Re: SMB Linux approaches?

on Mon, Mar 22, 2004 at 12:58:41AM -0500, Robin 'Roblimo' Miller ([email protected]) wrote:
> 
> >  - A handful too small or disorganized to get anything together.  It's
> >    a pretty non-technical market, for the most part.  Though they
> >    generally _do_ recognize the benefits of Internet advertizing --
> >    pretty much all the hospitality / travel / tourism industry has
> >    picked this up.
> 
> True there, not yet true on the Florida Gulf Coast. I'd say fewer than 
> 25% of local tourist-related businesses here have figured out that a Web 
> site can help them reach people in Michigan and the rest of the Frozen 
> Northland "at home" for lots less money than advertising in a million 
> tourist guides.
> 
> That's a wide-open business here. The few who are actively pursuing it 
> charge thousands and give little in return for the money. It's sort of 
> shocking...

My own eye-opener was when planning a trip to Germany in 1998.  I found
that I could get the ICE (high speed rail) schedule from Frankfurt to
Ulm, including bracketing a range of departures and arrivals around the
time I and my mother (flying in separately) would likely be leaving the
airport.  Information which simply isn't accessible otherwise.  Well,
maybe a travel agent would have been able to obtain it, but after an
hour on the phone, and with all the frictions intermediation imposes.

There are limits -- social limts -- as well.  Example:  while a hotel
might want to offer online registration, most B&Bs and smaller inns,
where the logings are frequently the owner's home, don't.  They'd prefer
the opportunity to sniff you in person.

Still:  for general information "brochure" sites, local attractions,
weather, photos, maps, etc., can't be beat.


Peace.

-- 
Karsten M. Self <[email protected]>        http://kmself.home.netcom.com/
 What Part of "Gestalt" don't you understand?
    All roads lead to Rome.

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