| Journal: TWUK | Section: |
| Title: | Issue Date: 12/06/00 |
| Author: | Page Number: 31 |
| Copyright: Other |
ATC to focus on Web initiatives
Lisa James reports from the Australian Tourism Exchange in Sydney
THE AUSTRALIAN Tourism Commission is to cut down on mainstream advertising and will focus instead on using Internet technology to step up its direct marketing campaign to consumers.The ATC wants to create profiles of holidaymakers, then contact them using e-mail or text messaging on a mobile telephone to let them know of special offers and holidays that will suit them.
ATC deputy managing director Bill Calderwood said: “We have to be proactive and go after clients, not sit and wait for them to think about when they will come to Australia. “The idea is we will create profiles and then we will be able to actually make offers to people on specific products, such as diving, fishing, golfing or skiing.”
He gave an example of how the direct marketing will work: “You are walking down the street and all of a sudden your mobile phone beeps. A message will then come up saying: ‘It’s high time you had a holiday in Australia’. “This example is possible now, and we will be doing it in the next two-three years.
“It is a relatively cheap tool because the waste factor is reduced. In the future, technology will make our overall marketing approach far more cost effective.”
Calderwood denied that the approach was equivalent to sending out junk mail, or that agents would be left out of the loop.
“Junk mail will only be junk mail when it is not relative to you.
“I would hope that this is not going to be the case as we will be providing a better match between buyer and seller.
“At the moment, only 5% of transactions are done on the Web, and that figure will double in the next few years.
“Many of the bookings that are made over the Internet are simple ones.
“The more complicated transactions will still require the involvement of the travel agent.”
Proactive: by creating customer profiles, the ATC will be able to make offers to people on specific products, such as diving