1

BIT Travel - e-business for the travel industryand the National Booking project on VisitNorway.com

Elisabeth Heyerdahl-Jensen, Project Manager May 2010

2

Agenda

• The BIT Travel project

• National Booking project - background

• The Nasjonal Booking Switch

• BookNorway

About BIT and BIT Travel

•BIT (a national sector oriented IT-program) established and run by Innovation Norway.

•NHO Reiseliv (The Norwegian Hospitality Association) with 2300 members is responsible for BIT Travel

•BIT Travel is the largest development project operated by NHO Reiseliv

•From 2007 also HSH has joined the project in cooperation with NHO Reiseliv

•The purpose is to develop more efficient business processes by increasing the focus on industry needs, use of technology and increase the competence within enterprises.

4

Organization BIT Travel

Steering committee and advisory board

• Members from industry, (hotel chains, airline, ferry, rail) and DMOs

• Observers from Innovation Norway/VisitNorway and the Ministry

BIT Travel and the National Booking project is part of the Government’s Tourism Strategy:

“The Government wants to ensure good distribution of Norwegian tourism experiences and wants to contribute to the development of a national booking system for the tourism industry”.

Steering committee and advisory board

• Members from industry, (hotel chains, airline, ferry, rail) and DMOs

• Observers from Innovation Norway/VisitNorway and the Ministry

BIT Travel and the National Booking project is part of the Government’s Tourism Strategy:

“The Government wants to ensure good distribution of Norwegian tourism experiences and wants to contribute to the development of a national booking system for the tourism industry”.

5

• Phase 1: 2004-2006– Training and competence

– Developing IT solutions

• Phase 2: 2007-2010– Development: New distribution channels

– Interoperability : National Booking

– Training/competence – next slide

BIT Travel main focus and objectives 2004-2010

6

Training and competence – some examples

•Developed in cooperation with Innovation Norway in 2008•Can be taken individually or as part of seminar•NOK 350 •450 participants so far

•Developed in cooperation with Western Norway Research Institute •50 indicators measuring technical solution, content and dialogue•1750 NOK• 225 tests conducted

• UNWTO/ETC’s ”Handbook in e-marketing for tourism destinations” translated to Norwegian fall 2009• 300 pages on e-marketing• NOK 350 • 500 copies distributed (165 copies sold) • The Norwegian Business School (BI) use it in their Bachelor program in tourism

Website Usability Test

Handbok in e-marketing for tourism destinations

E-learning – the EU’s package travel directive

7

Phase 1 Developing IT- solutions

Publishing Booking Tickets Round trips

MapCRMPayment Database

Intermediary

Restaurant-booking

The solutions have several markets in common:1. tourists2. tourism service providers3. travel companies such as travel agencies, tour operators and travel information offices4. destinations, regions and business networks

•Solutions developed based on industry specifications in pilot projects •Solutions consists of open systems and modules that can be further developed and integrated

8

Pilots in BIT Travel 2007-2010

NorthernNorway :

9

How to become bookable on visitnorway.com?

What – when – how and who?

Solastranda - Foto: CH/innovasjon Norge

• Give the tourist the desire to go to Norway

• Secure good, trustworthy and complete information

• Give the total overview of relevant Norwegian travel products – one stop shop

• Create sales possibilities for the industry

Why is it important that a national booking solution is connected to VisitNorway?

Foto: Johan Wildhagen, CH, Terje Rakke / Nordic Life / Innovasjon Norge

Marketing survey on VisitNorway.com

1. Carried through February/March 2010

2. 2 881 international respondents

3. 667 Norwegian respondents

4. Similar survey summer 2009

Visitnorway 12

1. How many times have you visited visitnorway.com?

1 This is the first time

2 2-3 times

3 4-5 times

4 More than 5 times

N

Current 2543

55% i .no

Same as 2009

Visitnorway 13

2. Have you decided to go to Norway on holiday in 2010?

1 Yes

2 No

N

Current 2513

Visitnorway 14

3. Have you booked a holiday to Norway in 2010?

1 Yes

2 No

N

Current 1944

80% i .no

Visitnorway 15

4. What have you booked?

1 Transportation to/from Norway by air

2 Transportation to/from Norway by ferry

3 Cruise to/within Norway

4 Accommodation

5 Attraction/Activity

6 None of the above

N

Current 690

Visitnorway 16

5. Did you book online?

1 Yes

2 No

N

Current 697

83,3% i .no

Visitnorway 17

6. If visitnorway.com had an online booking service, to what degree do you think you would use this function?

1 Very much

2 Much

3 Little

4 Not at all

5 Don't know

6 If not at all, please tell us why:

N

Current 2522

04.03.2010 15:53 www.questback.com Visitnorway 18

7. What would you like to book online at visitnorway.com?

1 Transportation to/from Norway by air

2 Transportation to/from Norway by ferry

3 Cruise to/within Norway

4 Accommodation

5 Attraction/Activity

6 None of the above

N

Current 2300

Visitnorway 19

8. If visitnorway.com had an online booking service, which of these product combinations would be interesting?

1 International flight + accommodation

2 International flight + rent-a -car

3 International flight+rent-a-car+accommodation

4 International ferry + accommodation

5 Accommodation and city pass (i.e. the Oslo Pass)

6 None of the above

N

Current 2248

20

NBS is not a new booking system, but a tool to integrate already existing systems

What will the switch do?

create a common distribution system for the tourism industry through already existing booking solutions

make the data accessible for distribution through open standards, (OTA) to be reused in many distribution channels

The National Booking is a National Booking Switch (NBS)

21

CityBreak

Tellus GuestMaker

DMO’s with solutions from

Connectors

NBS- Nasjonal BookingSwitch

Visit Technology

Group

Phase 1: 2010 visitnorway.com

Local suppliers via DMODirect through CityBreak, Restech or TellusGuestMaker, or via booking solutions (PMS) as Visbook integrated in one of these 3 solutions

Local suppliers Not part of DMO’s solutions.

Connectors

DMO’s withoutbooking solution/or chosen not to participate

Restech

I.e. Visbook

Phase 2: 2011NBS (plug in version) ready for other distribution channels

Integration

Integration

Getting bookable on visitnorway.com

National suppliers• Hotel chains • SAS/other airlines via Amadeus • Norwegian • Color Line • Fjord Line• The Coastal • Rent a ca (via Amadeus)

22

Destination must have online booking solutions from City Break, TellusGuestMaker or Restech

Suppliers must either be national (transport/hotel chain) or bookable through a DMO with online booking solution from the three mentioned software suppliers

Suppliers with PMS (as Visbook) must make an integration agreement with those three suppliers, i.e. Visbook is being integrated with CityBreak June 2010 and with Restech by the end of the year

VisitNorway: Assumptions

23

When is NBS launched ?

Testing on VisitNorway Q3 & Q4 2010

Technically it will be possible with “plug ins” on other channels as soon as the testing on VisitNorway is done

Launching on VisitNorway Q1 2011

Further progress

24

Suppliers and DMOs don’t pay for the technical connection to VisitNorway

The existing agreements between suppliers and DMOs will not be touched. The suppliers pay a transaction fee for products booked through NBS

Suppliers and DMOs wishing “the plug in” solution (all/part of content) must pay the cost of adjustment between own portal and NBS

Cost for suppliers and DMOs

25

Prototypes

Solution Specification Norwegian National Booking Switch

Sola - Foto: CH/innovasjon Norge

Best Practice analyze - Norwegian Booking Switch (NBS) National and regional portals

www.visitoslo.com www.visitbergen.com www.fjordnorway.com www.visitcopenhagen.dk www.visitsweden.com www.visitdenmark.com www.goteborg.com www.en.lyon-france.com www.londontown.com www.amsterdam.com www.visitscotland.com www.visitbritain.com www.newzealand.com www.discoverireland.com www.yourtour.com www.hellobc.com

Charter www.apollo.no www.ving.no www.startour.no

Amazon www.amazon.com

Other national portals www.finn.no www.travellink.no www.wideroe.no

International hotel/transport portals www.expedia.com www.travelocity.com/Reisefeber.no www.booking.com www.opodo.co.uk www.e-bookers.com www.lastminute.com www.holidayauto.com www.hotels.com www.kayak.com www.kelkoo.com www.funktravel.com www.britishairways.com www.ryanair.co.uk www.norwegian.no

27

28

29

30

31

32

33

Foil 1: ”Search Controls” examples

34

Establishing BookNorway Ltd

• When the project National Booking Switch (NBS) is carried through, the solution will be launched on VisitNorway in Q1 2011 through the new company BookNorway

Ownership model for Book Norway

• Owned by a wide range of the Norwegian travel industry and DMO’s

• The aim is that:

– the industry has the majority of shares in BookNorway

– BookNorway ensures a cost effective distribution for the suppliers for the entire range of Norwegian tourism products. Customers will get competitive prices based on best available rates (BAR)

35

The call centre

• BookNorway will be the legal body towards the consumer, the suppliers through the connectors and the distribution partners (such as VisitNorway and others)

• Must work as a tour operator, relate to the EU’s Package directive and be a member of the “The Norwegian Travel Guarantee Fund” (“Reisegarantifondet”)

• The operations of the call centre will be outsourced to a relevant business partner who can meet these requirements. The selected operator could be:

1. DMO

2. Travel agency

3. Incoming tour operator

4. Call centre department such as ferry company, airline and hotel chain

36

Elisabeth Heyerdahl-JensenProject Manager BIT ReiselivE-mail: heyerdahl@bitreiseliv.no Phone + 47 22 14 08 14 Mobile:  + 47 908 28 274  

Kjell Galstad Project Manager National BookingE-mail: galstad@bitreiseliv.no Mobile: + 47 920 14 775

www.bitreiseliv.no

      

  

Thank you!

More information: