Cape Town and South Africa sponsor E-Tourism Africa Summit

The fourth annual E-Tourism Africa Summit, sponsored by South African Tourism and Cape Town Tourism, was a resounding success with approximately 300 people attending the two-day summit at the Cape Tow

The fourth annual E-Tourism Africa Summit, sponsored by South African Tourism and Cape Town Tourism, was a resounding success with approximately 300 people attending the two-day summit at the Cape Town International Convention Centre on September 15-16, 2011. There was significant online buzz during the summit, with over twenty pages of tweets and the summit becoming a trending topic on twitter for South Africa.

This yearโ€™s line-up of speakers included Jason Schlosberg, the American tourist who created โ€œThe Battle of Krugerโ€ safari video that went on to become an award-winning Internet sensation, with over 62 million views to date. Jason spoke about his experience via a live Skype call from New York.

Another extremely popular presentation and a first-time speaker in South Africa was Sally Broom, the CEO and Founder of Tripbod.com. Tripbod.com now spans 80 countries, with local experts on local destinations giving potential visitors inside advice on the best things to do and see. The local experts become “Tripbods” and help like-minded travelers plan the perfect trip – from a truly local food experience to an offbeat adrenalin-packed adventure.

There were also new and exciting presentations from Trip Advisor, Expedia, and Google, with lots of new insights showing how people book and decide their travel preferences online. Trip Advisorโ€™s Helena Egan, encouraged the sector to engage actively online and respond to reviews, both good and bad.

This yearโ€™s summit contained a new approach in the program. The second day offered delegates the option of attending a full dayโ€™s practical online tourism seminar or to interact with emarketing specialists in panel sessions. The panel sessions covered in-depth discussions about the new online roles for destination managers, travel agents, tour operators, wildlife managers, and airlines, all moderated by leading international experts.

Both SA Tourism and Cape Town Tourism sponsored a number of Tourism SMMEs to attend the summit. They also produced an Online Tourism Textbook, which was given to all the delegates attending the conference. The textbook outlines a step-by-step guide to working more effectively online and it also profiles local case studies on South African companies using online media in their tourism business.

Cape Town Tourism CEO, Mariette du Toit Helmbold, said the summit is one of the platforms that Cape Town Tourism uses to actively engage the tourism industry about the importance of being future-fit, stating: โ€œIn a world where more than 95% of travel research and more than half of travel purchases are done online, it is critical for tourism players to know how to engage actively with – and listen to – potential customers.

“Cape Town Tourism has embraced the web, and in particular social media, as a key part of our marketing strategy, communications plan, and organizational culture. Social media is not an extension of our marketing program โ€“ it is integrated in everything we do. It is about conversation and relationships with our various stakeholders โ€“ from citizens, to prospective and repeat visitors to our city.

โ€œAs a destination, Cape Town is increasing its marketing profile and presence online. Our Facebook Group, I โ™ฅ Cape Town, is incredibly popular with one of the largest group of destination fans in the world, we have regular blogs, Flickr competitions, and web itineraries that all form part of a communications solution. We must ensure that we have a destination that will be popular and connected to the new travelers of the next decade. Certainly this yearโ€™s E-Tourism Africa Summit gave us lots of fresh new insights, and as an industry, a lot of opportunities and examples of how we can create a stronger and more sustainable future in tourism.”

William Price, the Global eMarketing Manager for South African Tourism, said that the E-Tourism Africa summit was a great opportunity for the tourism sector to catch up with all the latest online technology, saying: โ€œI believe that South Africaโ€™s tourism sector has a much greater understanding about the power of online marketing. I am thrilled that we were able to sponsor so many local tourism companies to attend and hear from the worldโ€™s online tourism experts.

“Both with the information from the presentations and the Online Tourism Textbook, I feel that our market will be much better equipped to change and benefit to the move to online. Our market has some of the richest, most diverse, and dramatic destinations on the planet and the limitless world of the web to tell our stories.โ€

About the author

Avatar of Linda Hohnholz

Linda Hohnholz

Editor in chief for eTurboNews based in the eTN HQ.

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