Build a strong local network among tourism providers here
CREATING good networks is essential to helping local tourism providers with their digital marketing.
That’s according to THRIC 2017 keynote speaker Dr Philip Alford from Bournemouth University.
“90 per cent of tourism is delivered by micro- businesses. They face a unique set of challenges,” he told The Sligo Champion.
“They need to consider the digital wave and the uptake of technology by consumers that might visit Sligo.
“That puts a challenge to small owner managers who are, let’s face it, stretched, very often in terms of time.
“How can they be better supported to be able survive and thrive in a digital world? That’s what I’m looking at,” he said.
His speech centred on entrepreneurial marketing in a digital context.
“One of the audiences I’d like to reach out to is state and support agencies and how can they better support such businesses in their day to day and week to week activity.
“One of the great things about this conference is the fact that they’ve brought 50 businesses into the corridors here and myself and two academic colleagues from Waterford had lunch with Sea Trails founder Auriel Robinson which was great. We were able to bounce ideas off her and hear the real deal.
“Digital marketing is a recognized need by tourism providers but research has shown that they don’t rate training.
“So how do you work that? Building a network between food, accommodation and agencies to spark ideas off each other is one way,” he said.