Government News has reported that Portland, in the US State of Oregon, has become the first US city to launch an official ‘Twisitor Center’ using the social networking site Twitter to help tourists passing through the city.
Using the social networking site Twitter, tourism officials can send short real-time updates, messages and questions, to connect travellers to people who can help answer their questions and plan their trips.
Australian tourism operators and marketing organisations have been warned about the rising popularity of websites containing user generated content in the sector.
The tourism research centre, Sustainable Tourism CRC, recently released a report that showed more Australian tourists and travellers were using websites and social networking sites such as MySpace, Facebook and YouTube to share travel information.
“Other cities are connecting with visitors through Twitter,” said Martin Stoll, CEO of GoSeeTell Network, the company that created Portland’s Twisitor Center concept.
“But Portland is the first city to set up a virtual visitor center to which people can direct travel questions just by adding a simple tag to their tweets [Twitter messages].”
Twitter users looking for information on Portland can add a code which is then sought out by Twisitor Center staff members who instantly reply with suggestions.
The site also allows those not associated with Travel Portland to add their cents worth, so tourists can potentially get a huge amount of information about an area.
“With Twitter we can be more conversational and responsive,” Travel Portland’s president and CEO Jeff Miller told Govtech.com. “And this is how a lot of people make travel and entertainment decisions these days. Twitter lets us talk to travelers who prefer social networking and who wouldn’t normally visit an official travel website.”
For more information visit the Travel Portland website.
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