September 03, 2007 13:18
in Tourism Internet Marketing by Fabienne ::
My last post was about the issues SMTE's have with the web... I thought I would explain in further depth what SMTE's are, and give you a little illustrated taste of what we can find on the Gold Coast!
If you have ever been to Australia's Gold Coast, you would have hopefully had a great time, fantastic weather (every year it rains for one week non stop, and then it's pretty much sunshine every day. For those who want to visit soon, it poured 2 weeks ago so you now have about 340 days to come and enjoy our beaches, broadwater and hinterlands). You would have also most probably noticed that tourism businesses are popping everwhere. There are surfschools, jetski and boat hire, jetboating, sailing, parasailing, coffee/book shops, restaurants, bars, restaurants, bars, art galleries, and so many incredible hidden treasures: the lodges in the Gold Coast Hinterlands. The hinterlands has got the most incredible views of the Gold Coast skyline. And of the Hinzedam!
All these businesses are grouped under the industry acronym of SMTE's. And most of them are a one or two man (men) show with owners that know their product so well and will make your stay memorable. Unfortunately, the owner-operators do not have the time and resources, and understanding of the incredible evolution of tourism and the web. What we call e-tourism. E-tourism is not only one facet of tourism, or one option. It has become the "standard". It needs to be embraced in order for SMTE's to be successful.
I am currently working with 3 Australian Universities - University of Queensland, Victoria and South Australia on a project with the objective of developing a toolkit / platform to assist SMTE's in maximising their e-Tourism potential. It is incredible the amount of academic research that has been done on the subject. However, to my great disappointment, all these very recent articles never made it outside academia. The knowledge is therefore not getting shared with those who need it the most: the SMTE's.
Let's hope Untanglemyweb.com and I can reverse this trend!