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Bauer Xcel Media launches tourism platform Travel In in partnership with Inland NSW

Bauer’s new digital division Bauer Xcel Media has launched Travel In, a digital platform which aims to connect travellers and businesses with regional NSW in a bid to boost tourism numbers.Travel In

The platform, which was unveiled today in Broken Hill, will provide destination information on regional NSW as well as showcasing the region’s local characters alongside content that aims to drive visitation.

Supported by Inland NSW and Destination NSW, the initiative aims to drive increased visitation by offering potential travellers the ability to build personalised itineraries based on the site’s content and booking engine.

Bauer Xcel general manager of travel Rob Gallagher told Mumbrella they won the project following a tender from Inland NSW, with the project following on from Bauer launching holiday website Turu.

“Inland NSW created a RFP in late 2014, we responded to that and won the tender. Since early this year we’ve been working with them to build out the scope of the project and work towards developing the new platform which Travel In sits on and creating a whole new stream of content out of regional NSW based on the strong content themes out here,” he said.

Gallagher

Gallagher

“We launched Turu [holiday parks website] two years ago, which was our first digital foray into tourism at a holiday park level.

“For the past year we’ve been working with Inland NSW Tourism to develop Travel In which is around bringing the strength of the regional connections which the regional tourism bodies have with the technology that Bauer Xcel can provide.”

Gallagher explained the site is run by an former editor of Camper Trailer Australia Emma Ryan and a content team who produce original content as well as leveraging content from the Bauer network, such as content from titles like Australian Geographic or 4×4 Australia.

“The relationship we have is a partnership which is ongoing. What we aim to do is build a sustainable model which allows regional tourism to provide more funding back into the industry. We’ve committed to it on that basis and are providing the backend while they focus on driving the visitor economy,” he said.

Gallagher said one of the key aspects of the platform is the way it plugs into the regional economy.

Travel In website“I’m here in Broken Hill at the moment and the council here is super-engaged in terms of providing access to the region and working through ways we can bring other investment into the region from corporate partners,” he said.

When asked if Bauer Xcel would partner with other state and territory industry bodies to launch similar versions of the platform, Gallagher admitted they had been in discussions with a “range of partners”.

“From our perspective the system we’ve got can be used in other regions or other countries,” he said.

Development of the multi-million dollar platform was supported by funding from the NSW Government.

Inland NSW CEO Graham Perry said in a statement: “The Government’s investment to the digital platform has made the first stage of this game changing online asset for regional tourism a reality.

“Aligning closely with our local government partners and Bauer Xcel Media, Travel In has been designed to amaze and inspire people, connecting consumers to the many things to see and do across regional NSW.”

Bauer Media separated its print and digital divisions globally creating Bauer Xcel Media division in February. In April the division relaunched the online properties of its two flagships brands Woman’s Day and The Australian Women’s Weekly.

Miranda Ward

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