DiscoverAmerica.com The Official Travel

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DiscoverAmerica.comThe Official Travel
Tourism Website of the United States

• ESTO Meeting
• August 16, 2007

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Overview of Cooperative Agreement

• Feb 07 - TIA the Department of Commerce
  entered into a 2-year 3.9M cooperative agreement
  to develop and market destination marketing
  websites for the U.S.
• Markets
• UK, Japan, Canada, Mexico and Germany
• Objectives
• Increase travel to the U.S.
• Reinforce a favorable image of the U.S.
• Self funded by 2009

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Partners

• Development Partners
• Department of Commerce
• DA.com Advisory Council
• States Destinations
• Tribal DDB
• Blue Canopy
• American Express, Yahoo, Fodors and Travelocity
• In process
• Marketing and advertising agencies
• Sponsors and additional strategic partners

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Source Use of Funds (in 000s)
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Balanced Approach
Industry
Customer

Department of Commerce
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Department of Commerce

• Cooperative Objectives
• Increase market share
• Positive image of US
• Requirements
• 25 match
• Self sustaining
• Design, functional and content requirements

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Customer Research Sources

• DoC, TIA and Tribal DDB in-country developers
• In-market experts (i.e. Stats Canada, JTM)
• Research leaders (i.e. Forrester Research)
• Industry subject matter experts/extensive
  interviews
  
• Online travel articles

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Industry

• Content - free versus pay to play
• Site traffic
• Advertising rules
• Metrics/reporting
• Channel

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Guiding Principles
Customer driven Quality appropriate for brand
USA Broad industry benefit Within budget an
d time limitations Sustainable marketing platfo
rm Unbiased as to destinations or channel E
xpandable - additional content/destination

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Content Strategy - Challenges
Volume of content Time to launch Critical ma
ss of relevant content at launch
Budget / Cost of translation Cost per word (bef
ore negotiation) ranges from 21 to 28 cents
depending on vendor and language.
Total pages estimated for all sites 15,000
Estimated cost of 270K for 4 languages (budget
120K).

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Content Strategy Phase I (Launch)
50 States and 6 Territories (content received
from 49) Top Customer Preferred Destinations (c
ontent received from 1/3) Destinations determin
ed based on the following criteria
Most visited destinations by market
Available from Fodors Added gateway cities Adde
d more cities for English sites
Destination count by market Germany, Mexico, Ca
nada (Fr.) and Japan Top 20 to 25
UK Top 40 Canada (English) Top 40 all other
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Content Strategy Phase I Continued
Only core content will be included at launch.
Contact information for official offices and
URL(s) to be displayed on the Overview page for
states, territories and destinations (no cost).
All TIA members to receive a link on the Officia
l Links page at no cost with a reciprocal link to
DiscoverAmerica.com
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Content Strategy Phase II

• Additional destinations added in Phase II
  scheduled for April through June
  
• TIA member DMO organizations will be added at
  cost
  
• Initial estimate of 1,250 to 1,500 for English
  sites and 2,500 to 3,000 for translated sites
  (Subject to change).
  
• Non-member DMOs will be added on a fee basis
• Expanded content can also be added for a fee
  (more to come).
  
• Annual support of 300 to 500 per market.

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Overview of Site Content Functionality

Travel Planning About the U.S. Regions, sta
tes, territories, top destinations
Activities and Attractions User generated pho
tos and reviews Maps
Travel Booking Lead generation for travel age
nts
Deals Packages Online booking engine
Practical Information Visa and Passport Policy
Trip Planning Tools (Weather, Currency,
etc.)
Entry/Exit Procedure
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Discover America Branding

• Primary messages
• Official Travel and Tourism Website of the
  United States
  
• Diversity
• Secondary messages
• Friendly and welcoming
• Value
• Freedom
• Quality (Best in class product offering)
• Beauty

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Timeline
Design (through 8/07) Development/testing (thro
ugh 3/08) Launch and marketing (3/08) Add ph
ase II content (4/08 to 6/08) Next Development
Phase - Emerging markets

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Appendix
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AppendixContent Strategy - Definitions

• Core Content
• State or city overview
• Limited travel articles, itineraries, brochures,
  rich media
  
• Limited attractions and activities
• Restaurant and shopping listings
• Expanded Content
• Expanded state/city overviews
• Additional articles, itineraries, brochures, rich
  media
  
• Additional and/or expanded attraction and
  activity descriptions
  
• Expanded restaurant and shopping listings

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AppendixContent Pricing Matrix

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Home Page (UK)
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Home Page (UK)
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Home Page (UK)