WalesCymru.com

Following complaints that public money has been used to unfairly compete with operators of commercial booking services VisitWales have announced today that they will no longer supply an online booking service from January 2008.

The VisitWales communication states:

“Over the past year, the EC has been investigating VisitBritain, VisitScotland and Visit Wales following a complaint that these bodies used public money to offer an online booking service that competed unfairly with commercial operators. Each organisation has had to justify to the EC its operation of online booking, and as a result, all have had to make changes to remain compliant with EC competition law. Having taken the advice of the Welsh Assembly Government Legal and State Aid teams, Visit Wales will withdraw its online booking facility from its websites by the 1st of January 2008. We continue to work in partnership with the Wales Tourism Alliance to maximise online opportunities for the future.”

This decision brings into question the future role of any Public financed Destination Management or centralised Booking System. Given that at least two such projects are being advanced in Wales that will seek Public money to build such systems (one to develop a pan Wales ticketing system for Welsh events and the other to provide Cardiff with a ‘one stop shop’ for hotel and event bookings), the organisations backing these initiatives should take note.

If there is a way forward, Public Private Partnerships, using Web2.0 principles combined with XML, mash-ups and the latest advances in social networking system may provide the answer. Watch this ‘box’ for further updates on this topic.