Australian Travel and Tourism News

PBT Digital's Australian Travel and Tourism News offers a valuable industry insight for Australian tourism operators. We report concise, thought provoking summaries of the latest travel trends, industry initiatives and destination marketing ideas. Stay informed, cut the clutter, get the good oil.

FROM TOURISM TASMANIA VISUAL LIBRARY

Dear Tourism Operator,

If you have any new video footage of your tourism product that could be used to market your tourism experience and Tasmania, now is great time to contact the Visual Library. Digital video footage is a valuable component of the service we provide to market Tasmania to a worldwide audience.

All types of footage will be considered including general scenic shots as well as footage of people enjoying your tourism experience.

Ideally this footage is to be supplied to the Visual Library free-of-charge and without copyright restrictions. It is important that you ensure the agreement with your filmmaker allows you to pass the footage to a third party, namely Tourism Tasmania. This allows Tourism Tasmania to promote your product or experience through all mediums, extending the potential exposure of your product to media or travel trade worldwide.

Submitting your footage

When you submit the footage, the Visual Library Team will make a selection and let you know via email which segments they feel will give you the best exposure. You will then receive an agreement from Tourism Tasmania for signature by the filmmaker or yourself (if you have the appropriate clearance from your filmmaker). In this agreement you will be able to specify usage of your video content, for example Tourism Tasmania use only, or whether you are happy for us to supply your footage to media and trade worldwide.

To submit your footage or for more information, please contact the Visual Library on (03) 6230 8165 or email images@tourism.tas.gov.au

You are welcome to contact us with any additional questions about Tourism Tasmania’s Visual Library.

We look forward to hearing from you soon.

Regards,

Alanna Rolph & Rene Wanless
Tourism Tasmania Visual Library

The Tourism Australia ‘There’s Nothing Like Australia’ website went live on the 15th of April and was quickly adopted by travellers and Australian’s as a place to share their travel photos. Over 300 images were posted on the first day and we were very pleased to see Tourism Australia ensuring the content is tagged by geographic location, by number and by topic.

Assuming that the site’s Terms and Conditions address distribution of user content to other sites (which is the intent of the campaign to publish the images on a map on australia.com) it would seem logical that the content is also syndicated to ATDW (www.atdw.com.au) distributors to extend the reach and effectiveness of the campaign.

Perhaps this will happen next?

We understand that the campaign was designed so the States and Territories (STO’s) could continue the initiative at State and Regional level. We would assume the content collected by this new site will then be sent on to the States and Territories to publish on their websites and this content will then be migrated to the ATDW.

The new ‘There’s Nothing Like Australia’ campaign being launched by Tourism Australia on the 15th of April is a healthy step in the right direction, acknowledging the value of user generated content in promoting travel and tourism in Australia.

planbooktravel.com.au has been actively pushing Australian tourism operators, Regional Tourism Organisations (RTOs), State Tourism Organisations (STOs) and even Visitor Information Centres (VICs) to use content to promote their location for some years now and we welcome the support of Tourism Australia to pursue the same initiative.

We are yet to see a preview of how this new 4 million dollar site will work but we surely hope it is more than just another branding exercise and can achieve real, measurable results. The reference by Federal Tourism Minister Martin Ferguson in News.com article on the 31st of March 2010, did not leave us full of hope: “The photos will form part of a searchable online mosaic of Australia that will hopefully become word-of-mouth marketing.”

So what would we like to see from Tourism Australia and this campaign?

Firstly, lets hope they get the content structured right. It should be geographically tagged and catalogued by Australian location, Region and State.

Will it be syndicated to the Australian Tourism Data Warehouse www.atdw.com.au?

If the ATDW received the content, they could distribute it to their network of websites and make it available to a wider group of potential consumers. Distributors could also apply their own technology and applications to present the content in such a way as to enhance it and offer measurable tourism outcomes.

The smarter we are with this data, the greater opportunity we have to create meaningful links to Australian tourism products and services and in turn allow consumers (travellers) to be inspired to travel to Australia.

We look forward to seeing what happens on the 15th. Perhaps Tourism Australia already had all this in mind.

We hope so.

There are two disturbing airline stories in the news, one of a pilot flying around for years on a fake license, and the other, about an air traffic controller allowing a child to direct planes. Are these stories just about wayward individuals in a huge industry or do they point to larger patterns that we need to worry about?

It’s another tip on reading tourism news, is it specific or is there something general that we need to follow-up?

I read a piece recently on the dangers of sitting down. Sitting for long periods is linked to heart disease, diabetes and cancer. It is something to watch in the tourism industry. It may make you feel better about that super lump sum now invested in a small tourism business that has you on your feet cleaning, washing, cooking, making beds and doing everything but sitting down. But if you’re behind a desk or employing people that spend most of their time sitting then read the article and find out what you can do differently to protect yourself and your staff from the dangers of too much sitting around.

I’ve been browsing overseas media and you can always squeeze more from a tourism story if you consider the local dimension to it.  A recent article in the New York Times looks at the small army of retirees offering to work in national and state parks in return for free accommodation, either parking or camping.

One volunteer worker at a State Park in South Texas is quoted as saying:

“We’re here for three reasons “No. 1, we like to travel. No. 2, we like people. And No. 3, we’re on a budget.”

There are various estimates of the number of people living this way in America but one source puts it at around 80,000.

It would be interesting to see what, if any, figures there were in Australia.  Read the NYT piece and please let us know if you have anything to report about a similar movement happening here.

A good rule to follow when reading about the tourism industry in the news is to discount the puff and weight the article according to who is paying for it.

So let’s try this approach on a recent article in The Australian newspaper about building the Caves Beachside Resort in Lake Macquarie, just north of Sydney. The story is headlined as a battle between developers, local and state government and the community. But the struggle to have the resort built and the tugging and clash of interests along the way is glossed over in what amounts to a puff piece about the glories of the resort once built. The article openly states that the journalist was a guest of the Caves Beach Resort but this also should alert the reader to an article strongly biased in favour of the resort and the developers.

We hear directly from the developers but nothing from the other interests involved. There is valuable information in the article and it is not a waste of time to read it but it is not the the full story.

Many big-name Queensland attractions, including the Australian Outback Spectacular, Sea World, Australian Stockman’s Hall of Fame and Movie World are not taking advantage of social networking sites such as Twitter, reported The Sunday Mail this week.

Tourism experts at the University of Queensland say that twitter and other blogging technologies can provide a direct link to consumers.

University of Queensland tourism Expert Noel Scott said sites such as Twitter help tourism operators to promote and update their brand instantly.

“Organisations need to entice people to come to them” says social commentator David Chalk.

Existing Australian tourism sites on Twitter offer advice on everything from the weather to snow conditions, festivals and other local events.

Visit the planbooktravel Twitter page

A new study reveals Australia is the most desirable place to holiday because of its opportunity for adventure, its wildlife, scenery and beaches, reports The Age in Melbourne.

However the only problem, according the international Brainjuicer study, is that few made the journey due the cost and distance of travel.
Read Entire Article Here

The Queensland Business Review reports how Mantra customers mistakenly booked their Gold Coast holidays online with companies using websites misrepresenting themselves as the management of Mantra Circle on Cavill, including Mantra’s well-known Gold Coast properties such as Mantra Sun City, Mantra Crown Towers and Q1.

Click Here To Read Full Story