Web Portals as an Exemplar for Tourist Destinations

Continuing on from an earlier article in this publication that considers portals and their relevance to destination tourism, this article investigates the case study of the Margaretriver.com Web portal. Margaretriver.com is based on a brokerage model of portals and this structure has been important to its development. Also critical to its success is the collective approach taken by small and medium tourist enterprises (SMTEs) as they have coalesced around shared assets that belong to the region. The evolution of the Margaret River Tourism Association and its coordination of tourism in the region culminating in the portal as it is today, suggest that the role of a champion, community, social identity, and collaborative behaviour are important to successful destination marketing. These factors have been identified earlier in this publication as being important antecedents to collaborative commerce (ccommerce) of which this portal is an example.