Visit Aurelia

Visit Aurelia: National Tourism Organisations for Cambridge IGCSE Travel and Tourism

This free game is part of our Cambridge iGCSE Travel & Tourism (0471) course for exams in EXAM YEARS 2027-2029.

What does a National Tourism Organisation do?

In Visit Aurelia you run the National Tourism Organisation (NTO) for an island nation, with one goal: make Aurelia the place everyone wants to visit. It covers NTOs in the Cambridge IGCSE Travel and Tourism (0471) course.

An NTO promotes the whole country to tourists abroad, runs national campaigns and collects national tourism data. Its jobs include:

• Marketing and promotion: TV adverts in key markets, and stands at trade fairs such as World Travel Market in London to meet tour operators.
• Research: surveying visitors about where they come from, how long they stay and how much they spend.
• Quality standards: star-grading schemes so hotels meet clear standards, and training so staff can welcome visitors with disabilities.
• Coordination and advice: bringing the airline, hotel groups and regions together, and advising government on needs such as airport capacity.
• Managing visitor flows: encouraging visitors away from overcrowded places to quieter regions.
• Measuring results: tracking website visits, enquiries and bookings to prove money was well spent.

NTOs and the other tourism organisations

An NTO is not the only body involved. Know the difference between:

• A government ministry, which makes the big tourism policy decisions (in the UK, the Department for Culture, Media and Sport).
• A regional tourism body, which promotes one area, supports its local businesses and turns the national strategy into local action.
• A local council, which grants planning permission and looks after local roads.
• UN Tourism, the United Nations agency that sets global standards and shares tourism statistics, and the WTTC, which represents private tourism businesses.
• The European Travel Commission, made up of Europe's NTOs, which promotes Europe to long-haul markets such as the USA, China and Brazil.

NTOs often work with partners. An airline may help pay for a campaign, because more tourists means more passengers.

Real NTO campaigns

• 100% Pure New Zealand: one of the longest-running destination campaigns, built around clean, green, adventurous landscapes. Tourism New Zealand targets high-value visitors who stay longer and spend more, rather than maximum numbers.
• Incredible India: launched when India had a mixed image, it changed how tourists saw the country. In India the Ministry of Tourism runs it, because the ministry and NTO roles are combined.
• Spain: with nearly 84 million international visitors in 2019 and overcrowded cities such as Barcelona, it promoted lesser-known regions such as Extremadura to spread tourists more evenly.

The game also covers return on investment (a £1 million campaign that brings £20 million of extra spending), budget cuts, and how user-generated content means NTOs control less of their image, so they invest in digital marketing and influencers.