Goal 2: Drive Demand for Tasmania

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Annual Report 2013-14

Marketing campaigns

Go Behind the Scenery - Phase 2 - Spring 2013

Tourism Tasmania aims to increase demand for Tasmania and encourage more people to visit. To do this, Tourism Tasmania runs two major marketing campaigns each year to generate awareness of Tasmania and to encourage potential visitors to convert their interest into a booking. To make the most of these  campaigns, Tourism Tasmania integrates the campaign with other Tourism Tasmania activities including distribution, sector partnerships and public relations activities.

Phase 2 of Tourism Tasmania's new and innovative Go Behind the Scenery marketing campaign ran in Sydney and Melbourne from 11 August until mid-October, 2013. Tourism Tasmania designed the campaign to encourage more Australians to plan and book a visit to Tasmania during the coming spring and summer seasons.

The campaign built on the inaugural Go Behind the Scenery campaign, introduced in March 2013 and reinforced the same message, while showing people how easy it is to plan and book a Tasmanian holiday in spring, as well as give them the confidence to book now. Go  Behind the Scenery - Spring 2013 built on the findings and  insights gained from formal tracking research conducted during the inaugural campaign.

The target audiences for this campaign were the same as the previous Go Behind the  Scenery; couples aged over 40 looking for a touring holiday and couples aged between 25 to 39 wanting a short break. Both groups have a common interest in exploring and learning more about themselves and the world in which they live.

Tourism Tasmania purchased around $2.8 million in media advertising in Melbourne and Sydney for the two-month campaign. In return for its investment, Tourism Tasmania negotiated additional bonus TV, print, outdoor and digital advertising worth more than $2.4 million. This almost doubled the total value  of media advertising in the campaign to around $5.2 million.

This did not include Tourism Tasmania's additional investment in cooperative marketing programs with air and sea travel partners to generate sales, or the investment made by the partners themselves to promote Tasmania and generate sales. This additional investment by Tourism Tasmania and travel partners  in these supporting activities is estimated at around $1.7 million.

When combined, this takes the total value of interstate media advertising and supporting marketing activities for Go Behind the Scenery – Spring 2013 to around $6.9 million and makes it one of the largest seasonal tourism campaigns ever undertaken by Tourism Tasmania and its partners.

Campaign elements included free to air, SBS and pay television advertising, along with print advertising, digital, cinema and outdoor advertising. Most of the advertisements incorporated priced holiday packages.

Central to the campaign was a Go Behind the Scenery microsite that Tourism Tasmania produced for the inaugural Go Behind the Scenery promotion.

As part of the campaign, Tourism Tasmania also undertook trade, public relations, online, sector and other marketing activities between August and November that significantly increased the size, reach and longevity of the spring campaign.

In addition, a number of other Tasmanian tourism organisations also promoted the state through their own marketing activities including TT-Line, Tasmania's regional tourism organisations, Tasmanian travel wholesalers and individual tourism businesses.

Major partner Flight Centre and access partner Jetstar also showed a significant increase in sales across the campaign period when compared to the same period last year.

Go Behind the Scenery – Phase 3 - Autumn 2014

Tourism Tasmania aims to increase demand for travel to Tasmania through the implementation of two major marketing campaigns each year in our primary domestic markets of Victoria, New South Wales and Queensland.

Tourism Tasmania's Go Behind the Scenery – Phase 3 - Autumn  2014 campaign launched on 2 February and built on the previous Go Behind the Scenery - Spring 2013. The campaign ran for nine weeks though to 5 April, 2014. Tourism Tasmania ensured that all campaign messages, partner activities and campaign  creative reinforced Tasmania's new tourism brand, first introduced early in 2013.

With the brand promise that Tasmania rewards a rich journey of discovery,the campaign emphasised behind-the-scenery experiences, having fun and the honest and unpretentious nature of local Tasmanians.

The campaign had a clear call to action featuring prominent price points with Flight Centre, the sole commercial partner for the campaign. The campaign creative also included links to Tourism Tasmania's social media channels on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.

An essential element of the campaign was the Go Behind the Scenery microsite where three, seven and 14-day itineraries were available for download. The microsite included a First Timers section that described some of the key experiences around the state through the eyes of first time visitors to Tasmania and a Magazine section  with content drawn from Tourism Tasmania's social networking channels.

The microsite also featured a Win Your Stay competition that aimed to increase the number of subscribers to the Discover Tasmania newsletter and further engage those already subscribed.

Engagement with the campaign exceeded expectations and was well above industry standards. The bounce rate (browsers leaving the site without any further engagement) for the microsite was just under 12 per cent compared to the industry standard of around 50 per cent, evidence that the content was highly  successful in engaging consumers.

Visitors to the website viewed an average 2.5 pages per visit and for the first time we saw significant traffic referrals from Facebook, again indicating that the content was engaging and considered worth sharing within the consumer's own online communities.

Flight Centre also enjoyed significant success with considerably increased sales generated over the four-week period compared to the same period last year.

Tourism Tasmania will launch Phase IV of Go Behind the Scenery in mid to late August 2014.

International and Partnerships Marketing

Visiting Journalist Program

Tourism Tasmania's Visiting Journalist Program (VJP) hosts journalists, social media commentators and influencers in order to showcase Tasmania as a holiday destination. These activities support and broaden the reach of our marketing messages through positive editorial and advocacy.

In February 2014, Tourism Tasmania worked in collaboration with Tourism Australia on the production of a Chinese drama travelogue, The  Cookman, starring Chinese celebrity Nicholas Tse. The Cookman was produced for China's Zhejiang Satellite TV, one of China's top five TV stations, in partnership with Emperor Entertainment Group, one of the largest entertainment groups in Hong Kong.

The show complements Tourism Tasmania's consumer strategy in the market and showcases Tasmania's gourmet food and wine offerings, experienced in exceptional Tasmanian locations. A broader campaign in-market further leveraged the opportunity online.

The show went to air in July 2014 with the title Chef Nic and reached an audience in excess of 39 million people.

A second project undertaken in collaboration with Tourism Australia saw a visit to Tasmania by Media Corp Channel 8 to film the Tasmanian episodes of the Food Source. This high rating food and travel show is now in its fourth season and is the most highly-rated TV program on Channel 8. The show is currently screening in Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, Hong Kong, Korea and parts of Europe. In the Tasmanian episodes, the show's host, Pornsak, met  primary producers and food tourism ambassadors to showcase to his audience the source of the ingredients found on their table and how it's cultivated, farmed or reared.

Tourism Tasmania also worked in collaboration with Tourism Australia to commission a ten-part series, A Taste of OZ, hosted by Australian chef John Torode, one of the Masterchef UK judges. The series follows John's reconnection with Australian food and lifestyle after living in the UK for 20 years.

The two Tasmanian episodes of A Taste of OZ aired in March 2014 on UKTV's Good Food Channel to an audience of approximately 699 000. The episode showcased Tasmanian seafood, primary producers and foods experiences.

In addition to these major projects, Tourism Tasmania partnered with special-interest experiences and peak industry bodies to reach target niche audiences and worked in collaboration with major event organisers for MOFO, Dark MOFO, Hobart Baroque and Festival of Voices to secure media coverage in national  and international publications.

Social Media and Public Relations

Social media is an important part of Tourism Tasmania's integrated public relations activities and a core component of the organisation's new approach to marketing the state. Social media activity focuses on stimulating conversation, reinforcing brand attributes and keeping Tasmania top of mind through  a constant presence on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook.

In 2013-14, Tourism Tasmania's social media community across Facebook, Twitter and Instagram increased from a total of 23 500 members to 68 669 members.

This coming year will see further integration of social media into our marketing mix with greater reliance on third-party advocacy and the use of word-of-mouth to promote the destination, all objectives ideally suited to social media.

The Great Tassie Instagram Journey

In September, Tourism Tasmania hosted an 'instameet'; a gathering of Instagram power-users who travelled around Tasmania sharing their photographic content with their extensive online following. The instameet, titled The  Great Tassie Instagram Journey, aimed to increase Tourism Tasmania's social media profile and provide content in partnership with industry for social channels aligned with brand, tone, and operational requirements. The activity also added significantly to the size, reach and longevity  of our Go Behind  the Scenery - Spring marketing campaign.

As a result of the project, 34 products were experienced and profiled across three regions with over 550 photos or videos posted by the attendees. Tourism Tasmania's following increased by 7 672 followers and use of the #discovertasmania hashtag within Instagram gained wider use with over 8 100  photos tagged.

In addition, over one hundred and thirty images were selected by Instagram and featured on its Explore page, potentially appearing on the mobile devices of over 100 million active monthly Instagram users.

Collectively the group had a reach of over two million people per posted photo. The Instameet set out to achieve 1 million global views, and although exact numbers are impossible to measure, it is likely that there were upwards of 97 million views of the photos on Instagram alone.

Global Public Relations Project

Tourism Tasmania undertakes Public Relations (PR) activities in our domestic and international markets to broaden the reach of Tourism Tasmania's marketing campaigns and brand message and to ensure an ongoing presence in the marketplace outside of paid advertising activity.

Tourism Tasmania's 12-month global tourism marketing project saw a range of integrated marketing activity and dedicated project activity to leverage the 30-year anniversary of the Tasmanian Wilderness World Heritage Area (TWWHA) listing. Visiting journalist outreach resulted in a Tasmania hiking travel  feature focusing on Tasmania's World Heritage area in the North American publication Backpacker Magazine, and a seven-page feature in the February 2014 issue of North American publication Outside Magazine.

Tourism Tasmania also integrated TWWHA messaging into marketing activity around the Swisse Mark Webber Tasmania Challenge. The PR activity highlighted the variety and accessibility of tourism product connected to the TWWHA with content, imagery and videos distributed across the Challenge's channels including direct email marketing, website and social media. The project saw  Tourism Tasmania host 42 visiting journalists and achieved an estimated advertising value of $3 724 250 and a circulation of 32 763 564.

Content Production Project

Tourism Tasmania partnered with Tourism Australia in a six-month content marketing project to produce a range of content types for use by Tourism Tasmania and Tourism Australia in promoting the state. Tourism Tasmania engaged Graham Michael Freeman – Tourism Australia's Best Jobs in the World  finalist – to produce content and engage in visual story-telling and knowledge sharing. The content producer role was not only to generate third party content from a traveller's perspective but to also help the industry and sector partners understand how to better develop their own content.

As a result of the project, over 1 000 high resolution photographs were added to the Tourism Tasmania Visual Library and the total media engagement across Graham's social media accounts (likes/comments) totalled 1 795 978. In addition, Graham undertook a total of sixteen events and meetings with regional  tourism organisations and industry groups during the six-month project and authored 28 articles for the Discover Tasmania website.

Partnership marketing

Tourism Tasmania works with partners to reach targeted audiences such as niche experience sectors and events. Supporting those experiences and events in which Tasmania has a natural or unique advantage allows Tourism Tasmania to target messages to consumers who already have a high potential to visit  in order to pursue their particular interest or passion.

Cooperative marketing activities undertaken with special interest partners this year included attendance at specialist consumer expos such as the Melbourne International Flower and Garden Show, Sydney and Melbourne Boat Shows and the Brisbane and Victorian Caravan and Camping shows, as well as consumer  direct campaigns and specialist famils.

Tourism Tasmania worked with the Caravan, RV and Accommodation Industry of Australia (CRVA) in hosting the CRVA annual conference in Tasmania. In addition to the conference, Tourism Tasmania invested in a cooperative marketing partnership with CRVA in conjunction with Channel Seven-Yahoo7 and Apollo  Motorhomes to promote self-drive caravanning holidays in Tasmania. Tourism Tasmania achieved primary media exposure through live TV weather crosses during Channel Seven's Sunrise Morning Show from 17 to 21 March 2014. The total value of the exposure was $2 633 413.

Tourism Tasmania, in partnership with Tourism Australia and industry operators, supports the Best of Australia programs. These programs promote Tasmania's leading experiences in our domestic and international markets and include Great Golf Courses of Australia, Great Walks of Australia and the Ultimate Winery Experiences of Australia. The programs are supported through public relations  activities, media and specialist trade initiatives.

Tourism Tasmania supported marketing activity in the international backpacker, youth and student market through cooperative marketing activities with The Word, an Australian arrival specialist for mainstream tourists, backpackers and international students. The activity saw an integrated component  within Tourism Tasmania's Go Behind the Scenery – Phase  Two campaign that consisted of targeted print and editorial. Tourism Tasmania also supported the fourth edition of Safari Pete's Guide to Backpacking Tasmania, the only free backpacker guide book in the Australian market. In addition to the guide,  Tourism Tasmania supported a total of ten Safari  Pete Tassie Travel shows across metropolitan Melbourne's backpacker hostels.

Tourism Tasmania continued to contribute to Tourism Australia's Australia's  National Landscapes program, a partnership between tourism and conservation interests that aims to promote the appeal of nature-based experiences to a target audience of international experience seekers. In March 2014, the National Landscapes Reference Committee approved the inclusion  of the whole of Tasmania as a National Landscape.

With the program now including 16 National Landscapes around Australia, activity is now focusing on marketing the best of Australia's natural experiences. Australian Traveller magazine was commissioned by Tourism Australia to produce the Natural Australia glossy supplement which included seven Tasmanian nature-based products, and a downloadable app that includes 21 Tasmanian experiences.

Events

Events contribute to Tasmania's culturally vibrant brand and often provide a trigger for visitation. Tourism Tasmania supports a number of events and identifies opportunities to extend their messaging and build Tasmania's profile through partnering channels.

This year, Tourism Tasmania worked in partnership with Octagon - the organisers of the Swisse Mark Webber Tasmania Challenge. This year's Challenge was held from 27 November to 1 December 2013. The event featured in a total of 415 domestic media reports with a potential cumulative audience circulation  of 4 126 602 and a domestic media value of $572 684, with an additional 44 international media reports.

The Challenge was shared on social networks by competitors and event organisers including Mark Webber through social media channels Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and Instagram. A DVD of the 2013 Challenge is also being broadcast on 40 channels to 160 countries worldwide.

The Tasmanian Government continued to fund the V8 Supercars Tasmania 400 Series with the current series receiving support through Events Tasmania. This year's event attracted over 52 000 people and a combined average television audience of 1.1 million across channels Seven, 7Two and 7mate. To  maximize the investment in the 2014 event, Tourism Tasmania identified an opportunity to use event assets and leverage the exposure of the destination across broadcast, digital and social media channels belonging to V8 Supercars, Channel 7 and some of the drivers and teams involved.

Tourism Tasmania also partnered with Festival of Voices to commission Australian music artist, Tex Perkins to write an original song See  for Yourself (an invitation to Tasmania) to inspire and excite others to embrace Tasmania. The song is available for distribution and promotion across Festival of Voices, Tourism Tasmania and partnering channels.

International Marketing

Tourism Tasmania reviewed its international marketing program in 2012 to ensure it delivered the best possible return on investment and aligned with the changes taking place in global travel. In response to the findings, Tourism Tasmania reduced the number of contracted in-market representatives in  several of its international markets while retaining physical market representation in Hong Kong, China, and Singapore – also servicing Malaysia, as well as Germany also servicing Switzerland and France, and North America.

Over the past 12 months Tourism Tasmania commenced implementation of the new strategy, laying the foundations for Tourism Tasmania's business operations for the next four years from 2014-15 to 2017-18.

In the 2013-14 financial year, Tourism Tasmania committed $1.615 million towards international marketing activity. This was for in-market representation, in-market marketing activity and to support co-operative activity with Tourism Australia, Australian-based Inbound Tour Operators, domestic-based  international marketing partnerships and the Tasmanian tourism industry through Team Tasmania. Key activities included participation in flagship national and international travel trade shows, overseas sales and marketing missions, increased servicing of Australian and overseas travel trade, and facilitating  networking and training opportunities for internationally-active tourism businesses.

Over the past year Tourism Tasmania, accompanied by select Tasmanian tourism businesses, attended major international trade events including the Australian Tourism Exchange and International Media Marketplace in Cairns; Australia Marketplace, Los Angeles; International Tourism Borse, Berlin; National  Association of Travel Agents Singapore Travel Fair; Malaysia Association of Tour and Travel Agents; Travel Fair; and China Corroboree hosted on the Gold Coast.

This year also saw implementation of in-market consumer campaigns, including an extensive cooperative campaign (consumer and trade) with Qantas in Singapore and Hong Kong. The campaign was part of a three-year Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) between Tourism Tasmania and Qantas Airways Ltd. This also  included trade and media famils in March and April.

Other international cooperative campaigns included a major multi-platform campaign in North America with Signature Travel, a campaign with trade partners in China in partnership with Tourism Victoria and a campaign in Hong Kong with Wincastle Travel that included a comprehensive online component, as  well as the production of a 36-page supplement in partnership with Columbia outdoor clothing that was distributed through Apple Daily – Hong Kong's leading daily newspaper.

The new international strategy also sees Tourism Tasmania strengthening its partnership with Tourism Australia to capitalise on Tourism Australia's multi-million dollar investment in international marketing. Tasmania's increased engagement with Tourism Australia is evident in Tasmania's participation  in Restaurant Australia, Tourism Australia's food and wine strategy for 2014 and beyond.

Tasmania's reputation for premium quality food and drink along with its unique eating experiences leaves it well positioned to contribute to and benefit from the strategy including by hosting the final gala dinner event for the campaign at the Museum of Old and New Art - MONA on 14 November 2014.

Our international strategy will also see an increased emphasis on an industry-led marketing network that will consolidate local industry participation and investment in international sales and marketing activities. The strategy will also see the active promotion of Tasmania to internationals that are  studying or living in Australia and through them to their overseas friends and relatives.

Business Events Tasmania

Business events are an important direct and indirect economic contributor to Tasmania and have the potential to increase travel to the state as well as provide opportunities for cross-industry development. The total business events industry in Tasmania is worth over $100 million to the economy and  contributes educational, social, trade and innovative benefits to the Tasmanian community.

Tourism Tasmania works in partnership with Business Events Tasmania (BET) to leverage business events in order to help grow the leisure market, recognise the key industries and competitive advantages that exist in Tasmania and to support regional dispersal. Tourism Tasmania, through CEO Mr John Fitzgerald,  plays an integral role in the decision making processes around the strategic direction of the organisation.

A formal Grant Deed between Tourism Tasmania and BET, covers the agreed activities and priorities for the 2013-14 financial year. BET received a State Government Operating grant of $540 000 to support bid development and convention marketing activities. There is also an allocation of up to $170 000  for the Meet in Tasmania Incentive Scheme – a scheme designed to attract business events to Tasmania in winter.

Over the year, Business Events Tasmania achieved 94 bid wins with a total economic value of $32.5 million. Beyond the bids, there were an additional 42 event referrals (business events in Tasmania), with an estimated economic impact of $8.8 million.

Distribution

Cooperative promotions

Tourism Tasmania works with travel distributors who sell Tasmanian travel products including travel retailers, wholesalers, airlines, online travel agents and inbound tour operators. Our aim is to help them convert holiday planners to actual visitors by providing them with high quality Tasmanian holiday  information, encouraging them to contract a wide range of Tasmanian travel products and helping them better communicate the Tasmanian brand to their respective customers.
This year, Tourism Tasmania undertook cooperative advertising with retail partners Flight Centre, Travel Associates, STA Travel, NRMA Travel and RACQ Travel. Flight Centre was the exclusive conversion partner in our spring and autumn campaigns while Travel Associates was in-market from 1-31 October  2013. The STA campaign was our first foray into youth marketing focusing on international travellers, and the auto associations represent significant length of stay opportunities that we explored in partnership with Tas Vacations.

Tourism Tasmania also worked with access partners Jetstar, Virgin Australia, Qantas and Sharp on a range of cooperative partnership activities. Both the Jetstar and Virgin Australia campaigns were timed to coincide with and leverage our Go Behind  the Scenery - Phase 3 autumn campaign, as was the Qantas promotion Experience Tasmania's Winter Blues.

Tourism Tasmania also worked with Qantas on the winter activation, Tassie's Cheeky Seat Give Away. Tourism Tasmania launched the promotion in April 2014 with a 'musical seats' stunt in Sydney and a competition that saw 2 533 consumers from across Australia win return tickets to either Hobart or Launceston over the traditional winter trough period. Winners  were required to stay a minimum of two nights and were offered touring information and discounted accommodation passes to encourage multi-day stays. The average length of stay requested by winners was five nights, indicating the goal of positioning Tasmania as a viable winter destination was a success.

Training and famils

Tourism Tasmania undertakes training programs to ensure travel sellers have the necessary understanding and destination information to enable them to make the most of their Tasmanian sales.

To support this educational program, Tourism Tasmania redesigned three destination training modules and relocated them to our trade resources website. A total of over 300 people have completed the training modules, qualifying as Tassie specialists and entitling them to participate in an exclusive travel  agent program.

Other educational activities included, a four-day mega famil and supplier expo for 36 travel agents from a variety of retail chains, the Talkabout Tassie Roadshow that saw around 280 travel agents trained over four evening events in Melbourne, Sydney and Brisbane, and dedicated Infinity call centre  training to ensure the Flight Centre wholesale team was well armed to convert interest in Tasmania into actual bookings during the key campaign period.

Tourism Tasmania also supported the Travellers Choice National Conference by providing two pre and two post famils across regional Tasmania to expose members of this high yield retail network to the breadth of behind the scenery experiences.

Tourism Tasmania also works to introduce Inbound Tour Operators (ITOs) to Tasmanian products and experiences so they can more effectively sell a Tasmanian holiday to their offshore clients. An important part of this strategy was the delivery of the inaugural VIP famil that saw key decision makers including  managing directors and product and marketing directors from targeted ITOs experience an exclusive luxury famil that resulted in the contracting of some new Tasmania products to these very important international sellers.

Each year, Tourism Tasmania, Tourism Victoria and the Australian Tourism Export Council jointly host an event called FANTASVIC to expose Tasmanian and Victorian products to ITOs. In addition to this year's event, Tourism Tasmania hosted a dedicated destination showcase in Melbourne to coincide with  FANTASVIC. A total of 25 ITOs attended the event as well as 18 Tasmanian and national industry stakeholders.

Tourism Tasmania worked with Peterpans Adventure Travel, one of Australia's biggest youth, backpacker and student travel distributors to introduce them to what Tasmania has to offer this market. Approximately 27 of their management, training and product staff from across Australia and New Zealand convened  in Hobart for their annual leadership conference in April followed by a three day famil. The conference also included a networking and workshop event for Tasmanian operators in the Youth Tourism sector.

Discover Tasmania Website Redevelopment

Tourism Tasmania works to increase visitation to the state and Tasmania's travel website, Discover Tasmania, plays a significant role in educating potential visitors about Tasmania and what they can do when they're here. This year saw the completion of an extensive project to redevelop the website  to ensure it kept pace with changes in technology and continued to engage visitors and encourage them to travel to Tasmania.

The Discover Tasmania website was built around 12 years ago and had only undergone minor changes since then. However tablet and mobile technologies have evolved rapidly over recent years and, along with the growing use of social media, required a full rebuild of the website to ensure it worked effectively  on these new technology platforms.

Tourism Tasmania based the redevelopment of the website on extensive research and user testing to guide and shape the website's structure and content and give website visitors an engaging and easy to use web experience. Tourism Tasmania also used consumer research and other studies to understand the  broader digital marketing environment, including how people use digital channels and how a new website needed to fit into that broader picture.

Significant changes were made to the old website in response to the research and while the new site retains most of the sectors and categories found in the former site, it now delivers information about these in a new way – through other people's eyes and experiences, rather than using pages  of unwanted advertising-style copy.

Large high-quality inspirational images are also used throughout the website, along with maps to illustrate the island's touring routes, national parks, and world heritage listed wilderness areas.

The use of word-of-mouth to promote the state is a key objective under Tourism Tasmania's new five-year digital marketing strategy and by featuring content sourced from social networking websites, the website now harnesses authentic third-party endorsements of the destination published by independent  travellers to the state.

The use of third-party endorsement is further incorporated into the website through a new content type called articles. Articles are written by experts in their field and provide in-depth, editorial-style information on what to do in Tasmania and how to make the most of the destination while here.

Tourism Tasmania's digital marketing strategy aims to ensure Tourism Tasmania is at the forefront of contemporary marketing practice - one that recognises the benefits of giving audiences useful content rather than traditional advertising puffery. The website redevelopment is just one of several significant  changes taking place within Tourism Tasmania to support the new strategy.

MyTigerTOUR

Tourism Tasmania's TigerTOUR database holds over 2 000 Tasmanian tourism product listings, including accommodation, attractions, hire, tours and events and is a vital marketing resource for Tasmania's tourism industry.

Tourism Tasmania uses the database to source product information for its Discover Tasmania website and the bi-monthly Tasmanian Travelways magazine. TigerTOUR is also used as a source of product information for local and national tourism websites like Australia.com, and in visitor centres and regional  tourism websites.

Over the coming year, a project will see all businesses listed on the database given the ability to log in and edit their own listings online through the MyTigerTOUR website. This will include adjusting their rates or entry price, their contact information and replacing their images. By 1 October 2014,  all tourism businesses listed on MyTigerTOUR will be able to self-author their own business information online, at any time.

MyTigerTOUR is being phased in on a region-by-region basis and delivered in partnership with each of the state's four Regional Tourism Organisations (RTOs). The project will help ensure that listings in the database are up-to-date and managed in the most efficient manner.

Despite the new capacity for self-authoring, the business information will continue to be quality assured by Tourism Tasmania prior to publishing on the database and distributed to websites and other travel information services.

As part of the introduction of the new self-authoring platform, a series of introductory workshops will be hosted around the state for tourism operators by Tourism Tasmania and the local RTOs. These workshops will complement other online resources hosted on Tourism Tasmania's corporate website.

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