Find out how mobilizing your restaurant website and dinner show website can benefit your business.

1. Mobilising Tourism Businesses
Mobile Apps VS Mobile Websites

2. Do a search for “tours and activities” in the Apple
App store, for example, and you’ll find that all of
the tourism mobile applications are for services
that re-sell other operator’s services.
The chances of finding an app produced by an
actual operator are extremely slim. The primary
reason, besides the cost of creating such an app, is
that an app for a single operator has little
usefulness.

3. On a recent trip to Miami, we booked a dolphin
encounter, a jet boat ride, and a sightseeing tour.
Despite the fact that none of have had apps to
download, there is no way I would have bothered
downloading an app for each of these providers
because I would most likely only use the app once and
then delete it.
I did, however, visit the operator websites while in
Miami and, sadly, none of them were mobile friendly.

4. Location-based service irrelevancy
In addition to app irrelevance, an issue that doesn’t
seem to get discussed very often, is that location
based services (which are a big part of the mobile
ecosystem) are not relevant for many in destination
tour operators.
Why? Because very few in-destination tour and
activity operators operate out of their place of
business.

5. Showing a traveler how close they are to an operator’s
business address doesn’t really help. Almost all of the
popular mobile location-based services work well
for fixed locations like restaurants, attractions, or points
of interest, but they don’t work well for tours.
Being able to show tours or activities regardless of
operator however is much more relevant. This is where
companies like Viator and GetYourGuide shine.

6. The Viator iPhone app, for example, shows you all
tours close to you. Compare that to Google Local, for
example, which will show you businesses (based on
their address) close by. These are completely
different searches with completely different relevance
for the traveller.

7. [NB: Compare the results from the Viator app on
the left and centre versus the Yelp app on the
right. The Viator app shows actual tours and allows
you to book in destination. The Yelp app shows a
travel agency listing - not very useful.]

8. Mobile is about communicating
So what are tourism businesses supposed to do when
it comes to mobile? Is being listed in the Yelp app or
the Yellow Pages useful to a tour operator looking for
impulse travel customers?
In the pay-to-play world of mobile, small businesses
simply cannot compete head to head with the big
guns. Frankly there is little point in competing head
on with the big players.

9. Generally speaking they have the marketing and
development budgets to outspend any small operator.
If possible, small operators should try to partner with
the marketplaces so their tours and activities are
available in their apps and mobile websites.
In addition to distributing through these
channels, there are lots of web applications available
now that allow small businesses to create mobile
websites that are relatively inexpensive.
Services like Quantum SEO Solutions, for
example, allow small businesses to create a mobile
friendly website with maps and click to call buttons for
$10 a month hosting plus a development fee.

10. Watch this video: Mobile Websites for
Restaurants and Dinner Shows

11. If the operator is already using a platform
like WordPress, there are plugins that will
automatically detect and convert a WordPress site into
a mobile friendly version.
The key to winning the mobile battle for small
businesses in tourism is understanding what travellers
are likely to do when they are in destination.
If the traveler is looking for things to do, and
therefore shopping around, a good portion (over a
third of them) are likely to pick up brochures or rack
cards to find out more about local tours and activities.

12. They may even do a search on Google for “Things to
do in X”. If they find one they want to do, they will
call or go online on their mobile device to book. In
this case, having a well optimized website with a
mobile friendly interface and clear instructions on how
to book are critical.
If the traveler has already booked the tour or activity
and is looking to confirm their plans a day or two in
advance, they will most likely refer to a printed
voucher or email for contact information to call.

13. It’s generally unlikely that they will email an operator
to confirm a reservation that’s only a day or two
away, but they might. These travelers will most likely
visit the operator’s website to check for directions and
to confirm travel times once in a location.

14. What to do
So an operator can focus their mobile optimized site
to provide the following information:
• Address information and a map (preferably linked to
Google Maps or the new Apple Maps application) for
easy directions.
• A click to call button so the traveler can call the
operator without having to dial the number.
• A click to email button in order to send an message
to the operator.
• A mobile booking interface so that a traveler can
book a tour or activity in real-time and get a
confirmation on their phone.

15. That last one may be a bit of a stretch for most
operators, but it is eventually where they will want to
be. In the meantime, making it easy for the traveler to
connect with the operator is a great place to start.
It’s pretty safe to say that the age of mobile has arrived
and that this year “is the year of mobile” .
In the same way the web became a ubiquitous part of
our daily lives back in the 90s, mobile is now becoming
just as commonplace.

16. Thankfully, the cloud and software-as-a-service
(SaaS) web applications are making it easier and
more cost effective for tourism businesses of all sizes
to get mobile ready.
The challenge now, as back then with the internet, is
ensuring operators understand the benefits of being
mobile friendly and that they make the appropriate
investments.
The consumer intent is there – the ability for tourism
business to deliver is still in question.
Source – http://www.tnooz.com