Hotel sector still to use new media:

To promote tourism products

Harshini PERERA

The giants in the hotel industry does not consistently use new media modules in the process of promoting their products, an IT expert said.

Only a few of the larger hotels and boutiques have created basic IT applications such as a website to promote their products. But in the future the technological application should be utilised more to attract many tourists, hSenid Software International founder/CEO Dinesh Saparamadu said.

“The SME sector has a lesser awareness on these new media.The SME sector in Sri Lanka should associate social media as much as possible to promote their products. It should be a continuous process while promoting the business physically,” he said

Online reservation and payment systems should be introduced to manage a healthy customer relationship.

The SME sector can also adopt mobile marketing strategies connected with mobile services providers to inform tourists on attractive destinations.

“The SMEs can work with the mobile operators to include a link when a tourist first visit to the country as make some information available as the welcome message,” Saparamadu said.

New online applications such as Google Adwords or Google Analytic can be used to give a prominent place for the website of a specific product.

“Several social media operated online such as Facebook, Twitter, Linkedln and Blogs can be helpful in promoting tourism industry in Sri Lanka,” he said.