Industry Will Die! [In Scotland]

Great press release kicking about today from Alan Rankin, chief executive of the catchily titled Aviemore and Cairngorms Destination Management Organisation.

Our man in the Highlands says:

The tourism industry will be dead in the water unless it adopts the opportunities presented by new technologies.

Rankin is concerned after learning the results of the Scottish Tourism Survey, which found 59% of companies felt they "could do better in terms of embracing technology".

In fact, the Scottish tourist industry is worried about a heap of things related to technology, including an inability to get funds to develop and increase the use of technology, not having broadband in every area, web marketing, and utilising "Web 2.0".

Most worryingly for Rankin, Scotland might not be able to "meet the challenge as quickly as emerging markets".

The Tourism Innovation Group, which is quoted in the press release, reckons Scotland's main tourist destinations should create "effective digital portals" to tap into mainstream social networks and encourage user generated content.

Will this work?

It seems that if some of the more isolated areas don't even have broadband coverage then pushing the more whizzy elements of a web presence need to be re-thought in favour of getting the basics right on sites which cater for those across the extremes of the bandwidth.

Kevin May, editor, Travolution