Enjoy this brilliant video rant aimed at destinations and their businesses in an attempt to persuade them to get more business. It shoudn't be that hard but it is. Even though wifi has been around for over half a decade, picking up a signal and then having to whip out credit cards etc to pay for what should be free is still a nightmare when travelling. By 2010 over 50% of travellers are going to be using smart phones connected to the internet. They want to share their adventures in virtually real time, so "luddite" tourism suppliers who do not allow easy access to their air waves are simply depriving themselves of all that peer to peer marketing. The most important thing any DMO could do for any community anywhere right now is convince communities and their tourism businesses to wise up and wifi-up. Love your passion Todd (@toddlucier) - share your frustration. You're losing your hair and mine is grey - is it any wonder`!
This Week in Tourism, November 2010 from Blue Canoe Video on Vimeo.
BTW - even the folks organizing the second busiest travel and tourism exhibition don't get it. AT the world Travel Market, Wifi was only available in the central walkways (unless the exhibitor had paid an extraordinary price to install on site); and there were no plugs to charge phones. I don't blame the WTM folks necessarily - just don't understand why Excel doesn't invest in WIMAX and provide blanket coverage and amortize the cost over all exhibitions organisers. As we don't seem to be able to run a decent train service to cope with the crowds trying to visit - perhaps we could encourage virtual participation.