South Eastern Europe (SEE) Regional Tourism Portal STATUS UPDATE & NEXT STEPS February 16, 2009 Regional Competitiveness Initiative (RCI) ICT Support 2 nd Regional Tourism Workshop Tirana, Albania Siika Zhivkova, Deputy Program Manager Ludmila Goode, SEE Regional Tourism Portal Project Lead

2 Overview Agenda  Update on Activities and Next Steps  Quick Summary on the Portal Goal, Outline, and Functions  Workshop Outcomes & Request for Information

3 Update on Activities & Next Steps  September 2008: Overview of the South Eastern Europe (SEE) Regional Tourism Portal Concept  Goal, Targeted Audience, Objectives, Functions  Discussion and Conclusions  Feedback  November 2008: Portal Outline Distributed  February 2009: Implementation  Request for Information from Regional Stakeholders  Request for Proposals to SEE Companies – March 1, 2009  Portal Demo – June 2009

4 Quick Summary: Portal Overview  Goal  A tool for information sharing, linking regional partners, and promoting cross border tourism  A compliment to the national portals by allowing “one stop” for consumers  An informational, educational, and promotional service for the tourism industry  Structure  External Portal – for consumers, visible to any visitor of the Portal  Internal Portal – for the tourism industry, visible to members only, password-protected  Phased Implementation Approach  Functionality: starting with basic, agreed upon functions and gradually adding sections/modules/functions at later implementation stages  Participation: starting with countries & organizations ready to participate and gradually adding more countries & organizations at later implementation stages  Sustainability  SEE Implementing Partner’s participation  Sustainability Action Plan – Among the criteria in the Request For Proposals

5 Quick Summary: External Portal Outline  SEE Map and specific country information (static during the initial implementation and interactive as a result of later phase)  Where to Go information and links (to be connected to the interactive map as a result of later implementation phases)  What to Do information and links (to be connected to the interactive map as a result of later implementation phases)  How to Travel information and links (to be connected to the interactive map as a result of later implementation phases)  Accommodations information and links (tool(s) for making reservations and sales (for potential later implementation)  Promotions (static during the initial implementation and dynamic, e.g. virtual tours, during later implementation phases)  General Sections (“About the Portal”, “Contact Us”, “Customer Feedback”, “News & Events”, Languages, links to tourism websites)

6 Quick Summary: Internal Portal Outline  Reports & Statistics (as a result of the initial implementation)  Tourism Legislation & Standards (as a result of the initial implementation)  SEE Tourism Fairs/Exhibitions/Workshops (as a result of the initial implementation)  Regional Tourism Projects (as a result of the initial implementation)  Quality Mark (QM) (as a result of the initial implementation)  Cross Border Tourism (as a result of the initial implementation)  Capacity Building & Job Offerings (as a result of the initial implementation)  Marketing (as a result of the initial implementation)  Virtual Regional Tourism Center (as a result of later implementation phases)

7 February 2009 Workshop Outcome & Request For Information  Participation/Regional Stakeholders  Organization name and point of contact for content provision for the initial implementation phase  Regional Implementer(s)  Company name and contact information for an Request For Proposals invitation  Targeted Timeframe for Your Response  February 16 – 28, 2009

8 Feedback  CONTACT INFORMATION Siika Zhivkova SRA International Deputy Program Manager Phone: