Going Ape - Going Online
E-Tourism Africa are thrilled to see our training bearing positive results- as Uganda catches the world’s attention by putting their endangered Mountain Gorillas online. By creating Facebook pages for these treasured animals- the world can now befriend a gorilla- learn about them, help protect them and plan to visit them.
During our recent East African seminar roadshow- we spent two days with Tourism managers and stakeholders in Uganda- holding training seminars on e-commerce, bookings and reservations and online marketing. We discussed the use of social networking sites and new media to increase public interest in tourist attractions and to let the online community take up your message and spread the message far and wide.
Uganda Wildlife Authority PR Manager Lillian Nsubuga, who attended the seminars, has announced that her organization has taken up the challenge- and will be using Facebook to create an online presence for Uganda’s gorilla population. “Through geo-tracking and GPS, you?ll be able to get information about new births within the family and other information,” she said, referring to a programme that will launch online next month.
This announcement quickly caught the world’s attention, with AFP running the story globally.
The online community quickly took up the story, with popular Social Media Guide Mashable discussing the idea- saying “the idea is cute, especially if you’re the type that devours animal documentaries and want to know more about the lifestyle of gorillas”.
This simple idea, put into practice, shows the power of online marketing and how easy a destination can engage with the online community and generate interest, support, discussion and business. Henry Okecho, Chairman of the Association of Ugandan Tour Operators, said “We thank E-Tourism Africa for these seminars and it is great to see some of the ideas coming to fruition- it’s encouraging to see UWA thinking out of the box”.
We look forward to everyone befriending Uganda’s gorillas online.
