Tag: international tourism

  • Brazil highlights positives from Confederations Cup

    The president of Brazilian tourist board Embratur, Flávio Dino, has highlighted the financial returns made by the destination in the course of the recent Confederations Cup.

    Dino confirmed numbers exceeded expectations, with Embratur recording $329 million in more spending, including income from hotels, food faraway from home, and other related expenditure.

    Spending by tourists – Brazilians and foreigners – was estimated by Embratur at $145 million.

    “A study by Embratur showed tourism had a miles greater impact than anticipated,” Dino told local radio show Brasil em Pauta.

    There were 16 games in the course of the two weeks of the Confederations Cup, with the hosts eventually crowned champions.

    “This is significant because a return is immediate and goes straight into the pocket of the entrepreneur within the long chain associated to tourism,” said the president of Embratur, in the course of the interview.

    “The long-term return is the principle picture, because the name and attributes of Brazil are reported worldwide in the course of the period of mega-events.”

    Dino added: “From the viewpoint of selling international tourism in Brazil, it is a spectacular gain, which might be achieved only with an exceptionally massive investment of resources in television advertising in those markets.”

    However, it was not all plain sailing for Brazil, with coverage of the events marred by long running street protests against corruption, rising prices and the perceived miss allocation of oil revenues.

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  • Cape Town Tourism campaign takes home gold at Cannes Lions 2013

    Cape Town Tourism’s Facebook campaign, Send Your Facebook Profile to Cape Town, has won a Cannes Lions Gold Award for Cape Town Tourism’s advertising agency, Ogilvy & Mather. The prize was awarded within the Branded Content Category (Best Use or Integration of Digital or Social Media) making them one among only two 2013 Gold Award winners from South Africa. This comes off the back of Cape Town Tourism’s prestigious SMITTY Award for The simplest Overall Use of Social Media globally received earlier this month.

    Cape Town Tourism partnered with Ogilvy Cape Town and Flow Communications to conceive and execute the sport-based campaign aimed toward promoting destination Cape Town to a world digital media audience and enticing more visitors to the town. The campaign formed a vital portion of Cape Town Tourism’s digital business plan, launched in 2008, to deal with the foremost shift in tourism trends and consumer behavior. Since then the organization has won international recognition for its work within this field.

    Says Cape Town Tourism CEO, Mariette Du Toit-Helmbold: “The previous few years have seen Cape Town shift its brand position to entice the brand new, connected world traveler. Cape Town Tourism is setting a benchmark for international tourism organizations and destinations by turning to the net and social media to advertise their services and reach customers in a more far-reaching, intimate, interactive and instant way. Technology and digital marketing will continue to play an important role within the way we sell Cape Town to the arena. What sets our strategy apart is that it’s centered around visitors and native citizens. It gives authenticity and intending to our work and delivers tangible results to the tourism sector and the folk of Cape Town.”

    Facebook devotees were invited to enroll to send their hard-working Facebook profiles on a vacation to Cape Town. After selecting from a number choices and interests, the contest delivered a travel itinerary and boarding pass, followed by regular, picture-rich updates about their profiles’ activities and experiences in Cape Town. Players could share their experience and invite friends to send their profiles to Cape Town, too.

    All players were automatically entered into the contest for a true trip to Cape Town – flights, accommodation, and experiences included. The most important prize was won by Canadian, Jan van der Leeuw, with a return trip and hotel stay going to, Nadia Jeffries, of the united kingdom.

    Marianne Bitter, of the Netherlands, won 2 air tickets for being the player who got the foremost friends to play the Facebook game.

    The game ultimately drew 8,212 players, mostly from South Africa, the united kingdom, the us, India, and Germany, generating roughly half one million impressions on Facebook in the course of the campaign alone. It has also provided the organization with a database of intrigued and connected would-be visitors which are now included in Cape Town Tourism customer relationship management programs.

    Cape Town Tourism CEO, Mariette du Toit-Helmbold, commended Ogilvy on their win: “This campaign was executed in record time, with minimal funds. It required incredible trust and the combined effort of our Cape Town Tourism team and our passionate creative agencies, Ogilvy Cape Town and Flow Communications. Not just was the campaign fun, original, and successful, it’s been recognized as a worldwide best by both the tourism sector (SMITTY Awards) and now by the creative world at Cannes. Most significantly it showcased Cape Town within the digital space to the brand new connected, social consumer who is dependent upon the opinion and testimonials of individuals within their social media networks. Cape Town Tourism has already seen the superb return on investment that the digital space can afford us. It’s a price-effective method to keep Cape Town within the spotlight, and we shall continue investing in innovative digital marketing programs to draw more visitors to our shores.”

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  • Sheldon Adelson honoured at Jerusalem Summit

    image[1] align=’right’ border=’0′ style=’padding-left:10px;’ alt=’Sheldon Adelson honoured at Jerusalem Summit’ border=0 > Chairman of the Jerusalem Development Authority, Moshe Lion, Minister of Tourism of the State of Israel, Dr. Uzi Landau, Mayor of Jerusalem, Nir Barkat, Dr. Miriam Adelson, Chairman and CEO of Las Vegas Sands Corporation, Mr. Sheldon Adelson, Taglit-Birthright participants,

    Sheldon Adelson has received an honorary award for his efforts to switch the face of tourism around the globe. The business magnet was praised for his contribution to travel and tourism on the second Jerusalem International Tourism Summit 2013 occurring today.

    Adelson’s career spans greater than six decades and includes the creation of over 50 different companies, including the Las Vegas Sands Corporation and the COMDEX tradeshow for the pc industry.

    The Las Vegas Sands Corporation has become the leading global developer of destination properties that feature premium accommodations, world-class gaming and entertainment, convention and exhibition facilities.

    In Las Vegas, Adelson is widely credited for helping transform the town from a gamingcentric regional location into the leading convention and exhibition city within the Country.

    Businessman, entrepreneur and philanthropist, Adelson could be the biggest draw on the two day Summit which opened today, bringing together world-class leaders from travel and tourism.

    Taking place on the Jerusalem International Convention Center the development will feature leaders of the tourism industry, who will discuss the newest groundbreaking technologies and trends introduced by key players within the tourism world.

    “This year, a unique emphasis might be put on urban tourism, in addition to innovative technologies on earth of tourism and travel,” the summit’s organizers said in an announcement.

    “Global leaders, academics and experts within the field of hospitality will conduct panels discussing a variety of issues affecting the tourism industry.”

    Organizers said the summit would talk about innovative technologies that supply a “glimpse into the realm of application technologies and the way they are often used to expand urban tourism.”

    The event will leverage Israel as a Start-Up Nation and Jerusalem as a frontrunner of technology.

    A special panel will specialise in technology in tourism, including tourism-related apps.

    Panel topics on the conference include: “Planning Models for Urban Tourism,” “Tourism as a device for Urban Economic Development,” “The Smartphone Revolution and the Impact on Users and bosses of Urban Tourism,” “New Transportation Paradigms and the way forward for Urban Tourism,” “Follow the Asian Success Story,” “Intangible Heritage and concrete Tourism Development, Sport and concrete Tourism,” and “Hotel Development in Historic Cities.”

    The summit can also be holding a contest for the perfect tourism application, featuring app submissions from over 20 entrepreneurs.

    Take a glance on the list of speaks signed up for the development, here.

  • Multi-billion Euro-Vegas project planned for Madrid

    Las Vegas Casino giant Las Vegas Sands Corp. has chosen Madrid for a multi-billion dollar gambling resort project which have been dubbed “EuroVegas” and should be Europe’s biggest casino and conference centre.

    The latest plans for this exciting project were revealed by the company’s chairman and chief executive officer Sheldon Adelson on the Jerusalem International Tourism Summit.

    The 79 year old entrepreneur, philanthropist and businessman, whose career spans six decades, was honoured for his tremendous contributions within the travel and tourism industry earlier today on the Summit.

    Widely credited for reworking Vegas from a gamingcentric regional location into the leading convention and exhibition city within the Usa, the tycoon now has his sights set on Madrid .

    He revealed to delegates on the Jerusalem forum that his vision is to make Madrid “the convention centre of the world”.

    Having secured the £8.3bn financing needed for EuroVegas, Adelson, has earmarked 12 3,000 room properties with 2,400 meeting facilities, set to remodel the 3 square mile site.

    The first stage of the project – along with four separate “resorts” with casino facilities attached – is predicted to open in 2017.

    The outcome can be a 72-storey hotel building including six casinos, a practice centre, three golf courses, theatres, shopping malls, bars and restaurants.

    A total of 240,000 direct and indirect jobs are expected to be made from the project, in line with reports.

    Adelson also has his sights set on major Integrated Resort projects in South Korea, Japan, Vietnam and Thailand.

    Las Vegas Sands Corp. is now the world’s largest casino corporation, posting profits of $1.27 billion in 2011.

    It owns the Venetian and Palazzo resort casinos at the Las Vegas Strip and the quay Bay Sands in Singapore.

    The Venetian was named North America’s Leading Casino Resort by the area Travel Awards in 2010, meanwhile Las Vegas Sands Corp was named World’s Leading Integrated Resort Company by the Word Travel Awards in 2012.

  • UNWTO reveals steady increase in global tourism spending

    Receipts from international tourism in destinations world wide grew by four per cent in 2012, reaching US$1,075 billion, figures from the UNWTO reveal.

    This growth is the same as the four per cent increase in international tourist arrivals, which reached 1,035 million in 2012.

    An additional US$ 219 billion was recorded in receipts from international passenger transport, bringing total exports generated by international tourism in 2012 to US$1.3 trillion.

    According to the most recent UNWTO World Tourism Barometer, international tourism receipts hit a brand new record in 2012, reaching an estimated US$1,075 billion worldwide, up four per cent in real terms, from US$ 1042 billion in 2011.

    “It is encouraging to look that the expansion in international tourist arrivals was equalled by a comparable increase in spending despite continued economic challenges” said UNWTO secretary general, Taleb Rifai.

    “Considering that tourism is a key export for a lot of economies world wide, this result’s excellent news because it provides foreign reserves to destinations, and contributes to job creation in tourism in addition to in related economic sectors,” he added.

    By regions, the Americas (up seven per cent) recorded the biggest increase in receipts, followed by Asia and the Pacific (up six per cent), Africa (up five per cent) and Europe (up two per cent).

    Receipts inside the Middle East were still down (down per cent); yet report a gentle improvement in comparison to the decline recorded in 2011.

    In absolute values, Europe saw US$ 457 billion in tourism earnings, similar to 43 per cent of the world’s total tourism receipts, the biggest share by region.

    The top ten ranking of destinations by receipts remained virtually unchanged in 2012, with the us, Spain, France, China and Italy leading, followed by Macau (China), Germany, Uk, Hong Kong (China) and Australia.

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