Malaysian student Jenani Segarajah (left) uses her smart phone to access information on tourist attractions in the area with the help of Port Campbell Visitor Information Centre assistant co-ordinator Annie Thornton.
NEW technology is helping to improve tourist services at the Port Campbell Visitor Information Centre.
Shipwreck Coast Marketing and the visitor information centre have launched a revamped mobile website which provides visitors to the region with an in-hand guide to attractions, events and accommodation.
Port Campbell Visitor Information Centre co-ordinator Mark Cuthell said the centre was especially pleased with the integration of a language translation service into the mobile website.
“Many of our key international markets are avid users of smart phones,” he said.
“Providing language translation via the mobile site allows us to better support non-English speaking visitors.”
With visitor volumes projected to rise along the Great Ocean Road, Mr Cuthell said visitor information centres needed to look at measures that assist them to serve greater numbers without compromising the quality of their existing services.
“At the end of the day nothing beats a friendly smile and face-to-face service to win business and advocacy for the region,” he said.
“We just need to be creative in the way we take information to the visitor rather than waiting for them to arrive on our doorstep.”
The visitor information centre is further supporting the mobile website by providing a Wi-Fi Hotspot to be launched in December.
The Hotspot will allow free access to the internet from 9am till 5pm and access to the regional tourism website www.visit12apostles.com.au 24 hours a day.
Shipwreck Coast Marketing chief executive Carole Reid said website statistics indicated that more and more viewers were accessing www.visit12apostles.com.au via smart phones.
“The development of a website designed for small screens was a natural (progression),” she said.
“The upgrade improves usability for the consumer and offers better connection to local businesses.”