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What are ECM Knowledge Groups?

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

Each group is composed of minimum 6 ECM Members and they meet on a regular basis.

How can I join a Knowledge Group?

Knowledge Groups are composed of members interested in sharing knowledge and expertise on a specific topic.

To join a group, you must be a member of European Cities Marketing and you must contact the chairperson.

There will certainly be a topic of interest for you, do not hesitate to join. If you want to be part of the group we would like you to be an active and dedicated member of the group. You need to be present at the meetings!

How can I actively participate?

ECM members are welcome as guests/observers at our meetings, where we discuss our agenda or actual issues. During the meeting we expect you to actively participate to the discussion, sharing content and knowledge.

As an ECM Member, you can contribute to ECM surveys and reports elaborated by the Knowledge Groups.

Goals

• Gather insights and share experience and knowledge on how to set up, run and sell a city card
• Provide a platform where Managers & Product Developers can network and discuss the latest trends on city card marketing
• Promote European city cards to the public and trade industry
• Increase consumers’ awareness and encourage their purchase of city cards when travelling

Current actions

• Annual City Cards Expert Meeting
• Benchmarking survey on European city cards
• City Cards branding campaign welovecitycards.com
• Online discussion on Zoom every two months about city card related topics

How can I contribute?

• This initiative is reserved to ECM members who are running a city card scheme, should you wish to join, contact ECM Head Office
• Provide your city cards data to be part of a unique survey on European city cards
• Assess your city card’s performance with our benchmark data and set of KPIs
• Share marketing and strategic leads on how to launch and manage a successful city cards scheme

What can I get?

• Be part of a pan-European brand for city cards
• Benchmark your city cards with 30+ other destinations
• Meet the experts during the annual City Cards Expert Meeting
• Access exclusive data and insights, allowing you to improve your product offer

Goals

• Create knowledge hub about digital strategy and all electronic communication channels
• Provide expertise to help DMO’s adopt and embrace a digital way of thinking
• Inspire successful business transformation and new initiatives based on digital and innovation
• Gather and share insights on the digital tourism landscape across Europe

Current actions

• Content creation for digital hub on ECM Intranet
• Search for new lecturers for ECM conferences and chats
• Organisation of chat sessions about #ECMdigitaldestinations topics
• Benchmarking: Digital marketing budget of DMO’s (in collaboration with R&S group)
• Collaboration with -digital first- ECM partners

How can I contribute?

• Showcase your experience on your digital communication / transformation / innovation project
• Be part of benchmarking campaigns

What can I get?

• Exchange of expertise and knowledge
• Best practices and inspiration
• Building blocks for digital marketing strategy and innovation
• Benchmark opportunities

Goals

• The Editorial Board is in charge of the ‘European Cities Marketing Benchmarking Report’ as well as further development & improvement of the report and securing its data quality and consistency
• The ECM Benchmarking Report is an essential reading for city tourism professionals, consultants, academics and students

Current actions

• Production of the ECM Benchmarking Report
• Improvement of internal and external promotional activities for the report

How can I contribute?

• Make sure your city is part of the ECM Benchmarking Report, enter your bednights in TourMIS on a monthly or annual basis: www.tourmis.info

What can I get?

• A copy of the latest ECM Benchmarking Report and the complete data set included in your membership fee;
  • Unique source of insights on the volume of city tourism
  • A firm reference tool when benchmarking city tourism- Answering vital market intelligence’s needs
  • Over 100 leading European cities analyzed
  • Featuring top markets for city tourism
  • Extended commentary and over 100 graphs and charts- Expert-based analysis of current year assessment of market prospects

Goals

• This group is responsible for the planning and delivery of important convention marketing projects
• The group exchanges and identifies key issues in the Meetings Industry to be tackled and put on the programme of ECM seminars or in best practices’ sessions
• They offer a platform where members can exchange best practices and have open discussions on all the topics of interest to those working in European convention bureaux

Current actions

• Best practice sessions: dedicated to Conventions members
• ECM Mentor Programme
• ECM Summer School
• ECM Academy: the ECM Summer School concept to emerging destinations in non-European continents
• Build relationships and do business with other European cities
• Represent ECM during JMIC meetings, and make ECM known among the Meetings Industry global landscape
• IMEX Smart Monday

How can I contribute?

• Exchange experience on the latest trends in the Meetings Industry
• See how to spread knowledge to all members

What can I get?

• Best practice experiences, special sessions for CVBs
• Build relationships and share knowledge with other European cities

Goals

• The Research and Insights group coordinates all research activities within the network and collaborates with ECM research partners
• Gather and analyse insights within the ECM members network

Current actions

• Publication of:
  • ECM Benchmarking Report
  • ECM Meetings Statistics Report
  • Various research articles
  • City Tourism Monitor (quarterly report)
  • ECM-ForwardKeys Air travellers’ traffic Barometer
  • ECM-MKG European Destination’s Observatory
  • ECM-TCI Research City Sentiment Index
  • ECM-Transparent Short-Term Rentals Report
  • ECM Academic Insights
• Preparation to TourMIS Workshop and International Seminar in conjunction with ETC and Modul University in Vienna;

How can I contribute?

• Send your stats
• Benchmark your destination
• We need from all members:
• • Bednights data 1/year
  • Meetings statistics data 1/year
  • Financial situation 1/year
  • Answers to perception survey 4/year

What can I get?

• Learn how to benchmark yourself with other destinations on city tourism
• Attend the TourMIS workshop and get training on statistics (bednights and meetings)
• Get ECM regular reports in collaboration with ECM partners
• In depth benchmarking with European counterparts during ECM meetings

Goals

• Support and positively contribute to the development of the DMOs of tomorrow as well as to enable the development of sustainable urban tourism destinations.
• The group’s framework and point of departure are based on the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Our role is to accelerate the necessary transformation, help unlock barriers and initiate collaboration/innovation/solutions towards these goals within European cities tourism.
• Inspire all ECM members to integrate sustainability into their DNA when developing, managing and promoting a destination.
• We encourage DMOs to challenge previous growth strategies, to initiate a transparent impact assessment process based on the triple bottom line approach and to harmonize private tourism strategies with public government strategies.
• We contribute to the empowerment and professionalisation of this increasingly important role within DMOs of the future.

Current actions

We inspire and support European DMOs in accelerating the development and management of sustainable urban tourism destinations and sustainability strategies by:

• Providing a learning platform: we transparently create, gather and share insights, knowledge and best practices
• Finding consensus about key definitions, concepts, labels, rankings, tools and roles
• Proposing new common KPIs for tourism destinations beyond the number of overnight stays
• Inspiring action by showcasing how to make sustainability concrete
• Activating European funds for sustainable tourism (e.g. European Union funding)
• Collaborating, engaging and involving with other ECM Knowledge Groups to use synergies and increase the impact
• Creating access and translating information into the local context and to relevant stakeholders

How can I contribute?

• We believe that European cities have the potential to play a key role for an inspiring, inclusive and positive transformation towards an economy and society that respects the planetary boundaries and works towards a more resilient future. Due to the immense complexity, we can only succeed if we work together and learn from each other.
• We encourage DMOs to challenge previous growth strategies, to initiate a transparent impact assessment process based on the triple bottom line approach and to harmonize private tourism strategies with public government strategies.
• Share with us strategic leads on how to launch and manage a successful sustainability strategy.
• Answer any survey or benchmarking study that the group may run across the ECM membership.

What can I get?

• Best practices
• Benchmark opportunities
• Exchange of expertise

Goals

• Boost your TIC competitiveness and strengthen your visitors services and product offer
• Share your tips on working in a TIC and running a successful visitor services department with your European counterparts
• Deliver better customer-focused service
• Encourage professional training and reward staff for their outstanding work

Current actions

• Annual TIC Expert Meeting
• Meet with your colleagues to discuss the latest trends, innovations and challenges impacting Tourism Information Centres across Europe
• TIC Hostmanship Award
• Online discussion on Zoom every two months (open to all ECM members)
• TIC Survey among ECM members

How can I contribute?

• Join the chat every other month
• Attend the TIC Expert Meeting: share your top tips and bring some new ideas to try at home
• Share your experience in running a TIC
• Showcase your latest trends

What can I get?

• All the tools you need to stay ahead of the latest shifts and trends in hospitality and visitors services
• From staff management tips to your TIC mobile and digital transition, the TIC Knowledge Group is there to help
• Meet and communicate with TIC experts on a regular basis
• Meet the experts

Goals

• Bring ECM to the very forefront of trends and innovations in the urban cityscape
• Develop an in-house trend watching hub where thought leaders find each other to discuss the future of cities and the visitor economy
• Provide ECM members with inspirational ideas and insights to help them develop new strategies for the future

Current actions

• Gather – people and ideas
• Observe – through best practices, city cases, papers, talks, interviews, essays…
  We look for answers to the issues we face now, but with the next 10 years in scope to manage the evolutions ahead
• Share – we gather our strengths with other ECM Knowledge Groups. We exchange ideas with international organisations focused on visitor economy, provide for good quality talks during ECM general events, bring forward experts with insightful stories & match them with best practices and cases, reach out to opinion leaders in future tourism
  We offer various projects and formats to share those trends: Annual event, Newsletter, Knowledge hub on Intranet.

What can I get?

• Future-thinking and innovative best practices & case-studies
• Inspirational ideas and insights to help develop new strategies for the future