Through branding campaign, ECM members join forces and benchmark more than 4.5 million city cards

61 product managers representing 33 leading European cities recently met in Oslo to exchange knowledge and best practices in one of the most important growth areas of city marketing: city cards! Breaking record of attendance shows deep interest for this product and the successful results of the We Love City Cards branding campaign.

The City Cards Expert Meeting is a 24h meeting targeted to product managers who are looking to improve and share their knowledge of the product, an initiative of European Cities Marketing, the only membership association strengthening city marketing in Europe with 100 cities onboard.

Olivier Occelli, City Cards Knowledge Group chairperson and marketing Manager, Lyon Tourist Board, explained: “Every year we have more and more City Cards specialists participating to the City Cards Expert Meeting and strengthening the network. Last year saw an increase in the number of sales, with more than 4.5 million cards sold among the leading cities in Europe. City Cards are an important tool within the City Hospitality mix since they can enhance the visitors experience in a city. Through best practices and knowledge exchange, this meeting allows ECM member destinations to fine-tune their City Cards, their communication and marketing & sales strategy”.

Key presentation was made by Fernando Santos, Business Development Director at Viator by TripAdvisor. He gave an Overview of leisure products sales, Viator being the global leader in the sector. Santos described the blurred evolution of sales and the challenges they face like macro conditions (terrorism, Brexit, Migrant Crisis, economic uncertainty, flooding), attention-occupying events (such as US Election, Olympic Games, Euro championships) and outlined the quick evolution of consumer behaviour. Viator also insisted on the importance of optimizing mobile channels.

Case studies of destinations (Stockholm, London, Innsbruck and Porto) were delivered about their city cards, and followed by group discussions: What is your biggest challenge with your city card? How are you dealing with mobile and mobility? Are you ready for tomorrow and tomorrow’s travellers? What is your best strategy on how to increase sales on and offline? What is your best idea to make your partners in the card happy?

“ECM and the city cards network is a about sharing knowledge. By working together we can all become better and more ready for the future and the needs of our future travellers. It is incredible to see how all participants during the meeting very generously shared their biggest success stories as well as failures and challenges during this intense 24h meeting.” added Anna-Karin Andersson, Marketing & Analysis Manager at Visit Stockholm and moderator of this year’s City Cards Expert Meeting.

The VisitOSLO team greatly hosted this event! Attendees were offered the opportunity to enjoy the electronic Oslo Pass, a dematerialized city card easy to use with your mobile phone.

Get to know the 39 leading city cards in Europe on www.welovecitycards.com and be a fan of the Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/weekendsineurope.

**ENDS**

European Cities Marketing is a non-profit organisation improving the competitiveness and performance of leading cities of Europe by providing a platform for convention, leisure and city marketing professionals to exchange knowledge, best practice and widen their network to build new business. European Cities Marketing is promoting and linking the interests
of members from more than 100 major cities in 36 countries.

For more information and pictures, please contact:
Flavie Baudot, press@europeancitiesmarketing.com, +33 380 56 02 00

ECM Knowledge Groups are expert teams focusing on specific aspects of city marketing and urban tourism development. They discuss issues, share best practices, prepare reports, conduct surveys and, in certain cases, undertake joint marketing activities.

City Cards Knowledge Group aims at promoting and improving the City Card product in Europe. Promotion is made through a common brand We Love City Cards: www.welovecitycards.com. The Group also brings together experts working in the field to exchange on best practices within the City Cards Expert Meeting held once a year.