Australia’s tourism industry has taken a great leap forward in building its digital capacity with more than half of operators engaging online with ‘real time’ information, but greater engagement is urgently needed.
SYDNEY – ATEC Managing Director, Felicia Mariani, said the Tourism Operators’ Digital Uptake Benchmark Survey 2013, commissioned by Tourism Research Australia, has shown a significant growth in the capacity of tourism operators to post real time availability, provide online payment services and instant confirmation.
“The initial survey results taken back in 2010 showed only 41% of Australian tourism operators could engage dynamically in the online environment – with real time availability and price checking – and that figure has now gone up to 54%,” Ms Mariani said.
“We are now also seeing many more operators providing instant booking confirmation to their customers, up from 42% in 2010 to 62% currently – giving visitors greater capacity to confidently engage with Australian tourism products.”
Ms Mariani said the Digital & Distribution Working Group, one of the consultative committees established to support the implementation of the National Long-Term Tourism Strategy, saw strong digital engagement as a critical goal in enabling the industry to achieve its potential for growth under Tourism 2020.
“The increased industry engagement with online commerce in the past two years is a great achievement, but there’s still more work to do.
“Online capacity for tourism businesses is a vital component in connecting products with the global consumer and is simply an ‘expected’ in the mind of today’s global traveler.
“Australian tourism operators need to be fully enabled and engaged with this technology – without real time availability and capacity to accept payment online, they will fail to successfully connect with today’s consumer.
“Significantly, the report also shows that those operators who engage with the Australian Tourism Data Warehouse (ATDW) generally had greater digital capabilities, showing the success of this agency in supporting the digital capacity of the industry.
“Tools like the Tourism e-kit and the new online widget introduced by ATDW will go a long way in assisting the industry to engage in a complex digital environment and State Tourism Organisations also have a significant leadership role to play in getting tourism operators connected and engaged in the digital world,” Ms Mariani said.
Theodore is the Co-Founder and Managing Editor of TravelDailyNews Media Network; his responsibilities include business development and planning for TravelDailyNews long-term opportunities.
