The NMG team in 2004
Chairman:
Inkeri Starry, Finland (until February 2004);
Andrew Duff, UK (from April 2004)
Vice-Chairman (and Acting Chairman in March 2004):
Luis Costa, Portugal
Vice-Chairman:
Christian Maurer, Austria (April to July 2004)
Andrew Duff
Project manager for the New Media Review:
Anton Nijboer, Netherlands
Project manager for the E-business Academy:
Co-ordinator:
Ana Román, Spain
Nick Markson
2004 was an important year for the New Media Group (NGM). Dominated largely by work on the
development of a new portal website for European tourism, the year also saw the group holding a
highly successful E-Business Academy in Madrid and continuing to promote the New Media Review website.
development of a new portal website for European tourism, the year also saw the group holding a
highly successful E-Business Academy in Madrid and continuing to promote the New Media Review website.
European tourism portal
The business plan identified the need for an Online Marketing
This is a bold new initiative to promote European tourism worldwide.
Manager to be appointed by the Executive Unit to manage the day-
The NMG is central to ETC's involvement in the development of the
to-day operation of the portal. This post was advertised in late 2004,
project and will be responsible for overseeing its operation when it
once the EC's Tourism Advisory Committee (of national government
goes online at the end of 2005.
officials) had given the go-ahead for the second phase - the
implementation of the portal project - to begin in early 2005.
That the portal is being developed at all is largely testimony to the
good working relationship established between the NMG and the
European Commission's Tourism Unit soon after the NMG's inception
in 1998. This, combined with the political will in the EU to do more to
promote Europe as a tourism destination, made ETC the obvious
choice to run the portal once the development has been completed.
The entire development cost of the portal - €1.95 million - is being met
by the European Commission's IDA (Interchange of Data between
Administrations) programme. Construction of the portal is being
carried out by a consortium led by the Austrian company, EC3,
under contract to the European Commission (EC).
The specification and research phase of the project - the first phase
of two - was launched and completed by the end of 2004.
The NMG has been involved in the project from the outset. Many of
its members represented their countries on the EC's steering group
and there have been frequent contacts with the developers over the
course of the year, including a two-day workshop in Vienna in June.
Members of the New Media Group at the Vienna workshop in June
The group's chairman, Andrew Duff, drew up a detailed business
plan for ETC's operation of the portal. This received the full
backing of the NMG and was subsequently endorsed by all
ETC members and operations groups at the General Meeting
in Budapest in October 2004.