A companion to travel

Publication date: 20 September 2007

With tourism in a state of profound and rapid change FIA clubs are increasingly looking to learn from common experiences.

The FIA is, without doubt, one of the world's largest consumer organisations, with more than 120 million members who receive a whole range of services from their automobile and touring clubs. It is also true that, today, tourism is the fastest growing industry in the world, and is definitely the major driver of growth of "members' mobility". This means that our members' needs go beyond "auto-mobility" to a broader demand for mobility services.

The delivery of tourism services is one of today's challenges for FIA clubs. Their members travel more and more around the world, therefore demand for touring services is evolving constantly. They include: provision of reliable information, means of safe travel, permanent assistance "on tour", environmentally friendly means of transport and accommodation.

How do FIA clubs address this challenge and how is the FIA assisting clubs in this matter?

The FIA Commissions provide platforms for the sharing of information and working groups for the exchange of best practices. Not all clubs are involved in the delivery of tourism services, and among those who do, there are wide differences. For example, there is the contrast between Germany's ADAC with 180 travel agencies and the ATC Egypt with one agency.

A few clubs, like the Dutch ANWB act not only as a travel agency but also as a tour operator. Services offered are varied: free information about destinations; publishing and sale of books, maps, guides about routes, cities and countries; sale of packaged tours through their own travel agency; sale of insurance products; provision of 24- hour hotline assistance services. Faced with this multitude of services on offer, the FIA Tourism Commission promotes the exchange of different practices and experiences, so that clubs can learn from each other and even engage in common developments.

At the FIA Conference Week in Cape Town, we learnt about the AA South Africa and the New Zealand AA Travel Services developments, and about the success of the Dutch "Disaster Fund" product.

It is also true that tourism is experiencing a period of profound change: tourist flows are increasing rapidly around the world, technology is transforming the way we prepare to travel, safety is a growing concern and the impact of tourist flows on destinations can be negative and sometimes devastating.

These issues were touched on at this year's Conference Week in Cape Town. Topics discussed during Conference Week included: sustainability of tourism (Prof. Nico Visser), the impact of the internet on distribution and delivery of tourism services (Xavier Roig) and insurance coverage products (Kees-Jan van Ginkel).

As tourism gains importance in the FIA, it is becoming necessary to adopt a global FIA Public Policy on Tourism. A policy already exists for Region I; in due course, this could serve as the basis for a world-wide policy in order to provide a framework which will guide FIA clubs in the development of their tourism activities