About TourismROI
Introduction
Welcome to TourismROI, the world's premier Travel & Tourism management and investment resource, covering the complete range of global destinations, industry information, business opportunities and people that make this industry one of the leading targets for economic development, growth and job creation.
TourismROI Brochure
TourismROI Rate Card
The Concept
Over the last twenty years or so, Travel & Tourism has been increasingly recognized by government authorities around the world (especially in developing countries and economies) and economic development and funding agencies as an attractive sector for economic growth, development and job creation. To capitalize on this potential they are allocating greater resources and efforts to attract domestic capital and foreign direct investment (FDI) and are building the tourism infrastructure and tourism policy environment necessary to encourage and facilitate this growth.
During the same time, Travel & Tourism developers, operators and investors have been eager to explore growth opportunities, but were frequently limited in their investigations by inadequate or unavailable information that is necessary for them to make informed and intelligent decisions.
In some cases Travel & Tourism entrepreneurs or startup companies with exciting business plans, but limited capital have had a hard time gaining access to funding sources and the international exposure and networking necessary to establish their businesses.
TourismROI is designed to close this information gap by:
1. Providing worldwide visibility for an economy’s tourism investment opportunities (public and private) from one centralized source in a comprehensive and standardized framework that can be customized according to the availability of information, data and sophistication of each tourism destination (nation, state, province, city, etc), each tourism developer and each Travel & Tourism operator/establishment;
2. Providing users with comprehensive and unparalleled access to destination specific tourism strategy and master plans, operating plans and programs, tourism research, tourism facts and figures, tourism reports, and analysis, plus news and publications of Travel & Tourism management, tourism organizations, tourism economics, marketing and promotion, policy, development and investment trends;
3. Providing Travel & Tourism operators and entrepreneurs visibility and access to investors, funding sources, buyers, partners and professional service providers plus ability to pitch new business opportunities and become part of a worldwide matchmaker effort;
4. Providing investors and funding agencies with access to a full range of tourism investment opportunities currently on offer by destinations, tourism developments by local and multinational corporations, tourism businesses for sale by business/hotel brokers and existing owners and pitches made by entrepreneurs looking for buyers, sellers, partners or funding/capital;
5. Providing investors with an opportunity to profile their people, credentials and resources to assist public and private tourism investment initiatives;
6. Providing Travel & Tourism professional services, research and tourism consulting firms direct visibility to those Travel & Tourism operators and industry stakeholders who are in need of their products and services including master planning, feasibility studies, market research, advertising, marketing and promotion; and
7. Providing a network for and real time information about Travel & Tourism trade associations, requests for proposal, Travel & Tourism and hospitality education programs, tourism and hospitality investment conferences, events, local industry calendars and much more.
Although others have attempted to address various elements of these needs online or in other media, TourismROI is a pioneer in three specific and significant ways.
First, TourismROI covers the world at all levels of political division: country level, state and provincial level, and municipal level. As a result, even the smallest Travel & Tourism economy can benefit from the networking opportunities provided by TourismROI and gain access to industry and investment resources that it could not achieve on its own. No stand-alone resource could hope to achieve the visibility and traffic that will be generated by participation in a networked environment like TourismROI.
Second, TourismROI has made a simple yet amazing discovery – Travel & Tourism B2B and investment communities must co-exist - and have designed a IT solution that brings two traditionally separate groups together into one location so each can enjoy the benefits of the same mission critical Travel & Tourism industry information in order to make informed and intelligent business and investment decisions.
Last, TourismROI’s focus on Massive Collaboration, as discussed by Wikinomics authors Don Tapscott and Anthony D. Williams, is a powerful method for building communities of like-minded individuals to focus their intellect and energy to achieve a collect objective such as the sustainable development of the Travel & Tourism industry. By building several methods of massive collaboration into TourismROI, we have created one of the most powerful public private partnerships ever designed for this industry.
The Design and Delivery
TourismROI is the brain-child of Richard Miller, former Executive Vice President of the World Travel & Tourism Council (WTTC) brought to life by his business partner MMG Worldwide, a global marketing communications firm working exclusively with the premier travel, hospitality and entertainment companies of the world.
A travel industry veteran, Richard played a principle role in shaping and directing WTTC’s organization, policy agenda, research program, communications and membership services for 16-years beginning in 1991. During his tenure with WTTC, Richard produced hundreds of research reports focused on the economics, policy analysis and investment potential for nearly 200 countries, states/provinces and various regions around the world including the Caribbean, the European Union, SADEC and ASEAN countries, Mercosur and more. He is also a sought after speaker on the subject of Travel & Tourism economics and a pioneer in the discipline of Tourism Satellite Accounting.
The concept of TourismROI is the result of Richard’s work with the World Travel & Tourism Council, his struggle to bring tourism economics and policy research to world class standards and a global audience, his many years working along side the world’s leading Travel & Tourism industry Chairman and CEOs, his many projects working with national and local tourism authorities around the world to measure, evaluate and realize the potential of Travel & Tourism’s contribution, and position countries around the world to capture growing demand for investment opportunities.
The realization of TourismROI is the result of 25-years experience by MMG Worldwide, which has been guiding travel, hospitality and entertainment companies since 1981. Don Montague founded the company with a singular focus: the development of innovative marketing solutions that best represent his passion for the travel and hospitality industry.
MMG has since become a world leader in creating integrated online and offline communications for a diverse client base in the airline, casino, cruise, hotel, restaurant and tourism industries. From individual resorts in destinations such as Vail and The Bahamas to worldwide brands such as Starwood Hotels. From the Missouri Division of Tourism to Japan's National Tourism Organization, and from The Walt Disney Company to Mandalay Bay Las Vegas, MMG's three decades of dynamic experience has allowed the company to apply best practices learned from the very strongest industry companies.
Today, MMG has offices throughout the United States serving clients on four continents, and as it surpasses $100 million in capitalized billings, it is has continued its mission to work with the best and brightest the travel and hospitality industry has to offer.
The Mission
TourismROI’s mission is simple:
To become the premier source of Travel & Tourism management and investment information in the world, providing our customers with the highest quality of service and greatest return for their business.
Soft Launch, Beta Test and Building Content
Following one year of concept development, design work and technology/website development, TourismROI is ready for its beta test. Although several features of TourismROI including Investment and Business Opportunities have not yet been released and a number of existing features are still being enhanced, we wanted to quietly open for business and let subscribers and users explore, test and utilize the destination features already in place.
During our initial test drive we expect that TourismROI will have bugs that still need to be fixed, and ask for your patience and assistance in communicating these issues to us so we can quickly address and eliminate the problem.
If you run into a problem, please send an email to our webmaster and describe the situation as clearly as possible. We will do our best to respond as soon as possible and resolve the issue to your complete satisfaction.
As you know, in the world of internet businesses, “content is king”, and on opening day TourismROI will be empty. However, as the world’s first massive collaboration tool designed for Travel & Tourism management and investment information that situation will quickly change. You should be aware that it will take time for destinations, industry operators, academics, professional services firms and more to begin the process of adding their content to TourismROI. To this end, we are working with a number of destinations to immediately start building their destination profiles and for a number of Travel & Tourism research and academic groups and associations to assist us in building content.
Acknowledgements
As TourismROI embarks on this effort to bring Travel & Tourism management and investment information from the world, to the world, we would like to take this opportunity to acknowledge the many industry leaders, organizations, professionals and academics who have assisted us in bringing our venture from concept to reality. They are too many to name individually, but they know from the endless stream of emails over the past year who they are. We would also like to specially acknowledge the contributions of a number of organizations that have worked hard to assist us, challenge us and help make TourismROI a true public private partnership for the global Travel & Tourism industry. They are:
• World Travel & Tourism Council
• United Nations World Tourism Organization
• American Hotel & Lodging Association
• Airports Council International
• Caribbean Hotel Association
• Caribbean Tourism Organization
• IFC / World Bank Group
• International Economic Development Council
• International Hotel and Restaurant Association
• Pacific Asia Travel Association
• Travel Industry Association of America
• Travel & Tourism Research Association
• United Nations Conference on Trade and Development
• World Association of Investment Promotion Agencies
• World Economic Forum