eMarketing provides the tools through which the tourism industry should re-engineer the travel planning process from a user’s point of view. Rather than focusing on what tactics like Email Marketing can do for individual operators, William Price, Head of Online for South African Tourism, is taking a “broader, integrated view on the travel industry”. He sees this as especially important given that building awareness is most valuable when you can convert that awareness into an acquisition or sale.
Take a Fresh Look at the Role of Online
“We need to get people thinking beyond only booking flights and car rentals online”. Rather, William would like platforms and channels that connect the online searcher with everything they need to book and organise their trip in South Africa. We want to make it as easy as possible for a user. There are a number of challenges down this road – as it requires the co-ordination of a number of offline vendors, bodies and groups. From hotel, to tour operator to car rental to a restaurant booking, William’s ultimate goal is that packages are tailor made from one online location.
Global Influence
A lot is being invested globally in online tourism, campaigns William found most impressive include Visit Sweden and Visit Britain. These function as portals to serve a visitor’s travel needs. South African Tourism has also paid attention to platforms like Travelocity and Expedia, which help individual with their bookings. “While they’ve been moving from a specific audience to a broader one, South African Tourism is trying to move from broad awareness to allowing specific packages for individuals.”
The Question of Competition
There are bodies at municipal level for example, competing with each other when they all have a shared goal. “If you look at an example just in terms of Pay Per Click Marketing, you can consider that South African organisations are bidding for the term ‘Cape Town Tourism’,” – and there’s only one first page of results for that term. The more people competing the more the price is driven up – something William believes can be avoided through a more co-ordinated effort to harness traffic and search information. This is, however, easier said than done.
Attract. Engage. Convert. Retain.
This is no small ambition, but would move South African Toursim to the last two stages of their online approach. “Attract. Engage. Convert. Retain.” Currently they are having great success with the first two steps, but “what you must remember is that we are working under government legislation, we’re not supposed to facilitate transactions.” With the department of Environmental Affairs and Tourism being separated, however, there are signs that some interesting changes are afoot. Given the overall goals for South African Tourism (listed below) it’s evident that the Internet can play a huge role in what’s possible.
- Increase spend in tourists coming to South Africa
- Increase their time and length of stay
- Combat seasonality
- Achieve geographic spread
- Make a contribution to industry
Online is the Glue of the Marketing Process (And Needs a Bigger Budget)
William has a specific vision for the role of online in tourism – the glue of the entire travel marketing process. “Currently our budget is sitting at 10% of overall spend”, but when budget becomes available – the first question normally asked is how it can be used online. “We do have to be realistic; so I’d like to see it growing to 20% and then 30% and then 45% over the next few years”.
What They’re Doing Now
So where are South African Tourism’s efforts currently being implemented? The first significant changes, evident of the approach South African Tourism is taking – were implemented in the rebuild of their website. “The first thing we did was to help people find what they need as easily as possible”. They built a national tourism database, where anyone can sign up and submit information. South African Tourism has also launched the FUNDI program (or Destination Specialist Program), which uses the Internet as a platform to train and establish partners globally.
William pointed out that one must have a partnership approach, which is why he’s such a fan of open source group platforms. It’s only once these platforms for transaction and conversion are set up that Social Media marketing, for example, can really be harnessed.
“If you look at a platform like MXit for instance, it can take you as far as building awareness and positioning, which are important, but until there’s a payment platform built in, you can’t really harness what’s possible”.
SA Tourism are definitely engaging in these spaces though Their YouTube channel is testament to the fact that UGC has a significant role to play for tourism. “You have to be prepared for anything when you enter this space though, it’s peer to peer and you have to accept that you are a peer.”
There’s a way to go in terms of the long term vision for South African Tourism, but with 2010 approaching we will only see increased focus on this space.
Also check out:
Muti
Would be nice if South Africa Tourism would recognize the national efforts made to increase SA tourism, say look at www.travelstart.co.za for offering specific packages for individuals since 2006, instead of Expedia or Travelocity.
Posted by Therese on 2010/01/04