November 17, 2013
The Kingaroy Visitor Information Centre is one of just four across Queensland which are taking part in a special trial of online accommodation booking software.
The “VIC Connect” project enables visitors to the centre in Haly Street to book accommodation and event tickets from across Queensland – so long as the venue / event is registered with the Australian Tourism Data Warehouse (ATDW).
It is being organised by Tourism and Events Queensland.
“Visit Queensland are co-ordinating and running it and making sure we are all trained,” Visitor, Arts and Museum Team Leader Fiona Kemp said.
The other sites that are testing the system are at Winton, Redcliffe and Mackay.
The three staff and eight volunteers in Kingaroy began their training in the middle of August and each had to spend at least two days learning the system.
A workshop will now be held for local tourism businesses from 4:00pm on Wednesday this week.
It will be led by TEQ Digital Coach Susan Maynard and Project Co-ordinator Mark Greaves.
The pilot program will ultimately allow visitors (and local residents) to book their accommodation and activities directly at the Visitor Information Centre through the online booking and reservation system.
While the VIC staff member operates one computer screen, the visitor can follow the process on a second screen at the counter.
Information and photographs from the tourism operators are displayed. This information is input directly by the tourism businesses into their individual ATDW page. There is also a provision for “special offers”.
The Visitor Information Centre will take a commission from every sale. Visitors will be able to pay for their accommodation at the time of booking with cash or EFTPOS.
Operators who already have their own online booking system linked to WOTIF can also be integrated into the VIC system.
South Burnett Regional Council’s Coordinator Cultural Services Michael Hunter said the project was a 12-month pilot which would test how it was received by the public and how much it will cost to run.
