Upgrades to Australia’s national tourism platform will transform the way Australian wine businesses market their wine tourism experiences online.
Wine Australia is investing $750,000 in the Australian Tourism Data Warehouse (ATDW) to enhance the platform’s capabilities and make it easier for wine businesses to manage their online marketing, while reaching a larger audience.
Wine Australia Chief Executive Officer Andreas Clark said this investment is backed by the Australian Government’s $50 million Export and Regional Wine Support Package (the $50m Package), which is focused on growing wine exports and attracting more international tourists to Australia’s wine regions.
‘Australian wine businesses have been actively promoting their wine tourism experiences to increase tourists’ spend and length of stay in our spectacular wine regions.
‘By listing on the ATDW once, businesses can extend their online reach and give travellers more reasons to plan a visit’, Mr Clark said.
The enhanced platform will allow wineries, accommodation providers and other wine tourism operators to manage their listing details across a multitude of booking sites from a central location and to incorporate translations, multimedia, performance snapshots, review and scores.
Wineries will also be able to draw on content from booking platforms to integrate into their own websites so that visitors can book accommodation, transport and experiences with ease.
The ATDW was created in 2001 as a joint initiative of Tourism Australia and the Australian, State and Territory Government Tourism Organisations (STOs) to market a comprehensive range of Australian tourism products and destination information in a central location.
ATDW Chief Executive Officer Mark Williams said, ‘this collaboration is a fantastic opportunity to leverage ATDW’s existing assets, introduce new features and support the Australian wine sector in its wine tourism efforts.’
ATDW listings will feature on the most prominent tourism websites and mobile applications, including their State or Territory Tourism Organisation’s (STO) consumer website, the Australia.com website and ATDW’s extensive network of more than 250 tourism distributors.
Wine Australia has established a reference group of wine and tourism sector representatives to follow the development of the platform and provide input on its architecture, design and functionality.
Mornington Peninsula reference group representative Olivia Barrie, Chief Executive Officer of the Mornington Peninsula Vignerons Association said, ‘as a pillar of successful business models in the wine sector, this targeted and central tourism platform encourages the development of high quality offers and consistent messaging, which opens opportunities particularly to smaller players who can find it challenging to gain traction and navigate a complex market.’
