will continue to ensure efficient and to safety and security challenges and political effective operations and turn this vision into uncertainties. Overall growth, however, has reality. slowed from the previous year (+2%) affected by With the growing commitment and engagement those destinations required to rebuild market of its member NTOs, as well as the excellent confidence following unpredictable events. It work of the energetic Executive Unit and staff, is therefore of paramount importance that the ETC is moving on the right path to become the European tourism community works together voice of tourism in Europe. to preserve Europe’s image as a tourism destination, capitalising on the potential pool of Peter De Wilde, ETC President ANNUAL REPORT 2016 / EUROPEAN TRAVEL COMMISSION / PAGE 5 ETC EXECUTIVE UNIT PAGE 6 / ANNUAL REPORT 2016 / EUROPEAN TRAVEL COMMISSION ETC EXECUTIVE UNIT The Executive Unit has nine full-time employees The Executive Unit works on basic principles of in the following fields – Marketing and integrity, respect, teamwork and adaptability to Communication, Digital, Public Affairs, Research, dynamic environments. Finance and Administration. In 2016, the Executive Unit was proud to include Every year, ETC includes a number of trainees staff members and trainees from nine different – students with a strong background in tourism countries – Austria, Bulgaria, Germany, Italy, who were given the unique opportunity to gain Luxembourg, Romania, Slovakia, Spain and work experience along with a privileged insight Turkey. into European tourism. ETC EXECUTIVE UNIT Eduardo Santander Lyublena Dimova Executive Director Research Project Manager Teodora Marinska Giulia Andrighetto Head of Finance and Public Affairs Office Manager Miguel Gallego A former employee who was part of the team in Head of Marketing and 2016: Communication Stefanie Gallob Head of Research Jennifer Iduh Head of Research The following trainees joined our team during 2016: Iulia Niculică Operations and Administration Vladimira Sajbanova Manager EMTM - European Master in Tourism Management Güneş Vural Digital Manager Gizem Tüdeş SKEMA Business School František Reismüller Marketing Project Manager ANNUAL REPORT 2016 / EUROPEAN TRAVEL COMMISSION / PAGE 7 MESSAGE FROM ETC EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR PAGE 8 / ANNUAL REPORT 2016 / EUROPEAN TRAVEL COMMISSION MESSAGE FROM ETC EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR 016 has confirmed and Open Skies remain crucial Europe’s position as one for seamless tourism flows. 2of the most appealing The strength and opportunities tourist destinations in the for the European tourism world, recording an increase of and travel sector come with 12 million international arrivals open borders and the desire compared to the previous year. of people to move between continents and within Europe. Independent of a stable European internal market, last The announcement of the year’s growth was remarkably EU-China Tourism Year 2018 driven by third markets. The has created momentum and reasons for this were mixed - cheap oil prices, huge opportunities to find a way to boost travel favourable currency exchanges in established from China based on people-to-people dialogue markets, as well as the rising of middle classes and soft diplomacy. The Chinese economy will and infrastructure developments in emerging continue to generate strong demand for outbound markets. travel, especially for Europe. We need to prepare our destinations and business tourism providers This highlights the importance of the work of the to cater for this growing demand. European Travel Commission in three key areas of focus: research, marketing and advocacy. ETC sees these challenges as opportunities. The founding principle of our organisation almost 70 2016 was also a year marked by huge challenges years ago was to promote tourism as a catalyst for ETC. As an umbrella organisation of NTOs, our for peace, understanding and respect. Although aim is to promote Europe as a tourist destination time may have passed, ETC still stays true to its in third markets. Yearly results for Europe, original mission. although positive overall, were rather mixed, with a number of destinations affected by different Our President, Vice-Presidents, Board of challenges, particularly safety and security. Directors and members of our General Meeting deserve a special mention for their forward- Demand continued to significantly drop in all looking guidance and for keeping the spirit of European destinations affected by terrorism and collaboration higher than ever. other disruptions, until the end of 2016. However, these European destinations bounced back I would also like to mention our new Associate much faster than other destinations worldwide. Members from private industry, as well as our The reason? Europe is still, de facto, the safest colleagues from the European Commission continent in the world and the most attractive one. and European Parliament for their outstanding contribution. Other factors such as the refugee humanitarian crisis,