Using cellphone text marketing, databanking and launching a new Davao website are powerful hi-tech tools that are expected to boost the growth of Davao tourism in the coming years, according to Ms. Eden David, technical director of the Department of Tourism (DOT) regional office here.
“We all know just how important all these things are, to your tourism marketing and promotions efforts–statistics, databanking, market analysis, new website and text marketing.
You can take advantage of all these to boost your efforts here,” Eden, who also heads the tourism industry cluster team, said during a recent meetings with tourism stakeholders here.
Davao del Sur provincial administrator James Chin said he agreed with Eden’s views and pointed out the China experience of data gathering that helped tourism industry planners in the mainland improved and upgraded their various tour spots that have been attracting thousands of foreign tourists worldwide.
“Planners like us in the government can’t plan and draw up good programs to achieve goals if there are no statistics to help us make good decisions,” Chin said.
A Davao-based IT firm Digilutions, working closely under contract with the tourism cluster group, designed and set up a text marketing system using the facilities of Smart Communications, a subsidiary of Philippine Long Distance Telephone Co. (PLDT).
The texting system will enable travelers, visitors and tourists coming to Davao to find out all the travel information they need right from their mobile phones, according to Ms. Candy Alvarez, spokesperson of Digilutions, the firm which set up the database and texting system for the industry.
Alvarez also introduced a new website to promote Davao’s tourist attractions at www.Discoverdavao.com during the series of meetings with stakeholders and frontliners of the tourism industry around the region.