National online tourism policy initiatives for Australia
Journal of Travel Research; Boulder; Nov 2000; Pramod Sharma; Dean Carson; Terry DeLacy;

Abstract:
Australia has a history of public sector policy initiatives designed to encourage economic development. Tourism is seen as a key industry for economic development, and the perceived benefits of online technologies for tourism have led to a strong role within the policy context for encouraging technology uptake. There has been some concern on the part of the Australian government that a lack of a national policy to this point means that full benefits to the industry of the online technologies may not have been realized. As a result, the government initiated a program of research and industry consultation in 1999 to develop a national online tourism policy. This process identified five key initiatives that were to form the foundation of an online tourism policy. It is expected that implementation of these initiatives as part of a national online tourism policy will advance the goal of achieving a sustainable tourism industry for Australia.

Summary of Key Issues:

-         Increased customer expectations for information to be up-to-date.

-         Increased customer expectations for accessible processes for communication.

-         Australian Government commitment to the tourism industry resulting in the development of a coherent policy for online tourism.

-         The importance of strategic alliances.

While these issues are relevant for the Australian Tourism Industry and their motivation to move on-line, they are not unique to the internet, these are general marketing issues that have solutions revolving around both on-line and off-line solutions. 

Government Initiatives:

* enhance the national data infrastructure for tourism,

* develop a national online tourism resource center,

* develop regional tourism initiatives,

* empower intermediaries, and

* develop an Indigenous tourism online strategy.

The responsibilities of the National Online Tourism Resource Center will include:

* maintaining a resource directory, including a directory of high-standard examples, to be accessed by industry for identifying opportunities and impediments to the uptake of online technologies;

* assisting industry associations to promote online technology among their members, including organizing and conducting workshops;

* developing national competency standards in online technologies (a discussion on expected competencies is found in Daniele and Mistilis 1999);

* developing a set of guidelines for minimum infrastructure needs for online business practices;

* monitoring and providing information about tax and legal issues relating to online tourism initiatives; and

• undertaking applied research and data gathering about the most effective online strategies for SMTEs.

While few would doubt that this would definitely help the tourism industry to move on-line, the question must be can they in fact afford to do this? With the average cost for an interactive web site with a professional commercial appearance being $10,000 - $15,000, and the majority of operators being very small in nature does this initiative really help the average small tourism business within Australia? 

The Future for Intermediaries.

The future for intermediaries includes helping consumers trawl through the vast range of available information providing consumers with skills to use online technologies, providing consumers with access to online technologies, and providing information validation, quality assurance, and secure financial transaction capacities. Two points are apparent: (1) the shift to online sales is likely to be a relatively progressive change, and (2) the role of intermediaries will change, and new opportunities (including fee for service) will emerge. In Australia, this means that key intermediary industry associations (Australian Federation of Travel Agents [AFTA], Inbound Tour Operators of Australia) have adequate time to develop training and adjustment strategies to facilitate appropriate uptake of online technologies in this sector.

This is thought to be potentially the greatest advantage of the internet for small businesses, not only does it increase their abilities to communicate with a large number of people within a global perspective (at least those who can read the language - English), but it also allows for companies to avoid the large commissions of intermediaries such as travel agents. The problem is though how will the consumer ever find your site with the huge number of sites that are generally detected within a standard internet search engine (eg: www.yahoo.com). The solution, to either put yourself on a main web-site or for the government to intervene and create a web directory for the entire country/ state.

* All text in red indicates quotes taken from the full text article.