In Australia, the larger Tier I organizations are generally fairly advanced in their use of online technologies. Smaller Tier 2 players have limited ICT infrastructures and knowledge, and have been relatively slow to embrace the potential marketing and business efficiency benefits offered by e-business applications (Morrison & King 2002). Internationally, the same gulf between large and small tourism enterprises has also been noted by Maedche and Staab (2002). McGrath et al. (2005a) report that perhaps, one of the most significant, relevant, Australian on-line tourism studies that has been undertaken was the Australian National Online Tourism Scoping Study, conducted by the 'Sustainable Tourism Cooperative Research Centre' (STCRC) during the late-1990s (STCRC 1999). McGrath, et al. (op. cit) summarized the major findings of the study as being that:
• The Australian tourism industry had generally achieved a comparable level of online development with international competitors.
• Larger enterprises and relevant government agencies were, in general, considerably more advanced in taking advantage of online technologies than SMTEs.
73 http://www.oracle.com/triplehop/index.html 74 http://www.travelocity.com/
• Despite the above, little validated data on the extent of online technology diffusion was available.
• Major impediments to online technology uptake among tourism enterprises included: poor online product coverage; marginalization of local destination product in the international online market space; online information overload; the lack of an adequate international legal framework for e-commerce; concerns over online transaction security; intermediaries being threatened by new technologies and associated role changes; and a lack of knowledge, skills, technical support, funds and time among SMTEs - especially in rural and regional areas.
The Roy Morgan May 2006 press release (article No. 492)75 shows that Australia’s
tourism distribution channels and booking patterns have been radically redefined by the Internet. Travellers not only use the Internet as a means of pre-purchasing accommodation and travel tickets, but also as an important information source during the holiday planning stage. According to Roy Morgan, eighty percent of the Australian population 14 years and over have accessed the Internet at some point in their lives, with thirty-two per cent of Australians having made an online purchase. This represents an increase of 26% from 6% in the June 1999 quarter. The most purchased items over the Internet since mid-2001 are travel tickets and accommodation. In fact, figures show that 10% of the Internet users had purchased accommodation or travel tickets online during that period. Roy Morgan adds that the purchase of travel tickets or accommodation has grown from less than 1% in the June 2000 quarter. Books/Magazines/Newspapers were the next most popular product category at 7%.
Around mid 2002, Australians really started to embrace the Internet as the primary means of travel booking. This trend has continued up to the year ending March 2006, where 12% of Australian travellers aged 14 years and over were reported to have used the Internet in booking their last short domestic trip. Interestingly, travel agent bookings
accounted for only 3%. For longer holidays, Roy Morgan research shows that
discrepancies between bookings for domestic and international leisure trips appear. Using the Internet to book long domestic holidays has shown substantial but less rapid growth than shorter holiday bookings over time. Longer holiday bookings by Internet
overtook travel agents as the primary booking medium mid-2003, with the gap continuing to widen. For example, in the year ending March 2006, 21% of bookings for domestic leisure trips of three nights or more were booked via the Internet, compared to 12% for travel agents. It appears that human interaction is more likely required for international travel bookings, partly because of the lack of destination knowledge and complex pricing. In this market, travel agents are still the preferred booking method, even though numbers have fallen 6% since 2001 from 71% to 65%.
Roy Morgan also report that overall, the growth of international holiday bookings of three or more nights has been minimal, with just a 2% rise during the last five years, whereas the use of the Internet to book long overseas leisure trips has increased by 16% (25% cf 9%) during the same period.For the inbound international market, the Bureau of Tourism Research, International Visitor Survey76 found that 26% of visitors to Australia
the year ended 31 December 2003 used the Internet to gather information before their arrival in Australia, while 8% of these travellers made an Internet booking. Of the items booked on-line, 36% were for accommodation, 29% for international air travel, 13% for car and caravan rental, 12% for domestic air travel, 7% for organized tours, and 3% other. Roy Morgan Research (2003), indicated that Australian travel bookings over the Internet increased from less than 3% in the (financial) year to June 2001 to over 9% in the year to June 2003, and more recent research has suggested substantial continuation Internet growth in travel product purchases.
The Australian government is well-aware of the importance of online tourism to the national economy and, among various initiatives it has provided substantial support for the development of the Australian Tourism Data Warehouse (ATDW). A key objective of this highly-successful initiative is the capture and integration of national tourism-related information (e.g. accommodation, activities, events etc. data) for, among other uses, the development of advanced 'Destination Marketing Systems' (DMS) (McGrath & Moore, 2003). Another major online tourism data initiative is the Decipher project77, which is an
online data warehouse dedicated to providing the Australian tourism industry with the most recent and reliable tourism research and business intelligence. The Decipher
76 Source: Bureau of Tourism Research, International Visitor Survey http://www/tourism.australia.com/home.asp
Website is a one-stop shop for a comprehensive range of up-to-date tourism information from more than 100 qualified sources, and is a valuable tool for anyone involved with the tourism industry. Decipher was launched nationally on 10 February 2005.
Wotif.com78 is an accommodation portal that offers a service distinct from those
mentioned above. Wotif.com was launched in Brisbane, Australia in March 2000 and quickly became known as the online marketplace for hotels' distressed inventory. They pioneered selling discounted accommodation based on hoteliers' live and up-to-date inventory. By only selling a week ahead, they were able to offer great rates from the hotels. This innovative way of displaying room rates (our "hotel price matrix") added to Wotif.com’s success. It gave travellers, and the hotels, an easy way to check all available prices, up-front. Customers could now see discounted pricing from a number of hotels on the one screen, and then simply book the room they wanted. Wotif.com also showed rates for the next 7 days, to give genuine last-minute prices.