On January 14, 2013 at 12:00 p.m. CST, destination marketing professionals will get a first look at Arena Destination Benchmarking - a revolutionary new service available in the first quarter of 2013. It allows destination marketing organizations (DMOs) to compare sales, website traffic and 100+ additional metrics to data from other DMOs using simple, online tools available around the clock. 

"For years, DMOs have talked about the critical need to benchmark and compare performance in ways that would let them make more informed decisions," said Gary Grimmer, CEO of GainingEdge, one of three industry-leading companies that created Arena. "A few services have provided some limited information to work with, but now they can actually mine that data and much more on demand, where they pick the measures, the time frames - even the DMO sets they want to compare against."

Arena offers DMOs a number of features never before available in any destination marketing service:

• Simple DIY tools for creating custom graphs and reports online 24/7/365
• Data on 100+ metrics, including Meeting Sales, Sales Pace, Interactive, Social Media, Membership, Consumer Data and more
• The ability to compare against a global set, past self-performance and competitive sets based on regions, budgets and a number of other variables
• New data every month and the ability to compare against current data or any window of time: past three months, past year, last April, etc.
• Anonymity - including anonymity in competitive sets protected by aggregating data - unless by mutual consent arranged between DMOs
• Access for any destination willing to confidentially and securely share information, automatically or through simple online forms
• A FREE version that allows any DMO to evaluate Arena and its subscription levels offer higher-value online tools and detailed quarterly and annual reports

Three companies with strong ties to the travel and tourism industry - InterVISTAS, GainingEdge and Simpleview - created Arena. Over the past year, focus groups and an Advisory Council of 30 global DMO and Convention Bureau leaders have met at DMAI Annual, iMEX Frankfurt, iMEX America and ICCA Annual to guide the companies on product refinements and reporting requirements.

"We believe Arena has the potential to provide our industry with new and essential information that will allow every destination, regardless of its size or circumstances, to make strategic decisions based on better and more comprehensive data," said Steen Jakobsen, joint chairperson of the ICCA Destination Marketing Sector, "something that is vital in today's environment of economic uncertainty and risk, rapid change and increased competition."

After more than two years of development and countless enhancements, refinements and tests, Arena will be available to the destination marketing industry in the first quarter of 2013.

The Arena Consortium

GainingEdge is a specialist firm focused on meetings, conventions, incentives, exhibitions and events and providing consulting services related to establishing and managing convention and visitor bureaus and developing and expanding convention centers. GainingEdge has provided services for clients in Africa, Asia, Australia, Europe, North America, and South America.

Learn more at www.gainingedge.com

InterVISTAS Consulting Group is a leading management consulting company with extensive expertise in aviation, transportation and tourism.  The company has delivered benchmarking, market research and strategic planning projects for clients in more than 70 countries around the world. The company has offices in Canada, U.S., and Europe.

Learn more at www.intervistas.com

Simpleview offers integrated products and services for destination marketing organizations (DMOs), including the industry's most advanced customer relationship management (CRM) and content management system (CMS), forecasting and reporting tools, websites, mobile sites, search engine optimization and interactive marketing. Simpleview works with more than 200 U.S. and international DMOs.

Learn more at www.simpleviewinc.com

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