the future of Tourism, May 2007

Club of Amsterdam

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Joachim Willms, Managing Director, Tourism Futures Institute:
The Future Trends in Tourism: Global Perspectives

Wybren Meijer, Futureconsult:
Main Drivers in the Future of Tourism

Martin Nydegger, Director, Switzerland Tourism, The Netherlands:
Switzerland’s reaction to the climate change challenge

Marc Bolick, Dmarc8 International
The Web and Tourism: The Future of Online Travel

Joachim Willms, Managing Director, Tourism Futures Institute:
The Future Trends in Tourism: Global Perspectives

The futures of tourism are drawing an immens diverse global picture with radical changes of traditonal situations and even conflictive development streams. Focussing on the major challenges which tourism societies (visitors and visited) will have to face, one can already identify some slowly but steady trends in global tourism: (1) the “Climate Change Challenge” regarding and facing political and societal reactions; (2) the “Ageing Europe Dilemma” with a silver-surfer generation in population-skrinking and wealth-decling Europe; (3) the “Asian Empowering” that leads to a growing importance of Asia as sources of and destinations for international tourism; (4) the “CU soon, my friend!” tourism stream where migrants, their friends and relatives (VFRTourism) are the driving forces.

Wybren Meijer, Futureconsult:
Main Drivers in the Future of Tourism

Imagine all kinds of travel increasing in speed and size and decreasing in price. Imagine frequent space tourism. Imagine huge low-budget Easyjet and Ryanair A380’s with huge masses of Brazilian, Russian, Indian and Chinese tourists. Imagine global flight movements doubling in ten years and perhaps doubling the greenhouse effect. Imagine the BRIC-tourists scrambling for authenticity in Amsterdam, Venice, Rome and Paris because their own country has nothing but dull modernism. Imagine the centers of these cities becoming nothing more than Disneyland-like resorts, left by the original inhabitants because of tourist traffic overkill. Imagine tourist organisations creating specific and diverse products for all postmodernist interests and lifestyle varying from a Jesus-night in Bethlehem until a virtual bungeejump from the Petronas Towers. Imagine putting up your helmet visiting the ‘Verdun Live Trenches’ because of the upcoming ‘Experience’ trend in museums and tourism.

On behalf of several clients the consultants of Futureconsult explored the main drivers of the future of tourism. Tourism is a very dominant market force in development. This speech will tell you some directions and an idea of why and how tourism will change.

Martin Nydegger, Director, Switzerland Tourism, The Netherlands:
Switzerland’s reaction to the climate change challenge

The climate change is reality and increasingly studied and discussed by scientists, media and society. Global warming is not only fact but also apparently human related and gives the alpine tourism industry a tough time. Switzerland Tourism started 2 years ago to explore how climate changes might influence our tourism. Since then, it has never stopped becoming a popular topic and both solutions and options are being eagerly presented by the rules: “The first one gets the fame”. Switzerland Tourisms has now taken two steps back, in order to get a helicopter view over the situation instead reacting too quickly to these complex phenomena.

Marc Bolick, Dmarc8 International
The Web and Tourism: The Future of Online Travel

Let’s face it: more people travel now than ever before. That sounds trivial and obvious, but it has enormous impact on the sustainability of our planet, geopolitical issues, infrastructure and much more. But what has enabled this massive growth and what will it mean for the average person in the future? One enabling factor has been the huge change in travel distribution resulting from the internet and the worldwide web. We have moved from a closed, tightly controlled system of human travel agents to an almost limitless source of travel suppliers and options online, that anyone with a credit card can book themselves. Where will this take us in the world of Google, MySpace, Kayak and emerging technologies? We will take a quick look at how the web will enable people to plan, purchase and propagate tourism in the years to come.

19:00 – 20:00
Introduction by our Moderator
Joep Dirven, Partner & Consultant, X-markt

Part I:
Joachim Willms, Managing Director, Tourism Futures Institute:
The Future Trends in Tourism: Global Perspectives

Wybren Meijer, Futureconsult:
Main Drivers in the Future of Tourism

Martin Nydegger, Director, Switzerland Tourism, The Netherlands:
Switzerland’s reaction to the climate change challenge

Marc Bolick, Dmarc8 International
The Web and Tourism: The Future of Online Travel

20:00 – 20:30
Coffee break with drinks and snacks.

20:30 – 21:15
Part II: Open discussion

Joachim Willms
Managing Director, Tourism Futures Institute

1988

www.tourism-futures.org

Wybren Meijer
Futureconsult

Wybren Meijer studied International Relations (BA/MSc) and Policy and Governance (BA/MSc) at the University of Amsterdam and the University of Sussex (UK). He works as a consultant at the Futureconsult Scenarioplanning office in Amsterdam. At this position he developed scenario studies and moderations for government institutions, NGO’s, companies, political parties, schools and ministries.
www.futureconsult.nl

Martin Nydegger
Director, Switzerland Tourism, The Netherlands
Executive MBA

After an initial apprenticeship in mechanics, Martin changed directions and studied tourism in the Engadine valley. He then gained practical work experience (traineeship) in Botswana and India. After graduation he worked for 9 years in the alpine Destination of Engadin/Scuol, two years in Marketing and seven years as director of the tourism destination, which contains ten villages, a spa centre and several mountain railways. During the last two years he obtained an Executive MBA at the Glasgow Strathclyde University. In June 2005, Martin joined Switzerland Tourism and is currently running its Amsterdam office, being responsible for leisure tourism in the Netherlands and business related tourism in whole Benelux. He is married with a lovely Indian woman and they have a 6 months old son.
www.myswitzerland.com

Marc Bolick
Dmarc8 International

Marc runs Dmarc8 International, a company specializing in providing marketing and business development services to high growth, technology-based companies. He has worked with companies based UK, USA, France and Netherlands in businesses that range from technolgy startups to established online businesses. Prior to Dmarc8 he co-founded MobiQuis, a company providing audio content services to the mobile telecoms industry. Prior to this, he spent nine years at General Electric and two years at Nucletron/Delft Instruments in marketing product management positions in the medical devices sector. Marc received his MBA from Rotterdam School of Management and his BS degree in Mechanical Engineering from Clemson University (USA).

Joep Dirven
Partner & Consultant, X-markt

Since 2000, Joep Dirven an active partner/consultant in marketing, sales and operational related assignments, at X-markt based in Amsterdam. The majority of his contractors are multinational companies in the Netherlands P&O Ferries, Whitbread plc, OAD, Accor-hotels amongst others. Prior to X-markt Joep worked as a consultant at lagroup, Leisure & Arts Consulting, also based in Amsterdam. He completed Harvard University post-graduate Marketing and TIAS with a Master degree in Marketing. Prior to this he finished a B.A. in Maastricht (hotelschool) on Tourism & marketing. Joep had, amongst various marketing and interim management projects, special streaming-media content assignments and customer loyalty projects. He simultaneously worked on other projects, for leading leisure companies, involving marketing-advice location-analysis and hands-on implementation of strategic marketing planning. Before he joined lagroup he worked, at Center Parcs in several positions, such as senior consultant leisure.
www.x-markt.com