Online booking capabilities are becoming crucial to the success of tourism products. A rising generation of travellers not only demands that tourism businesses reach out to them with informative and inspirational websites, but also expect to book and pay online once they have made their decision to purchase.

In fact online travel booking has become one the fastest growing uses of the internet amongst Australians (Nielsens / NetRatings, 2008). In the more mature European and North American markets, online bookings account for between forty and seventy percent of consumer travel turnover.

And while the internet has become an indispensable marketing tool for Victoria’s tourism industry, the adoption of online booking is comparatively low. For example, less than 10% of operators listed on visivictoria.com have online booking available to consumers.

What Tourism Victoria is doing

Recognising the importance of online booking, Tourism Victoria has initiated a four year campaign to increase the adoption of online booking amongst Victorian operators.

The campaign will encourage online booking adoption in two ways:

1. By supporting a new national platform for the distribution of online inventory, called Tourism Exchange Australia;
   
   
2. By educating operators on how to enhance their online presence, add online booking capabilities and develop an e-marketing plan.

Tourism Exchange Australia (TXA)

Tourism Exchange Australia (also known as TXA or ‘the Exchange’) is a new national platform for the online distribution of accommodation, attraction, tour and event products. The Exchange makes it easy for operators to distribute their products to large number of websites, and gives travel websites a simple way to sell tourism product.

A key benefit for operators with online booking facilities is that they can further distribute their online inventory to a large number of retail websites for a relatively low cost.

Tourism Victoria is supporting the Exchange because it provides an open, neutral marketplace for product and provides a common platform through which booking systems and inventory management systems and can trade availability, pricing and booking information with distributors. The Exchange will promote competition among booking systems and drive innovation among distribution websites who will have access to large inventory pool.

Tourism Victoria will be supporting the adoption of the Exchange by becoming a TXA distributor and introducing TXA-powered booking onto its main consumer website visitvictoria.com.

For more information on TXA and how it will be introduced on visitvictoria.com, please click here.

Industry education

With a number of ways to upload and distribute inventory online, the process can be technically challenging for operators. Education must be a key component of any strategy to increase the number of Victorian operators with online booking facilities.

In recognition of this, Tourism Victoria will conduct an industry education program to increase the awareness and understanding of various e-marketing issues. In particular:

1. The importance of a web presence for tourism operators
   
2. Strategies for successful e-marketing online
   
3. Guidance on how to add online booking functionality and how to choose an online booking system
   

Questions and enquires

If you have any 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