Paul Richardson Scientific Coordinator

1. VMARTVirtual Market Place for Rural Tourism Sales, Development,ICT Services and ApplicationsConcept, Progress and Vision Paul Richardson Scientific Coordinator Asnate Ziemele, Telebalt Lithuania

2. Overview The main goal of the project is to establish a viable enterprise for Europwide partnership and experience exchange in Rural Tourism. • Content Overview • The Presenter • Project Background – National and Regional RT • The VMART Concept • Project Implementation • Attention Issues & Conclusion Asnate Ziemele, Telebalt Lithuania

3. The Presenter • Active in RT since 1996 • RT Experience • Founder of Latvian RT Association Lauku Celotajs • Director of RT sales company. • Tour Operator • Advisory Experience • Consultancy and Project Management. • Education • ***************************** Music • *****************************Canada Asnate Ziemele, Telebalt Lithuania

4. Background to VMART and RT Needs Provider RTME Agent Functions Provider Training Lobbying Business Advice Selling Promotion Development Quality Control Projects Fund-raising RTME agent Provider Provider Provider Parallel Relationship RTME Agent : Provider asVMART : RTME Agent Asnate Ziemele, Telebalt Lithuania

5. VMART Project Methodology Methodology • User-led Development - cooperative, collaborative approach where RT users, academic partners, technical software and ISP partners worked together closely on the development task • User Partners • RT organisations in Spain, Germany, Icelandand Latvia. • Technical Partners • IT companies in Iceland • Academic partners • University of Salford (U.K.) • University of Iceland Asnate Ziemele, Telebalt Lithuania

6. The VMART Concept Asnate Ziemele, Telebalt Lithuania

7. The VMART Concept Asnate Ziemele, Telebalt Lithuania

8. Project Specific Objectives • Create a Virtual Market Place for RT • Two concepts in two portals – using open source technology. • A. Promotion and Sales Portal Country-Holidays.is • B. VMART Knowledge Base and Services for the RT sector www.vmart.org Asnate Ziemele, Telebalt Lithuania

9. Services for the sector • Adapted Reservation System • The policy is now to develop an open source information and reservation system. • Promotion Structure for European RT • On-line Quality Evaluation for Providers - Quick-Check • On-line Quality Control System for RTME agents (hosted) • On-line Provider Registration Services for RTME agents (hosted) • On-line Feasibility Study for RT Investments for providers - Quick-Check • Structure for information on the RTME sector • Services and Products for the RTME sector • Data-Mining Structure • Consultancy and Advisory Services Asnate Ziemele, Telebalt Lithuania

10. Project Specific Objectives 1 • UserRequirements Capture for Reservation • Showed market two for systems • Licensed system - for agencies with purely commercial activities in sales and marketing - usually larger agencies. Agency buys support and adaptation from the system owner. • Open source system - for multi-function agencies (RTME agents - development, advisory, commercial etc.) - usually smaller agencies. Agency makes most adaptations on an in-house or ad hoc basis. • Needs of small RTME agents best met by open source system • Need for high level of customisation and flexibility • RTME agents operate on low margin commission and low volume • RTME agents operate with non-standard products • RTME agents avoid outsourcing work • Need to control costs and minimise risk Asnate Ziemele, Telebalt Lithuania

11. Project Specific Objectives 2 • RT Promotion • Vision • RTME agent contacts for all European countries available at one location • Implementation • Search for contact points for RT promotion in all European countries • Splash page for each country • Attractions e.g. Genealogy Corner, articles on countries and regions, practical information Asnate Ziemele, Telebalt Lithuania

12. Project Specific Objectives 3 • Quality and Registration System • Vision • Improved quality of RT product and information. • Applications • On-line Quality Evaluation for Providers - Quick-Check. Enables providers to check their accommodation quality against VMART’s European standard. * No data-mining. • On-line Quality Control System (hosted). A service to RTME agents to manage their quality control operations. * No data-mining. • On-line Provider Registration Services (hosted) *Data-mining. Asnate Ziemele, Telebalt Lithuania

13. Project Specific Objectives 4 • On-line Feasibility Study • For RT Investments - Quick-Check • 1987 first used (off-line) (MP3) to speed up RT advisory service • 1996 adapted for use in Poland (Excel) for training of RT business advisors • 1997 adapted for use in Latvia • 2001 adapted for prototype VMART on-line version • 2002 prototype under evaluation in VMART • 2002 final on-line version to be programmed Asnate Ziemele, Telebalt Lithuania

14. Project Specific Objectives 4 Asnate Ziemele, Telebalt Lithuania

15. Feasibility - Investment Parameters Asnate Ziemele, Telebalt Lithuania

16. Feasibility - Occupancy Parameters Asnate Ziemele, Telebalt Lithuania

17. Project Specific Objectives 5 • Data-Collection – Sources • Feasibility Study • Information procured by RTME agents from various domestic sources e.g. from Nat Bureau of Stats • Quality (Hosted Registration System) • RTME agent electronic records e.g. • Dbase for dynamic website • Book-keeping System • RTME agent paper records • Portal feedback • VMART staff research • RTME reservation and information system • VMART recommended • Non VMART recommended Asnate Ziemele, Telebalt Lithuania

18. Project Specific Objectives 6 • Services to the Sector • Consultancy • Pool of RT experts with access to information • Survey Service • Advisory • Feasibility • Quality • Statistics • Comparative statistics on RTME sector in Europe: price, products, development, investment costs, occupancy • Information • Events, conferences, innovation, forum for news and discussion topics • Educational • Schools, courses, training courses and packages, books, web sites, exchanges, work experience opportunities Asnate Ziemele, Telebalt Lithuania

19. Examples of Training Products TARGET – 5 electronic training modules for RT providers. A template version in English for translation and localisation. Already in Bulgarian, Latvian, Lithuanian and Slovakian Asnate Ziemele, Telebalt Lithuania

20. Examples of Training Products Storytelling for Tourism – Training Manual and Guide. A template version in English for translation and localisation. Already in Icelandic, Greek and German. Asnate Ziemele, Telebalt Lithuania

21. Examples of Training Products Training Manual and Courses on how RT can benefit from cultural and historical resources. Material in English Italian, Danish and Icelandicfor translation and localisation. Asnate Ziemele, Telebalt Lithuania

22. Progress • Project Duration November 2000 – April 2002 • 31.10.2001 On Schedule • 31.03.2002 Pause in programming work for final platform – prototyping work continues instead (PHP-MYSQL) • Programming restarted with a new software partner and project extended by 6 months • Progress in non-programming work • Exploitation work on schedule • New business plan • Target groups elaborated and entered in dbase • Portal Content • Content researched, elaborated and entered in dbase • Data structure for RTME agent information and reservation system being elaborated • Service items elaborated • Feasibility and Quality applications tested Asnate Ziemele, Telebalt Lithuania

23. Attention Areas • Multi-Lingual Aspects • This is a major task that is underestimated. • Cost of maintenance • Skills needed • Linguistics – syntax, semantics • Graphical Presentation, combining text, image, layout etc. to express in a clear an economical manner • CAT & Machine translation skills • The technology exists – it needs adapting to the task Asnate Ziemele, Telebalt Lithuania

24. Talking the Same Language "Behold, they are one people, and they have all one language; and this is only the beginning of what they will do; and nothing that they propose to do will now be impossible for them. Come, let us go down, and there confuse their language, that they may not understand one another's speech." Genesis Asnate Ziemele, Telebalt Lithuania

25. Conclusion • The skills and knowledge to marry IT and rural tourism exist. We just need to go through the painful, yet rewarding, process of making it work. Asnate Ziemele, Telebalt Lithuania