<i>8 November 2002</i>
<P>Travel guides in the past were bibles for travellers. Even before we decided on our next holiday destination, we would probably pick up a few destination guides to help us through the decision process.
<P>After choosing a destination, we would devour those guide books even more to obtain information about what to do while there, best places to eat, shop, and interesting places to visit.
<P>While such guide books may still be popular, the Internet has become an invaluable medium for national tourist offices to disseminate destination information to potential visitors.
<P>The information on destination websites can be updated more frequently than a guide book’s contents so tourist offices can use it to add the latest information on events, for example. It can even provide booking facilities online so would-be visitors can buy their tickets for a show even before they leave their home.
<P>I reviewed two different National Tourist Office websites to see how well they were using the Internet to lure visitors to their respective countries.
<P><font color=red>Singapore</font>
<br><a href="http://www.newasia-singapore.com.sg"target=_blank">www.newasia-singapore.com.sg</a>
<P>Getting to the website was not as easy as I expected. Its URL at newasia-singapore.com.sg is a tad too complicated. Singapore.com (is it still available?) would probably have been a better choice for a domain name.
<P>But with the ever-trusty Google search engine, I managed to get to the website.
<P>It is obvious from its home page what message the Singapore Tourism Board wishes to convey to the world – Singapore is an arts city. The main focus on the home page is on the latest arts events in the city, providing quick links to a list of festivals and events.
<P>Since such a website caters for a global audience, it does well to provide its information in nine different languages, aside from English. STB has also developed different gateway sites for visitors from its key markets, each with different emphases.
<P>I went into the Australia/NZ site and was given an option to select if I was from New Zealand or Australia. I was impressed at the level of personalisation – until I actually went into the country-specific site. In the New Zealand site, I still found prices quoted in Australian dollars. And in the Australia site, I was shown packages that were only meant for New Zealand travellers. I could not find any differentiation between the two. A little disappointing – since I was allowed to select my country of origin, I was expecting more specialised information.
<P>The features on the site were not lacking – from packages to travellers essentials like visa and passport requirements, weather, public holidays. A real one-stop shop for all the information I needed on Singapore.
<P>I liked the short video clips as well – seeing the images made the destination come alive immediately.
<P>The 101 Ways To live It Up were cleverly spliced and diced to cater to different interest groups – food lovers, nature lovers, families.
<P>Kudos to STB for not forgetting to bring back the visitor to the site, even after they have made the trip to Singapore. The Photo of the Month contest on the North America site, for example, is a clever way to keep visitors involved. This feature allows travellers to share their images/photos from their trip to Singapore – each month, the best photo is selected to win a prize.
<P>The site, on the whole, is loaded with goodies – information-wise, as well as features. But I found navigating around a little daunting and I couldn’t get back to the main site from the individual country sites.
<P>And the many URLs that I encountered were a tad confusing – visitsingapore.com, new-asia-singapore.com.sg, tourismsingapore.com. It would probably have made more sense to have one URL (singapore.com) with different country extensions (singapore.com.au, singapore.co.uk, etc.)
<P>There is also scope for STB to gather merchants on their site and provide an online booking engine so visitors can book tours, event tickets, and even reserve restaurant seats before they arrive.
<P><font color=red>Australia</font>
<br><a href="http://www.australia.com”target=_blank">www.australia.com </a>
<P>The URL is a winner with me. It’s obvious and easy to remember.
<P>Like the Singapore website, it also offers multi-lingual sites and a long list of individual gateway sites. On my Macintosh, however, the list went beyond the page and I was not able to scroll down, so Asia did not show up on the screen at all.
<P>I went into the Singapore site to find two happy Asian faces on the front page. A nice touch of personalisation. I also noted that family activities, shopping and farm stays – popular among Singaporeans visiting Australia - were featured prominently on the site. It showed Australia’s understanding of the market and the level of personalisation of the country sites.
<P>At the UK site, backpacking and a tour for cricket fans were featured.
<P>The site is not as busy as the Singapore site, but it has all the essentials – places to go, things to do, what’s on, trip planning tools.
<P>I looked through the list of deals it featured to see if I could make a booking. I picked one from STA Travel. It gave me comprehensive information on the deal, and how to buy – I had to click out of the australia.com website to go to STA Travel’s own site. Unfortunately, that link took me to the home page of STA Travel and not directly to the package that I was looking at. In other words, I now had to search through STA’s site to find that package again. Too much work.
<P>I liked the listing of Aussie specialists – trained agents in Australia, so I will know where to go to book my Aussie holiday.
<P>I found navigating around the australia.com website hassle-free and clear. The images were alluring and sold Australia effectively. However, I found the pages took a second too long to load. But overall, an effective “guide book”on the Net.