We beleive that Adventure Networks’ focus on building networks of top quality adventure operators in geographically focused areas delivers better value for both operators, distributors and users than global listings sites that do not have destination specific knowledge, relationships and focus.

We will be actively recruiting further adventure, activity and tour operators in Scotland in the coming weeks and months and look forward to building relationships with our operators, distributors and users.

If you have any feedback on AdventureScotland.net or would like to become involved as an operator or distribution partner please contact us today.

Here are the top 10 compelling reasons why your business needs to start taking online bookings today:

1. Customers Demand Online Booking.

Today’s customer wants to check availability and price and 24/7/365. In our fast moving world if they can’t find what availability you have they are going to leave your website and book with a competitor. Would Easyjet have been as successful if they only accepted bookings by phone, post, fax and payment by cheque?

2. Improve Your Website.

It is widely accepted that on the web “content is king”. Your web content includes photos, videos, maps, reviews, descriptions, itineraries and most importantly the prices, dates and availability of your adventures, tours or holidays. No matter how good your tour is your user will only be able to go ahead with his booking if the date suits and the tour is within budget.Would you eat a restaurant that didn’t have prices on the menu?

3. Get To Know Your Customers Better.

A good online reservation system will integrate seamlessly with your bookings management and customer management system. You can review customer booking history, collect useful customer data, track customer bookings and enquiries better and target future marketing efforts more effectively.

4. Improve Customer Experience & Deliver the Wow Factor.

Web savvy consumers expect smooth online booking, secure online payment and instant confirmation and reservation information. With a robust online tour booking system you can deliver instant email notification to your customer. This reduces booking errors and gives the customer a great first impression.

5. Spend More Time Doing What You Do Best!

I got involved with the adventure industry because I love helping people realise their ambitions in the outdoors, not entering booking data into a spreadsheet or answering the phone. By making it easy for your customers to book online they will do all the admin for you, meaning you can spend more time out there doing what you do best – wowing your customers.

6. Decrease Costs & Streamline Administration.

Web bookings are cheaper! Why else would Ryanair only accept online bookings? By offering online bookings you are able to take bookings 24/7/365, reduce staffing costs and improve customer service. Using a reservation system will undoubtedly streamline your back office, improving your staff efficiency and reducing your costs.

7. Improve Your Business Processes and Staff Product Knowledge.

Niche operators with flexible systems often keep all their product, price and availability knowledge in their heads. This is manageable when your business is small but as you grow how do you communicate all this knowledge to your staff and clients. Using a structured reservation system will force you to formalise all your product knowledge, making it easier to grow your business.

8.Distribute Your Adventures, Activities, Tours and Holidays.

Without online product, price and availability information it is difficult and time consuming to distribute your tours to third party distribution partners, travel agents, affiliates and marketing partners. This ultimately limits your sales growth as you are only going to be able to sell your tours through one channel.

9. Increase Your Sales.

- The UK remains the largest online travel market in Europe, with Germany in second place. These two markets accounted for 48% of the EUR 58.4 bn. European online travel market in 2008.

- The European online travel market grew by 17% during 2008, and a further increase of 12% may be expected during 2009.

- The European online travel market (including the 12 newest EU member countries) may reach EUR 65 bn. by 2009, which is about 25% of the total market for selected travel and tourism services.

Source: Trends in European Internet Distribution – of Travel and Tourism Services by Carl H. Marcussen, PhD, Senior Researcher,
Centre for Regional and Tourism Research, Denmark

Online product, price and availability information backed up by a smooth and secure online will increase your sales.

10. Increase Profitability & The Value of Your Business

Increased sales, lower costs, better service and great tours will increase the value of your adventure business. It will also go a long way to keeping you ahead of the competition and improving your working life.

The following suppliers offer online reservation systems which are suitable for small adventure, activities, tour and holiday operators.

TourCMS – Adventure Networks technology partner and a excellent low cost reservation system.

Rezgo – An established supplier that charges a percentage of booking value.

Adventure Engine – Booking engine and distribution system.

Tourist Way – A relatively new entrant that seems to have some interesting features.

There are numerous other systems available and I would be very interested in hearing from other suppliers if you would like your systems reviewed.

Adventure Networks increases your sales by making your tours easy to find and book through our multiple distribution strategy. Our first customer-facing website, Adventure Scotland.net, allows customers to search by location, activity, grade or type and  presents them with a range of bookable tours that are specific to their requirements. With departure dates, availability and prices immediately available, they can book online easily. That’s why we’re unique, innovative and different from other sites, most of whom just offer lists of operators. Here’s how the Adventure Scotland.net home page, collections page and tour page will look.

If you are an innovative and forward thinking tour/activity operator and would like to find out more about the targeting marketing and distribution we provide please contact us!

Our aim with Adventure Scotland.net. is to make adventures in Scotland easy to find and book! The advantage for activities operators such as Ace is that it that we increase exposure to their activities, and if more people can find you, and you make it easy for them to book, then that increases sales!  The website has a strong focus on search, with customer able to search by activity, location, grade or tour type. They are then presented with a range of bookable activities. We supply a wealth of information on each tour page it’s easy for customers to make an informed decision about whether the trip is for them, and then go ahead and book. Here’s how the Adventure Scotland.net home page, collections page and tour page will look.

If you are an activity or tour operator in Scotland and would like to sell your adventures through Adventure Scotland.net, please contact us.

The key benefit for your business is that we increase bookings by presenting customers with a range of bookable adventures on our site, rather than just a listing for your company. The adventures can be booked online and we take a deposit payment. You have control over management of these bookings through your supplier log-in. Great, isn’t it! Here’s how the new Adventure Scotland.net home page, collections page and tour page will look.

Watch this space as more innovative and forward thinking activity providers such as Splash come on board, and take advantage of the targeting marketing and distribution we provide! If you’re interested in signing up please contact us!

But it’s not just booking the holiday that can be frustrating. Another issue is finding out what to do when you reach your chosen destination. many of us take day excursions while on holiday, and more and more of us want a bit of action and adventure! In New Zealand, the Kiwis are well aware of this and tap into the opportunity brilliantly! When we visited Queenstown our guest house owners produced a menu of options and booked them on our behalf, saving us so much time and we could just sit back and relax, safe in the knowledge that we were booked up for our chosen activities (and after cycle touring from Christchurch to Queenstown in a week we certainly needed the relaxation!). All these activities can be booked online also, and it shows the importance of multiple distribution channels to capitalise on the wide variety of ways that people book tours.

Here a t Adventure Networks our rasion d’etre is making adventures, activities and tours easy for customers to find and book. People want inspiration, but also want things to be arranged easily. This is what we are working on providing, starting in Scotland with AdventureScotland.net! We help niche adventure operators to be found by customers wanting to find them, for inspiration and activity-based trips! Soon the New Zealand experience will be possible over here! If you’re a niche adventure operator and you want us to sell your tours, please contact us! We’d love to hear from you!

I am pleased to announce that we have several large adventure tour operators in Scotland signed up to AdventureScotland.net and they are all very excited about marketing their adventures, activities and tours online in partnership with Adventure Networks. We are looking forward to working together with these key adventure suppliers as we grow the Adventure Networks and Adventure Scotland brands and networks.

We thought that you might also like a sneak preview of the soon to be launched AdventureScotland.net website. We believe the clean lines, clear information and customer search function will enable users to quickly and easily find and book their adventure in Scotland.

Here are the currently available screenshots:

• Homepage: http://www.dojodesignstudio.com/adventurescotland/index.php
• Collection Page: http://www.dojodesignstudio.com/adventurescotland/collections.php
• Product Page: http://www.dojodesignstudio.com/adventurescotland/product.php

These pages are obviously a work in progress but any feedback you may have would of course be appreciated.

If you are interested in selling your adventures, activities and tours in Scotland on AdventureScotland.net please contact us.

Looking forward to hearing from you!