Dear European colleagues and friends,

Dear European colleagues and friends, We are approaching a new year at high speed. Now is therefore a good time to take a look in the rear-view mirror and give an overview of the year that will come to an end in a few days’ time. However, it is of course also time to take a look through the windshield and see what 2011 has to offer, both with regards to tourism in Europe as well as what the Research & Statistics Knowledge Group will focus on in its work.

In short, 2010 has been a year of stabilising, or even growth, after 12-18 months of financial crisis and turbulence in almost all member cities. Only a few cities managed to dodge the crisis in 2008 and 2009, and continued to grow through the rough times. On top of that, many cities experienced severe budget cuts, which put further pressure on our organisations as well as our cities and stakeholders. Here, at the threshold of 2011, a lot of cities have managed to recover from the setbacks that occurred during the global financial crisis – the latest figures, according to TourMIS, indicate an average growth of 7.8%, which for many cities means that 2010 is a new record year. 

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At the end of 2010, there is light at the end of the tunnel. And don’t worry; it is not a train coming towards us, but optimism and better times. According to the latest European City Tourism Monitor, 65 per cent of all respondents have (very) positive expectations about the final result of 2010. If the global economy continues to recover, the members of the Research & Statistics Group feel confident that tourism will follow that recovery and continue its recovery into 2011.  

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The Research & Statistics Knowledge Group will continue its extensive work in 2011, focusing on at least three main projects.

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Firstly, there will be a strong focus on MICE Statistics. The project has been discussed for some time, and in this newsletter we present two cases on how it is done in Amsterdam and Vienna. In 2011, we will continue to work on methodologies and availability of data. And most importantly, we want to get more cities to gain and report MICE data to give us all benchmarking possibilities.

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Secondly, the European Cities Marketing Benchmarking Report is also an important project, not just for the R&S Knowledge Group, but for all cities in the network. It is of the utmost importance that as many cities as possible update the data on a continuous basis, but given the fact that the work on the report has already begun, we would like to remind all cities to enter their annual as well as monthly data.

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Thirdly, we will continue the work with the European City Tourism Monitor where we all contribute to knowledge on the development of tourism in the near future. The monitor has proved to be a powerful tool to gain insight on how tourism is performing – both during and after the global financial crisis.

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The three projects mentioned all express the true nature of what European Cities Marketing and the Research & Statistics Knowledge Group is all about; sharing knowledge, helping and learning from each other and building a strong and long-lasting network that makes a difference for each and every city.

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So let 2011 be another year of sharing, learning and building for all of us. Until then, have a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

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Ole Kjær Mansfeldt
R&D Manager,  Wonderful Copenhagen
Member R&S Knowledge Group
  

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