As the first point of contact a visitor has with your area of operation, your local Visitor Information Centre (VIC) is one vital piece of the puzzle to getting more bookings for your tour or activity business. If you’re just starting out, this is what you need to know.What are Visitor Information Centres?According to Wikipedia, a Visitor Information Centre is a physical location that provides tourist information to the visitors of the place or area.Their purpose is to increase awareness of the area by helping visitors have a positive experience. They will provide tourists with free information and brochures on an area’s attractions, lodgings, and any other relevant information they need.They also provide services such asAccommodation bookingsTour bookingsTransport optionsIn Australia, VICs are run by local or state governments, or sometimes an association of tourism operators on behalf of government, usually managed by a board or executive. You can tell they’re nationally accredited because they use the italic ‘i’ pictured above.How can Tour Operators work with VICs?Visitor Information Centres provide tour booking and transport referral services, so your tour/activity/shuttle business needs to get on their list!Contact your local VIC and give them all of the information they need about your business. They will send you bookings when a visitor shows interest.One thing to be aware of is booking management. Managing their commission on each booking can be a bit of hassle, so make sure your online booking system can support this.For example, Rezdy allows VICs to send bookings to you directly. You set the commission, and Rezdy makes sure the VIC is paid the right amount. Rezdy also creates a report so it’s all there in black and white and there’s no room for disputes.If you’re interested in understanding how that works, reach out to our friendly sales team.You can also download our free ebook to keep learning about distributing your tourism products:[hs id=”225e762a-fce7-41b6-8b53-658a38d110b5″]