by Jovie Cabais | Sep 1, 2013 | Tech Updates
Various players in the Bohol tourism industry and a group of students and their instructor attended the E-commerce and Digital Marketing Boot Camp held on August 30, 2013 at the Panda Tea Garden Suites Conference Room. There were 60 participants representing travel and tour agencies, resorts, hotels, restaurants, food processing, local government units tourism offices, retail and academe. Ms. Janet Toral of DigitalFilipino.com, a recognized e-commerce specialist in the Philippines, conducted the boot camp. The morning session included an overview of e-commerce, policies and laws. The participants were given an example of how to develop a budget and execution plan for a digital marketing campaign. They were also taught about cross-selling and up-selling, among others. Mr. Jerome Auza of Auza.Net gave a short overview on booking systems and the options when considering which booking system to use. In the afternoon, Ms. Toral discussed digital marketing strategies and the metrics that may be used to measure the effectiveness of the marketing efforts. She also presented case studies of tourism industry players who have used digital marketing in promoting their products and services. In one of the question and answer session, the participants raised the situation in Bohol’s tourism industry were the number of tourists in 2013 is observed to be much lower than in previous years. The participants shared opinions why there is a decline in tourist arrivals. One of the participants, Ms. Lai Biliran, challenged Auza.Net to lead the effort of marketing Bohol through social media and other digital marketing methods. In response to Biliran’s challenge, Auza.Net is considering to use one of its website projects, Bohol.Info, as one...
