Tourism Talk

Edition 260 - 27 January 2009

G’DAY, USA 2009

A delegation from Tasmania, headed by the Minister for Tourism, Michelle O’Byrne, recently attended Australia Week 2009 in the United States.

Australia Week’s G’DAY USA is a diverse program of activities and events held in Los Angeles, San Francisco and New York, showcasing the very best of Australian culture, fashion, food, wine, tourism and business.

The Tasmanian delegation focused on Tasmania as a unique holiday experience - an inspirational destination in which visitors can find the freshest produce, the most rejuvenating outdoor activities, incredible wines, abundant wildlife and beautiful scenery.

The delegation participated in 16 events, of which five were exclusive ‘Tasmania’ events, aimed at media, trade and consumer audiences. The delegation also undertook a large number of one-on-one meetings and interviews with media outlets, to further promote Tasmania as a specialised offering for passionate travelers.

During G’DAY festivities, Tasmania featured at such diverse events as a cooking demonstration in San Francisco conducted by television lifestyle and cooking show host, Laura McIntosh, and the ‘Come Walkabout in Beverly Hills’ event, highlighting Tasmania’s iconic walking locations such as Cradle Mountain, the Freycinet Peninsula, Maria Island and the Bay of Fires.

As well, a golf day at the Sherwood Country Club in Thousand Oaks, California saw Tasmania’s diverse range of golfing experiences promoted to leading business executives.  The plight of the Tasmanian devil was also highlighted with the help of wildlife guru and television personality Jack Hanna at a special benefit dinner, featuring a silent auction to raise proceeds for research into the Facial Tumour Disease.

Other events included lectures, luncheons for Tassie Specialist travel agents in San Francisco and New York, and an event to present Tasmania as a culturally vibrant destination to approximately 50 key media in the San Francisco area.

This was Tasmania’s third year in attendance at G’Day USA. It provided invaluable opportunities for Tasmania’s tourism industry to develop new partnerships and strengthen existing ones and a unique opportunity for Tasmania to generate publicity and exposure in the North American market in a way not available through any other means.

Visitor Satisfaction Survey

Did you know that visitor satisfaction for ‘local atmosphere’ in Stanley is 10% higher than the Tasmanian average and 12% higher than the Australian average, or that Stanley is similar to the Tasmanian and Australian averages for visitor satisfaction with ‘information services’?

For the first time the information collected from the ’ Visitor Profile and Satisfaction Survey’ has been benchmarked across Australia. The survey was undertaken by Tourism Research Australia (TRA) in conjunction with the State Tourism Organisations.  Tasmania was one of the first states to work with TRA on the project when, almost two years ago, we trialled different collection methodologies in six locations across Tasmania – at Stanley, Deloraine, Freycinet Peninsular, Tasman, Ulverstone and Sorell - a highly visited but ‘pass through’ location.

As well as revealing information about the visitor profiles in each location, visitor satisfaction was analysed with respect to commercial accommodation, food and beverage, attractions, shopping, roads, entertainment and nightlife, tours, signage, information services in the region, friendliness of locals, and local atmosphere.

While the results for each site were provided to local Councils and Tourism Associations, until now there’s been no way to compare the results with other locations.

Tourism Research Australia has now completed  the same work in around 70 locations across Australia and produced benchmark summary sheets for each location. These show the data for that location and compare it with the data for other areas surveyed in Tasmania and with all locations surveyed across Australia.

Note that only visitors who travel to the destination for a holiday or to visit friends and relatives are included in the summaries. No significance testing has been done and the results are indicative only as the sample size is not necessarily large.

If you would like more information, please contact your local Coordinator Industry Development, Wayne Bolton (NW, 6431 6285), Dan Sapier (S, 6230 8285) or Rebecca King (N, 6336 3212).

Qantas Australian Tourism Awards

Tickets are now on sale for the Qantas Australian Tourism Awards Presentation Dinner. The awards recognise and promote excellence in tourism.

Finalists are drawn from the State and Territory Tourism Awards winners across 27 categories including attractions, tour and transport operators, accommodation, events and new tourism development.

This year’s winners will be announced at the formal Awards Ceremony and Gala Dinner being held at Melbourne on Crown on Friday 27th February 2009.

For more information on the Awards, special accommodation offers and to book your tickets online visit the Qantas Australian Tourism Awards website.

New Website to Promote Flinders Island

A new website is promoting the natural beauty and interests of Flinders Island to the world. Produced by Flinders Island Tourism Association, the website contains a wealth of information on where to stay and what to do while on Flinders.

Information can be found on the island’s restaurants and cafes, how to get around, fishing and boat charters and the retail services available. As well, visitors to the website can book all of their travel, accommodation, car hire and tours online, making the website a one-stop-shop for people planning to visit Flinders Island.

The website was funded under the Federal Government’s Australian Tourism Development Program and can be found at: http://www.visitflindersisland.com.au/

Innkeepers Wins Export Brochure of the Year

Downunder Travel Bulletin has named Innkeepers Tasmania the winners of their annual Export Brochure of the Year for 2008-2009.

Downunder Travel Bulletin publishes a fortnightly print and online newsletter distributed worldwide to over 9000 of Australia’s major tourism trade partners.

Ian Rankine, Chief Executive of Innkeepers Tasmania, acknowledged this award as valuable recognition of the company’s recent re-branding and enhanced product content which now includes 35 state-wide accommodation properties and 14 major visitor experiences and attractions.

An independent panel of judges assessed the award against a range of criteria including initial presentation and cover design, overall appeal of brochure and ability to close the sale.

The Innkeepers Tasmania brochure is already widely distributed throughout Australia and overseas but may be downloaded from www.innkeeper.com.au or email reservations@innkeeper.com.au for a printed copy.

Have you Assessed Your Website Recently?

Does your website meet these criteria:

• You can change the content of the site and add new pages using a content management system (score 2 points)
• You check your emails at least 3 times a days and respond promptly (score  3 points)
• A client can book the product on your site and pay with a credit card (score 2 points)
• You have a reliable web host and your website has never been the victim of technical problems or viruses (score 1 point)
• You have access to, and can monitor, the visitation statistics of your website (score 2 points)

How did you go?

you score 10 points? If not, then take a look at the tutorial My Initial Website Assessment [PDF 132KB]  in the new Tourism e-kit.

The Tourism e-kit is a tourism-specific online marketing resource that helps operators benefit from online marketing opportunities in order to remain competitive. It contains up to date information on e-marketing, search engine optimisation, website strategy and much more.

The e-kit can help operators save time and money, with modules developed by consultants specifically for tourism operators.

The Tourism e-kit can be downloaded free of charge as separate tutorials or as an entire document.

“Finding clear, unbiased information about the various components of digital strategy has proven difficult so when the e-kit was released, I fell upon it eagerly and was not disappointed. It describes how one can fit various elements of online marketing together. It even offers advice about prioritisation of steps; essential to most of us who balance these tasks with our many other responsibilities”. Port Arthur Marketing Manager, Andrew Ross.

For more information contact:

• Rebecca.King@tourism.tas.gov.au (N)
• Wayne.Bolton@tourism.tas.gov.au (NW)
• Dan.Sapier@tourism.tas.gov.au (S).

TigerTour Update

Here are the latest additions to the TigerTOUR database.

Accommodation

• Bellehaven, Hobart
• Resolution Vineyard House, Middleton
• Stone Cottage, Ross
• Barclay’s Hobart, West Hobart
• Bruny Island Beachside Accommodation, Bruny Island

Attractions

• Seaeagle Sailing Charters, Hobart

Tourism Tasmania’s Product Consultants can assist you to update your business details, email: TigerTOUR@tourism.tas.gov.au or phone: (03) 6230 8229.