European Cities Marketing (ECM), which improves the competitiveness and performance of leading cities in Europe, partnered with United Nations World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) and MODUL University Vienna. The three organizations agreed to develop a common framework and methodology to compare city tourism data on a global level.
“We are thrilled to partner with UNWTO and MODUL University Vienna, and extend our expertise in benchmarking and measuring city tourism on the global level. This is a milestone in the history of the expertise developed within European Cities Marketing,” stated Ignasi de Delàs, president, ECM.
As part of the UNWTO Cities Project, and in the framework of the Istanbul Declaration (2012) on City Tourism, the organizations joined forces to promote the sustainable development of city tourism as a driver of economic growth.
UNWTO Secretary-General Taleb Rifai welcomed this new partnership. He said, “City tourism has become a strategic element in urban planning and management; thanks to this agreement with ECM and MODUL University Vienna, we will be able to work on systematic data collection on city tourism all over the world.”
The three partners will each provide specific expertise to this common goal, which is key to improving planning and decision-making by private and public tourism stakeholders in cities worldwide. The project will count on essential research, insights and tools to benchmark city performance developed by ECM as well as on TourMIS, a platform for tourism associations to exchange data on overnight stays, hotel capacities and occupancy rate hosted by MODUL University Vienna.
“At present, 115 cities enter their information in TourMIS on a monthly or annual basis, and I am really honored to extend the TourMIS database. We will certainly provide guidance to cities willing to participate in the Global City Tourism Benchmarking report so that they can meet the required standards,” said Karl Wöber, president, MODUL University Vienna.
ECM, MODUL University Vienna and UNWTO aim to regularly publish a Global City Tourism Benchmarking Report. The partners will furthermore form a group of international experts to observe and comment on the progress of the project and provide guidelines on how to further integrate indicators on the economic, environmental and social impact of tourism into the current system of city tourism measurement.
