SUPPLY SIDE:

Parts of the tourism product as viewed by supply side:
Organisational structures and political influences

Tourism is using public resources (nature, city centers, cathedrals, beaches, roads etc.) not build for tourism and in most cases not paid for by the tourism industry.

-> Tourism and non-Tourism usages of public resources compete for the same resources.

Tourism is an important force in changing the world physically, economically and mentally.

-> Tourism is closely connected to international, national and regional political and planning structures.

Tourism is a SME (Small and Medium Enterprises) dominated business encountering the holistic experience of the customers.

-> A large number of associations, NTOs, DMOs etc. are needed to organize the different parts of the touristic experience.

Tourism is not selling a tangible product, but something that cannot be tested, stored, exchanged, repeated etc. The customers are also partly the producers of the product.

-> Marketing and quality assurance are two big topics for tourism to illustrate the elusive product and to make sure that each experience is as good as the one before.

Let's have a look at some of the main players:

 Global Structures:
UNWTO http://www.unwto.org/index.php

WTTC http://www.wttc.org/

IATA http://www.iata.org/index.htm

Air transport is one of the most dynamic industries in the world. The International Air Transport Association (IATA) is its global trade organization.

Over 60 years, IATA has developed the commercial standards that built a global industry. Today, IATA's mission is to represent, lead and serve the airline industry. Its members comprise some 230 airlines - the world's leading passenger and cargo airlines among them - representing 93 percent of scheduled international air traffic.

Representing

IATA seeks to improve understanding of the industry among decision makers and increase awareness of the benefits that aviation brings to national and global economies. It fights for the interests of airlines across the globe, challenging unreasonable rules and charges, holding regulators and governments to account, and striving for sensible regulation.

Leading

IATA's aim is to help airlines help themselves by simplifying processes and increasing passenger convenience while reducing costs and improving efficiency. The groundbreaking Simplifying the Business initiative is crucial in this area. Moreover, safety is IATA's number one priority, and IATA's goal is to continually improve safety standards, notably through IATAs Operational Safety Audit (IOSA). Another main concern is to minimize the impact of air transport on the environment.

Serving

IATA ensures that people and goods can move around the global airline network as easily as if they were on a single airline in a single country. In addition, it provides essential professional support to all industry stakeholders with a wide range of products and expert services, such as publications, training and consulting. IATA's financial systems also help carriers and the travel industry maximize revenues.

Examples of International Structures:

PATA http://www.pata.org/

ETC http://www.etc-corporate.org/

ETOA http://www.etoa.org/

Examples of National / regional structures:

Tourismusbeauftragter der Bundesregierung (since 2005)  http://www.bmwi.de/BMWi/Navigation/Ministerium/beauftragte.html

Ausschuss für Tourismus des Deutschen Bundestages http://www.bundestag.de/ausschuesse/a20/mitglieder.html

DZT http://www.germany-extranet.de/

Enduser pages of DZT http://www.deutschland-tourismus.de/

DTV http://www.deutschertourismusverband.de/

DEHOGA http://www.dehoga-bundesverband.de/home/index.html

DMB http://www.museumsbund.de/cms/index.php?id=236&L=1&STIL=0

VDFU http://www.freizeitparks.de

 TASH http://www.sh-tourismus.de/de/index

TVSH http://www.tvsh.de/