The Australian Museum's website is a model of best-practice in the tourism industry.

By Angela Dorizas

The adoption of Web 2.0 technologies in the NSW tourism industry has increased website traffic and opened up new market segments, a new report has found.

Commissioned by NSW Tourism, the report Adoption of Web 2.0 by Tourism Businesses in NSW found that the use of user-generated content and social networking resources, such as Twitter and YouTube, resulted in increased visitors, higher search engine rankings and greater feedback from consumers.

Included in the report was a case study of the Australian Museum website.

The Australian Museum was an early adopter of Web 2.0 technologies, including social media sites such as Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and Flickr.

In June 2009, Web 2.0 tools were integrated into the museum’s website, with comments, tags, blogs and multimedia file sharing added to the site.

“The introduction of Web 2.0 to the website provided the Australian Museum with valuable, in-depth insight into their audience,” the report stated.

“The comments contributed by users provided information about who the museum’s audience was, why they were engaging with the museum and what information their audience was interested in.

“Through the adoption of Web 2.0, the Australian Museum was finally able to create a snapshot of its audience.”

The report also found that the Australian Museum also benefited from financial savings, access to new markets and increased community engagement.

“The Australian Museum case study is a model of best-practice in the tourism industry,” the report said.

“The Australian Museum was innovative and proactive in its efforts to meet changing consumer demand.”

To download the full report click here.