Tourism Victoria is engaged in a four year program to accelerate the adoption of online booking in the tourism industry. (For an overview of the program, please click here).
The program will encourage uptake of online booking in two ways:
The importance of Visitor Information Centres and industry associations
Tourism Victoria recognises that Visitor Information Centres (VICs) and industry associations have played a crucial role in educating and engaging local industry in online booking. For instance many VICs manage online inventory on behalf of operators, while others have invested considerable time and resources in training operators on the use of booking systems.
Industry associations have also worked hard to keep their members abreast of consumer trends and how the internet can help promote their business and increase sales.
Tourism Victoria will build on these successes by giving VICs and industry associations greater opportunities to distribute product through Tourism Exchange Australia, and work with these partners to help educate the industry about online booking.
Tourism Exchange Australia (TXA)
Australian Tourism Data Warehouse (ATDW)
The ATDW is a national database of information about Australian tourism products and destinations.
This content is compiled in a nationally agreed format and electronically accessible by tourism business owners (operators), wholesalers, retailers and distributors for use in their websites and booking systems.
TXA is a national platform for the distribution of accommodation, attraction, tour and event products. It lets tourism operators and VICs link live price, availability and booking information with their products’ listings in the Australian Tourism Data Warehouse.
Until now, websites that publish product listings from the Australian Tourism Data Warehouse have not been able to sell the products they feature. With TXA, distributors of ATDW content can now let users search for product availability and make bookings directly on their websites.
Tourism Victoria is supporting the Exchange because it provides an open, neutral marketplace for tourism products 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.
TXA Opportunities for VICs
VICs will be key partners in our efforts to encourage online booking adoption across Victoria, and we believe VICs will benefit from the introduction of the Tourism Exchange in two ways:
Increased distribution of VIC-listed products
VICs that use a compatible booking system can connect to Tourism Exchange Australia and sell their inventory through the Exchange. This will mean that inventory that had until now only been available for sale through the VICs website can be distributed and sold across any TXA-powered booking site such as About Australia and visitvictoria.com.
VICs can choose to charge their existing commission rates for sales through the exchange, or may wish to set up a different commission structure for TXA versus non-TXA sales.
Access to a bigger inventory pool
VICs may also wish to connect to the exchange so that they can sell a wider range of products through their own websites or retail centres. This means that VICs can offer better service to walk-in customers and website visitors. For instance VICs can offer visitors the chance to forward book TXA-listed products in neighbouring regions through their website or retail centres.
When acting as a TXA distributor, VICs are free to set their own commission rates and structures.
TXA Opportunities for industry associations
Many industry associations maintain product listings of members on their websites association websites. However these listings often cannot provide live availability and pricing information, and incur significant maintenance and development costs.
Industry associations can now take advantage of TXA’s openness, neutrality and relatively low cost by joining as a distribution website. TXA-powered listings can be added to industry association websites for a relatively low cost, allowing consumers to browse member products, search availability and book instantly.
Distribution websites can also set any commission rate they wish and develop a valuable new income stream from their websites.
Booking on VisitVictoria.com
As part of its support for the Exchange, Tourism Victoria is adding TXA-powered online booking to its main consumer website visitvictoria.com. Booking will be introduced in two stages:
Stage 1 (April 2009) - integration of TXA booking into the current VisitVictoria site will allow consumers to book TXA products directly on VisitVictoria.com. The “Book Online” buttons currently on the website will not be affected by the introduction of TXA booking.
Stage 2 (Q4 2009) - a more integrated TXA booking experience will include features such as availability, price and map-based searching. Pricing and availability information will also be integrated into other visitvictoria.com content. For instance, an editorial page on VisitVictoria.com about Phillip Island’s natural attractions may automatically include booking links to nearby accommodation with availability on the upcoming weekend.
During Stage 1, visitvictoria.com will only provide TXA-powered booking for accommodation products, however it is planned to add tours and attraction bookings in Q4 2009.
Listing requirements will not change
The introduction of booking on visitvictoria.com will not change listing practices or policies.
Online booking capability will not be a pre-requisite for listing on visitvictoria.com and Tourism Victoria will continue to allow operators to link to third party online booking sites with “Book Now” buttons during and after Tourism Exchange Australia integration.
Tourism Victoria will not mandate that operators use TXA-connected booking systems, nor will TXA-connectivity be a pre-requisite for a listing on visitvictoria.com.
Only TXA-powered inventory will benefit from in-site booking on visitvictoria.com and integrated availability and pricing information appearing across the website. TXA-powered inventory may also be promoted in various ways across the website, such as editorial features.
Tourism Victoria will not charge any commission for TXA bookings on its website.
Industry education and regional workshops
Tourism Victoria has also identified a need for industry training and education to improve levels of understanding about online booking and e-marketing more generally.
Over the coming two years we will be developing and conducting an industry education program comprised of three main components:
Development of online training materials, covering areas such as search engine marketing, website development and selection of an online booking system;
Regional training workshops to be run in conjunction with industry groups, Visitor Information Centres and e-marketing and booking service vendors;
Industry outreach via newsletters and local media to educate tourism operators about program activities and how to take the first steps toward getting inventory online.
As pillars of regional tourism industries, Tourism Victoria hopes VICs will play a major role in this education campaign, providing advice, support and grassroots development support to operators and local industry.
Tourism Victoria’s industry education consultant, Paul Cooper, is happy to answer any questions you may have about Tourism Victoria’s online booking program.
He can be reached at
