A new £17.4m project to ensure the Welsh tourism industry benefits from the latest digital technology developments in areas such as on-line marketing, booking systems and business management has been unveiled by the Heritage Minister, Alun Ffred Jones.
The money will be used to fund a series of projects over the next four years which aim to ensure the tourism industry takes full advantage of current and future digital technology.
It will be funded by £9,213, 866 from the European Regional Development Fund, £4,451,939 form the Welsh Assembly Government and £3,740,781 from the private sector.
Mr Jones said:
“These projects will ensure the tourism industry in Wales can get the maximum benefits from advances in technology to keep them competitive.
“Increasingly many people are going online to research, plan and book their holidays so we need to ensure tourism businesses in Wales are competitive in this area. There are many online resources we can develop that will benefit the industry as a whole.
“But this is not just about online marketing. It will also be about making the most of technology to run businesses more efficiently and ensure the industry is in a strong position to capitalise on new digital opportunities as they emerge. For example through online booking and reservation systems, databases, HR and finance systems.”
The project will be split into five streams:
- Digital Tourism Business Environment. This will involve creating an online environment for sharing research, expert opinion, and business opportunities.
- Digital Tourism Communities. Groups of businesses brought together on-line for shared business interest.
- Piloting Innovative Approaches to Using Digital Technologies for Tourism Business. Supporting business to develop new ideas that could benefit the industry, for example using wireless and mobile technology to provide tourism information, using new applications (e.g. Google Street)
- Developing and Exploiting the Knowledge Base. Providing high quality web content about Wales that tourism business can use to support their online activities.
- Technology. Developing the technology to support the above, such as the online forum to share knowledge and a database for developing and distributing the web content.
