Tourism operators throughout Australia are benefiting from a new online learning community designed to increase their uptake of new technologies widely used in the marketplace.
A 65-module self-learning program is embodied within an online community where sharing of knowledge and experience by accredited coaches and tourism operators is paramount to extend the digital capability of tourism businesses. Sharing of knowledge is enabled through modern open source web forums, small online training sessions and chat rooms.
Research shows that tourism businesses are lagging their customer markets in technology adoption and missing out on sales opportunities. 85% of travellers use their smart phone or tablet whilst on holidays, yet only 40 per cent of tourism businesses optimise their websites for search capability and only one in two tourism websites are mobile friendly.
“Tourism is a vital part of Australia’s economy and operators are missing out on business opportunities and growth simply because they have not kept up with IT advancements.
“The research is quite alarming and we wanted to create a different type of learning environment to help close the gap. That’s why we decided to provide a knowledge sharing platform that enables learning in an innovative way,” said Tourism Tribe co-founder, Liz Ward.
Tourism operator, Kim Kleinitz, owner of Jetty Road Retreat in Victoria said “I think it’s wonderful and it’s great for the tourism industry. It’s been a one stop shop for my burning questions that I’ve gathered over the last three years as a tourism operator. Digital marketing is always what I’ve considered to be the most expensive fix in my business and having a resource like Tourism Tribe to be able to jump onto and just get those questions answered with the added bonus of connecting me to other people that have the same problems or even potential supplies that can help me out, it’s been wonderful, really, really great.”
Ms Ward said the new online learning community is a one of a kind for tourism and is proving to be filling a need in the industry. Since the launch in July this year over 240 tourism operators and regional tourism staff from across Australia and internationally have joined the online tribe and engagement through the forums and group training sessions has been extraordinary in such a short period of time.
Tourism Tribe Chief Information Officer Fabienne Wintle is excited by the early success of the new platform. “This type of online community is exactly what’s needed in tourism today so that people who work in tourism in any part of the world can connect and share their knowledge about all the different aspects of marketing and distribution”.
“We are living in the sharing economy. If Uber is for sharing drivers and cars and Air BnB is for sharing beds and rooms, then Tourism Tribe is for sharing knowledge and experience”.
Tourism Tribe launched on 1 July 2015 www.tourismtribe.com
