“E-tourism is the 3rd place in e-commercesays Étienne Claude, Managing Director of VISITWallonia. This shows how important it is nowadays to offer access to reservations and online payments for accommodation and tourist activities. The e-tourist is a demanding consumer who needs prices, wants to know the opinions of other tourists, can book 24/7 and when they want through secure online solutions.
“41% of providers cannot be booked online”
Olivier Daloze, Marketing Director at VISITWallonia explains: “According to a 2018 study of the Walloon sector, 73% of the tourism offer does not have an online booking process or is unsuitable: 41% of operators cannot book online, 10% do so but do not have specific visibility, namely through a website or social networks , and 23% have a website and/or social media presence but can only be booked through an external channel.
Among the initiatives launched to help the “absent”, VISITWallonia organized the first e-commerce days.
More than 400 tourism players from the business and accommodation sectors responded on Tuesday in La Bruyère in the province of Namur or yesterday in the Latin Quarter in Marche. And participated in conferences on digital and commercial communication strategies for online sales, Walloon help or training for a successful digital transition.
The Walloon Minister for IT, Valérie de Bue, sent a representative to the Marche, Isabelle Monfort.
“There is a digital divide that needs to be bridged, there are digital tools that need to be identified and introducedannounces this. You also need to know how to use them properly. The tourist is becoming more and more demanding. Tourism has become increasingly connected in recent years, and this is even more the case since the health crisis. We want to make Wallonia a holiday destination. To achieve this, e-commerce is necessary.”