EH Tourism Delimma- A Time To ReTHINK

OK.. so it has been awhile. I have slacked off a bit. I had tug-a-war with a cold and work sometimes consumes you because you enjoy it so much.

Recently we have been powering down on the Vancouver Island tourism websites. Giving them a face lift to match with our EH Tourism theme and look more like the others. So far we have added about 60 new parks, 35 new community pages and over 50o additional photos online in the Photo Gallery. It is coming along.

It is also the time of season when tourism business look back on the previous year. What a year it has been. It was the first full summer tourism season under the economic meltdown. And the industry took a big hit.

We again had to deal with the ongoing tourism hurtles like the high loonie,  the border issue and Buy American.  And new hurtles are coming like the HST and the economic let down that history shows we will be experiencing after the Olympics (which by the way will benefit Whistler and Vancouver only for a short period of time.. and the spin they are putting on the domino effect the Olympics will have for allof BC is for the niave). It is only going to get more challenging.

That is the exact reason why tourism businesses should get there act together when it comes to advertising. It is amazing some of the decisions tourism businesses make without any facts, figures or research (probably over 80% of BC tourism businesses do not know where the people come from that visit their website). How is that good business?

Many tourism website owners never go online and search like a tourist themselves to see how their website is doing or which tourism websites appear the most. A simple but effective way to see where to advertise. Search 20 different ways. Search accommodations, attractions, activities, parks, lakes and rivers in yoour community. See which website comes up most for your community. Sounds simple does it not.

In fact, based on our conversations, many make their advertising decisions on a “follow the crowd mentality”. If the leader is wrong the crowd goes over a cliff. Which is what is happening in many tourism communities today. Too many businesses based advertising on a perceived loyalty and not enough tourism businesses advertised based on what is working online. This loyalty is given freely without thinking.  A loyalty that is showing a lack of loyalty in return during tough times.

The good news in all of this is that we are doing fantastic. It is in these tough times where people stay home more. When people stay home they use the internet more. When there is more people on the internet there is more traffic to our websites. Hence why our tourism business is growing faster than ever before. More people are finding out what we can do.

As for our competitors – it is not looking good. Many rely on Government funding. That is gone and so are many of them.  Many tourism websites looked good in the boom era but did nothing for generating business when it counts and they are closing shop. Many realize management lived large in the boom time and now are forced to restructure. Too many tourism businesses put all their eggs in one basket based on bad information.

We, like to keep it simple and effective.. hmmmm.. maybe that is why we are successful.