Pacific Trade Invest Australia has identified a gap in the digital space for marketing tourism in the region.
PTI, Project Officer, Onorina Fugawai says with tourism being a big earner for the Pacific, it’s vital that operators maximize all avenues.
Fugawai says tourism is changing and more travellers are now resorting to online platforms to plan and book their gateways.
She adds many operators in the Pacific have failed to create a website to make them more accessible.
Today, 21 tourism operators undertook a training on Digital Tourism, to learn how best they can market on a global scale.
“So this Digital Tourism workshop is here to show people – ‘ok this is what is happening in the world, this is how your target market is behaving and this is what they do if they want to visit a country.’ So for us to play in that game you must be online and it’s absolutely vital.”
Fiji Hotel and Tourism Association who is co-facilitating the training believe this will further boost the tourism industry.
Chief Executive, Fantasha Lockington says the training is targeted towards the small and medium enterprises.
“We see this as an opportunity for our smaller operators who have not been given the opportunity to get into that segment of business to find out what it is that they can do to improve their businesses through getting into digital tourism and putting their products and services online.”
Through the enhancement skills obtained from the digital tourism platform, pacific island countries were able to earn around $15m Fijian dollars last year.
