The Management of City Tourism in Europe

Tourism has become a major source of employment, revenue, international awareness and opportunity in European cities. As competition among cities grows for visitors as well as for public and private financial support, the efficiency of management in city tourism organizations becomes increasingly important. This chapter aims to examine the nature of European city tourism organizations in terms of their roles, functions, responsibilities and the services they provide. In this investigation two surveys with identical design were conducted among European city tourism managers in 1995 and 1999. Based upon this data, this study identifies the functions that have changed during the given period of time and assesses relationships between these functions. The findings indicate that the emphasis of European city tourism organizations changed considerably during time in five functional areas: 1) hotel booking service, 2) commerce, 3) conventional information dissemination, 4) advanced information product, and 5) relationship management.