GOOGLE and the internet has made big changes to the tourism industry during Helen Easther-Smith's time in the business.
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Mrs Easther-Smith started her Yorke Peninsula-based accommodation booking business, Country Getaways Holiday Rentals, almost 20 years ago but was one of the first to embrace new technologies such as online booking.
"Google has changed the way we do business," she said.
"It is very much a phone and internet operation.
"When we first started there was no website, and it is very difficult to sell something people can't see."
Mrs Easther-Smith, originally from YP, left in search of job opportunities before she married a local farmer.
She moved to Maitland where her husband Jamie Smith runs a sheep and cereal cropping operation.
"With my background in tourism, I saw a bit of a niche for a coordinated service, which is what we've created," Mrs Easther-Smith said.
She set up her business based on a system she came to understand while working at the Adelaide Grand Prix, which saw out-of-town visitors share accommodation with home owners during the YP field days.
"After several years of doing that, people started saying they did not want to share with homeowners and wanted their own place to stay," Mrs Easther-Smith said.
"So instead of using my database every two years during the field days, I decided to make it a full-time business."
She started working from home but the business grew so big it now has an office in Maitland with a staff of six women, and about 50 property supervisors across YP.
Mrs Easther-Smith said at the time she started, the main contacts for holiday rentals were real estate agents, and only within a small geographical area.
"My concept was to have a YP getaways with a selection of properties across the region," she said.
"We have about 200 properties, from Port Broughton to Marion Bay, and throughout the region."
The properties range from farm stays and executive rentals to bed and breakfast stays and beach-front houses. There is even a French provincial themed house.
Each town has a local representative tasked with cleaning and servicing the property.
"I'm on the road a couple of days a week, checking properties," Mrs Easther-Smith said.
"We have a very high standard of cleaning and checking properties and I think part of our success is that we're very hands on."
During almost 20 years in business, Mrs Easther-Smith has watched her business thrive.
"I think it is because we are a one-stop shop, with great local knowledge," she said.
The company won the specialised tourism services award at the YP Tourism Awards multiple times, were medallists at the SA Tourism Awards for six consecutive years, and have been inducted into the SA Great Hall of Fame.
Ms Easther-Smith said Christmas, new year and Easter were "by far" the busiest, but there was a misconception that it was impossible to get a property in January.
She said the business was in the process of updating its technology again, with a new website being built, tailored to work on tablets and mobiles as well as desktop and laptop computers.
