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If you have a business related to tourism, you need to be on the web
by Justin Britt
Like many before me, and many soon to come, I have dealt with the bitter
realization that the World Wide Web is our future. In fact, the term "dot
com" means a lot more to the people of Kauai then one might suspect.
Our economy is driven by tourism and most of the people we do business with
(mainly visitors) are not from our island. For this reason, it becomes ever
so important to reach our potential clients at what my father refers to
as the "distance point".
My father, Bob Britt (no relation to the new radio announcer at KONG) owned
one of the very first Napali Coast boating companies on the North Shore.
In the beginning, all Bob had to do to book his boat was to list himself
in the phone book. Competition got tougher as more boat companies began
popping up around the island and Bob had to search for other ways to pull
in business. My father didn’t have the nicest or biggest boat but he
remained competitive by advertising at the “distance point”.
The “distance point” is the furthest point at which you can make
contact with your potential clients. First it was the phone books. Then
it was “This Week”, which is available to tourists as soon as
they get off the plane. Next it was the in-flight magazine located in the
seat pockets of airplanes. Before long, the “distance point” was
the golf magazines that reached potential visitors before they ever left
the comfort of their homes.
My father got out of the tourism industry a long time ago, but Bob’s
marketing philosophy still holds strong. Currently—and for years to
come—the “distance point” is and will be the Internet.
Look At Who You're Dealing With
Most of the 1.2 million people who vacation on Kauai each year are on the
upper side of middle class. This means that a majority of our visitors have
computers and are researching their vacation on the Web.
For this reason, if you have a business related to tourism, your company
should be on the Internet.
This could mean a major restructuring for many companies on the island.
An investment needs to be made to generate or update your website. Once
your web pages are created you must market them, which in itself can be
very costly. But armed with a nice website and a proper web promotion strategy,
a business can transform itself from being on the brink of non-existence
to the threshold of market dominance.
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Extending your business beyond the barriers of the island can spell
success for you and your company. A 3 part series to get you up and running,
or to take your website to the next level.
Kauai's Reliance on the Web
Build a Great Website on a Budget
Website Promotion
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