As part of its efforts to increase the use of online booking facilities among the tourism industry, Tourism Victoria is supporting the adoption of a new national booking platform called Tourism Exchange Australia (TXA).

Tourism Exchange Australia has the support of all state and federal government tourism organisations, and provides an open and neutral platform the distribution of tourism products.

A system built on success

Tourism Exchange Australia builds on the successful distribution network developed by the Australian Tourism Data Warehouse (ATDW) for the syndication of tourism product and destination information.

Operators who have listings with the ATDW will have information about their products automatically syndicated and published on a number of travel websites such as About-Australia.com and Totaltravel.com. Listing with the ATDW is free and automatic for businesses that have listings on Tourism Victoria’s consumer portal, visitvictoria.com.

Tourism Exchange Australia enhances the ATDW system by providing a way for operators to add live pricing and availability to their existing ATDW listings. This means that websites that publish product information from the ATDW can now also let consumers directly search and book that product directly.

How TXA works

TXA lets operators select their preferred inventory location (including existing visitor information centre systems and property management systems).

Rather than holding inventory, this system automatically polls the tourism operators nominated systems that contain inventory. It allows the easy establishment of online agreements between the tourism industry and parties that want to sell inventory.  Behind the scenes it has many different types of interfaces that allow seamless and consistent booking experiences which are independent of the booking systems used by tourism businesses.

The exchange will let product distribution websites search across (and book product on) any connected booking system. It will give product providers the opportunity to increase their sales and offers consumers the ability to source high quality information about the tourism industry and book it securely online.

Connected booking systems

In order to be distributed through TXA, inventory must be held in a booking system that has connected to the Exchange.

A wide range of booking systems are integrated into the TXA system including locally developed booking systems. The Exchange is open to any booking system that holds live inventory and pricing information for Australian tourism products.

An up-to-date list of booking systems that have connected to the Exchange can be found at the Australian Tourism Data Warehouse website.

Commercial opportunities

Tourism operators benefit from wider distribution of their inventory through the exchange. They are able to select the distributors they wish to sell through (and the commissions and terms they are happy with), customise pricing for different distributors, increase the exposure of their products in new markets and retain total control over who sells their inventory and at what rate.

Visitor Information Centres that integrate with the exchange can access more bookable product to provide better service and more choice to their customers, or sell inventory on their systems through the exchange to a wide, online consumer base.

A fee of 2.8% is charged on all bookings conducted through the exchange. Other fees and commissions can be set by distributors and polling partners, but operators will always retain the ability to accept or refuse these commissions.

How operators can distribute through TXA

In order to sell product through TXA, operators will need:

1. To be using a TXA-connected booking system or property management system. You can ask your booking system provider for this information, or for a list of current TXA-compatible systems, check the ATDW website.
   
   
2. Live availability and pricing information for your products on your property management system or booking system. All bookings made through the exchange are instantly confirmed.
   
   
3. An online merchant facility so that you can process credit card transactions over the web. Your bank can help you obtain an online merchant facility if you do not already have one.
   
   
4. A listing with the Australian Tourism Data Warehouse (ATDW). If you have a listing on visitvictoria.com your listing with the ATDW is free and automatic.

Booking on visitvictoria.com

As part of its support for TXA, and to underscore the increasingly vital role online booking plays in e-tourism marketing, Tourism Victoria had added Exchange powered booking to its main consumer portal visitvictoria.com.

For more information on how works, please click here.

Have questions?

If you have questions that aren't answered here, please visit our FAQ pages:

• FAQs about Tourism Exchange Australia
• FAQs about Selling through Tourism Exchange Australia
• TXA Glossary

If you have any other questions about Tourism Victoria’s online booking program, please don’t hesitate to contact our industry outreach consultant, Paul Cooper. He can be contacted at