See SA online

The number one selling commodity online is travel, with over 70% of travellers using the internet as their main source of travel information. Surprisingly, South Africa, with its high hopes for tourist dollars streaming in this year, lags behind the rest of the world in the e-tourism stakes. But the country is catching on fast, and the 2010 World Cup tourist influx may well give e-tourism a boost as the local hospitality industry sees the potential value of being highly visible online.

A recent e-Tourism Africa summit held in Midrand explored the potential for e-tourism growth in SA, and the benefits digital channels can offer the travel and tourism industries in SA. The advantages are myriad, it seems.

CASHING IN ON THE NEW WAVE

Damian Cook, CEO of E-Tourism Africa, says over $120 billion is spent on online travel sales worldwide every year. South Africa, which accounts for 4% of global tourism, still lags behind the world in its use of digital channels.

"With online travel in Africa, we`re pretty out of the loop in terms of what happens globally," he says. "At the moment we`ve got about, say, 48% average globally from the travel industry that`s online. So [48% of travel was] researched, booked, bought and paid for online. In a lot of markets, like the US and Europe, that can go up to 70%. But in Africa, we`re distributing less than 2% online. There`s a big gap between what`s happened around the world and what`s happening in Africa."

Cook said Africa has two main obstacles preventing the uptake of e-tourism: the lack of e-commerce and the lack of available inventory.

"We still have a way to go to catch up, but we are starting to see a lot of changes now, there`s a lot more awareness, especially in the private sector," says Cook.

SA`s e-tourism industry can quickly move ahead of the rest of Africa`s trends because SA is one of the few African countries where taking payment online is viable and legal, says Cook.

In addition, the expected influx of around half a million foreign tourists during the 2010 Fifa World Cup this year should serve as an incentive to the local tourism industry to make its presence known online, where foreigners will be doing their travel research. Part of the beauty of e-tourism is that even the smallest B&B can have a presence where the world`s tourists can find it.

Cook explains that e-tourism is much more than just having a brochure-type website and taking bookings via e-mail. "Change is happening so fast," he says of the internet. "If we don`t see change and react, we face extinction."

Cook notes that the correct content is critical in a site aimed at tourists. "Consumers are beyond text. They don`t just want to read it, they want to see it, hear it and experience it."

He encouraged a more visual medium for motivational content. "We have frequent customers but do we have their children? Many of us are firmly rooted in traditional sales and marketing techniques but we need to face the future.

"As amazing and scary as [new technology] is, it`s with us. We only have one option, and that`s to evolve."

Some players are ahead of the game in SA, having launched interactive websites, virtual tours, webcams and other multimedia, as well as mobile tourism solutions to make the most of the digital channels available. The Department of Tourism has launched a site, www.rooms4u.travel, to provide tourists with a directory of accommodation and services available. An advanced tourism contact centre has also been opened at +27 87 803 INFO 4636.

WORD OF MOUSE

Speakers at the e-Tourism summit highlighted the power of user-generated content (UGC) in e-tourism.  UGC, as the term implies, is content created by a user, rather than a marketing team. This can be in the form of tweets (Twitter messages), photos, self-made YouTube videos or blog posts.

This type of content can be a blessing or a curse, explains Ross Kata, market manager Africa at Expedia, an online travel agency. The new "prosumer" (a consumer who takes an active role in engaging with a brand) makes both good and bad opinions public. An example of this is the recent Sacha Baron Cohen film Bruno. The film saw a sharp drop in sales on the second day of release, because viewers tweeted their (negative) opinions immediately after watching the film, so potential customers didn`t have to wait for reviewers to give their thoughts.

Johan Knols, owner of PlanYourSafari.com, and Dr Paula Kahumbu, CEO of WildlifeDirect, both noted that blogging is a powerful e-tourism tool. However, Knols says there are 190 million blogs in the world, and for this reason, it may be difficult to stand out from the crowd.

Cook says customers now trust companies less, and individuals more, for travel info. But since very few people have acquaintances who have been to every country in the world, most people, when planning a trip, go online to read the reviews and stories of fellow internet users. "We`re moving away from word of mouth to word of mouse."

Maud Larpent, business development executive, TripAdvisor, cited research from Forrester`s Technology Benchmark Study Q2 2008, which showed 59% of European online consumers use the internet for travel research, and only 23% use magazines, the next mostly highly rated source.

She says with the recession, customers are doing a lot more research before travelling to get the best deals, and most of this is done online.

Andrew Pozniak, head of travel - Africa for Google, reiterates with data showing most travel consumers research online, and the majority of consumers research destinations for 1 4 weeks before making a decision.

Non-transactional sites (those that do not deal with buying and selling online) are gaining increasing travel market share. In 2Q07, they accounted for 29% and in 2Q09, 33% market share.

With over 1.6 billion people worldwide and five million South Africans now having internet access, more and more business will be conducted online. And since the younger market is more inclined to use the internet, e-tourism growth is set to continue.

Kata cites data showing that when it comes to purchasing, the 18-24 age group were more likely to make hotel and flight bookings online through an online travel agent, and older consumers are more likely to use the telephone.

Kata says the most oft-cited reason for booking online is convenience, followed by finding the cheapest rates and a quicker booking process. He mentions that three South African destinations, Cape Town, Johannesburg and Durban, are steadily climbing in online rankings. In 2008, Cape Town was ranked 116 on Expedia and is now 80. Similarly, Johannesburg was 346 and is now 231 and Durban was 597 and is now 429.

GETTING INNOVATIVE

Illustrating the versatility of digital channels to promote tourism, Jeremy Touze, co-founder of travellers` network Wayn.com, highlighted the South African Tourism Board (SATB)`s online Face of South Africa campaign (faceofsouthafrica.wayn.com). The campaign was aimed at finding the "face of South Africa", a brand advocate for SA from the Wayn community. The winner would win a 10 day trip to SA and would then report back on their experiences to educate Wayn users about SA as a tourism destination.

Huge interest was generated, with 20 000 global entries for the campaign, 145 872 views to the profile and 7 213 comments on the SATB profile. A winner (Jessica Speziale) was selected out of 13 finalists.

Touze calls SATB "one of the most forward thinking" tourism boards in the world.

Kevin Lourens, MD of Cambrient, the company that created the website for South Africa Tourism, says the most prominent theme on the site is cultural tourism. Entertainment and leisure is the next highest theme and third is wildlife.

Another high profile online campaign to generate tourist interest was run in Australia last year, when Tourism Queensland offered a lucky winner the chance to get paid for living in a coastal paradise. Within days of launching the "Best Job In The World" promotion,  thousands of prospective candidates had crashed the competition website. Around 34 000 applications were received, the campaign generated thousands of news reports around the world, and millions of internet users learnt more about the region as the contest piqued their interest. The campaign was part of a $1.7 million global marketing strategy and was expected to generate more than $100 million worth of publicity for Queensland.

Another successful campaign was the Ugandan Friend-A-Gorilla (www.friendagorilla.org) campaign, aimed at gorilla conservation. Lillian Nsubuga, PR manager for the Uganda Wildlife Authority, says Uganda is home to 53% of the world`s mountain gorilla population, but the species is highly endangered. The Friend-A-Gorilla campaign aimed to raise money for conservation through social media. Uganda markets itself as a country for mountain gorilla tourism, and decided to get internet users involved.

The gorilla population was put onto Facebook and Twitter, so that for $1, a user could have a gorilla as a Facebook and Twitter friend.

Every gorilla in the habituated groups had to be photographed for their profiles, and they also have character write-ups. It was to "re-brand mountain gorilla tourism", says Nsubuga. After creating a Friend-A-Gorilla fanpage on Facebook, Nsubuga says 1 000 people friended within an hour. Now, 13 125 people have friended gorillas, 142 213 people have visited the site and most visitors are from the US, the UK, Japan, Italy and Uganda.

Wildlife Direct, like Friend-A-Gorilla, uses the internet and social media for nature conservation purposes. "Tourism and wildlife are inextricable," says Cook. The company, which is completely internet-based, trains conservationists to blog and allows users to donate money to their preferred cause.

SHOW ME

Tourists want as much detail as possible when planning their trips, so video is increasingly important in e-tourism. An SA user-generated YouTube hit, The Battle at Kruger, in which lions and crocodiles fight for a young buffalo is a case in point. The video has received 48 million hits on YouTube in the past two years.

Pozniak cites a June 2009 study by Google and OTX, in which 36% of personal users and 56% of business users said they watch travel videos online, up from 15% in a study a year earlier.

Graham Wallington, WildEarth media, adds that real-time video content is becoming important in the wildlife industry. Virtual safaris are a must do, he says. "The industry has to be able to scale without environmental impact."

TUNING OUT THE DOWNTURN

It would seem that Africa, unlike most travel destinations, didn`t suffer as badly in the recent economic recession.

Pozniak says Africa experienced growth in tourist arrivals. Like most regions, Africa suffered a dip in tourists from the first half of 2008 to the second half.

But it is the only continent that saw more tourists in the first half of 2009 than the second half of 2008. This information was acquired from the World Tourism Organisation.

Even during the recession, consumers didn`t stop searching for travel. Travel search in Google DE grew 20% year on year from June-August 08 to June-August 09. In fact, says Pozniak, paid clicks on Google ZA increased 46% in October 09 from October 08. "Taking the UK as a source market, SA is one of the year`s stronger performers."