Why touristic websites based on TYPO3 have no prospects
TYPO3 – next to Drupal, Joomla and WordPress – is one of the most popular open source content management systems in the German-speaking area. Roughly 500,000 websites worldwide are based on its technologies including many DMO websites. Numerous web agencies have specialized in programming tourism websites on the basis of TYPO3 or other web content management systems. But the time has come to rethink this strategy! The individual website of a tourism destination, that was once considered to be the central and vital medium, is losing its relevance. For many years the destination website was regarded as THE fundamental place for activities in tourism marketing. Many jobs in tourism destinations serve the purpose of filling a website with content, improve relevance by search engine optimization, create marketing campaigns to increase website relevance, buy range for a website, relaunch every three years and watch over KPIs.
The changed behavior of users
And all of that is really not important anymore? The needs of users change. They use different, individual ways to search for inspiration and information with the help of tools, apps or bigger platforms. The latter provides users with an overview of concise and personalized content of all sources. Individual websites simply cannot achieve the user-friendliness and search engine relevance of platforms. Users do not care to figure out new operating concepts. Furthermore, they do not want to deal with several pages of SEO and advertising texts to find the information they are looking for.
The implementation of language assistants will cause the biggest change in user behavior since the invention of the iPhone: With increasing tendency, users and guests use their voices to search for information. Language assistants such as Siri, Cortana and Co. have already established themselves in the usage of smartphones – Asking questions is so much more comfortable than typing them! The big internet companies and related search engines appreciate the quality of platform content, which in return lowers the relevance of individual destination websites.
Decreasing range of an exemplary DMO website
The solution lies within the reversion of the system. At first, destinations need to take care of their data (see blog article “The must-have for future systems: data quality”) and build a central data base. From here the data can be distributed to many different channels. The range increases and guests are informed via numerous channels. Then, the individual website is only one of many channels.
In this regard, TYPO3 and all other web CMS systems are of no help. Their only purpose is to provide one single channel with content – and thus, they are not suitable for creating a central data base. That purpose requires specialized data base systems developed for a multi-client capable and structured data maintenance of semantic data. In the tourism sector the Outdooractive DMS is by far the most developed systems. Since 2004 a highly complex and simultaneously user-friendly Content Management System is being developed for touristic content of all sorts. Here all data are managed uniformly:
The Outdooractive CMS is specifically designed for the needs of DMOs: API for data distribution, a seamless integration of booking systems and guest maps as well as all requirements for future technologies and developments. The product “Destination Web” and its simple modular system provide a possibility to configure a state-of-the-art website without any additional programming.
This product not only provides a destination with a cutting-edge website, but also the Outdooractive CMS as a data base for all channels. The content shared on the website can also be used for further products (e.g. “Destination App”) – of course including the integration of an individual branding, all design possibilities and all modules that are necessary for a modern guest communication.