As the team behind Tourism Tribe we get to see a lot of different ways in which industry is working to improve their digital skills and we have been super impressed by our friends at Tourism Northern Tasmania (TNT).  This small and innovative regional tourism organisation (RTO) is showing stunning leadership in how they are driving up the digital capabilities of tourism operators in their beautiful part of the world.

Tourism Northern Tasmania have adopted the Tourism Tribe e Tourism Champions model and are co-ordinating their own local tribe of tourism operators to learn all about digital marketing.

Everyone benefits from this initiative:

• the entire destination does better by having more digitally savvy businesses that can attract and convert more customers;
• the businesses grow and work collaboratively by sharing content and learning from each other;
• consumers are serviced better online;
• everyone plays a role in enhancing the online profile of the destination; and
• the Regional Tourism Organisation is offering a value add to their membership.

This is how it works

• Tourism Northern Tasmania worked with the Launceston Tamar Valley Tourism Association and a highly motivated West Tamar Council to identify 15 leading operators for the trial ‘Tribe’
• they got this group to sign up to Tourism Tribe with the added incentive of providing 6 face-to-face tutorial style classes to get them started the RTO Marketing Manager and digital co-ordinator, Sarah Cannell, facilitates the group using the learning resources and forums on Tourism Tribe, they study and discuss a digital topic eg. Facebook for business, on a weekly basis
• we chime in from time to time to support the group with an online presentation e.g. our Liz Ward beamed in via web conference last week and stepped the group through the Digital Check-up so they could self assess their digital know-how in a guided session from an expert

Is it working?

Gillian Miles, Industry Liaison for TNT is the driving force behind the group and Gillian says that according to feedback and levels of engagement, the model is working well:

We can see their knowledge expanding and their confidence growing and they keep showing up every week, so we know our members are getting value from the program.  We are excited about rolling this program out on a continuous basis with other local tourism associations who are already lined up requesting a Tribe for their own membership region.

Could other Destination Marketing Organisations (DMOs) do it?

What would be the essential ingredients for other DMOs to implement this collaborative model?

• a culture of collaboration across a group of operators in their region and in the DMO
• a group facilitator with strong digital skills
• recognition by local industry that they need digital in their business (or they should sell it!)  
• a good working relationship with Tourism Tribe as your digital support partner

Would you like to do this?

We can help you to set this up.  We can train a member of your team to get their skills up to scratch and give them the confidence to lead the group.

We can offer you a special deal for your members to join Tourism Tribe.
We can support you through this journey.

Contact Liz on 0419 578 200 or email help@tourismtribe.com