INDABA embraces online

by Sarah Manners

Tourism is one industry that lends itself incredibly well to all things online, in fact I’d be so bold as to say that without some kind of eMarketing strategy in place travel related businesses should just pack up and go home. This is particularly true for search marketing as online travel bookings are mainly driven by search. For a long time it seemed as though the South African tourism industry itself didn’t really appreciate the importance of online marketing, but it looks as though times they are a changing.

The tourism industry is in for a treat at this year’s INDABA which is to be held at the International Convention Centre and the Durban Exhibition Centre from 12 - 15 May. With 11 691 South African and international representatives visiting the event last year and with reported registration for 2007 already up by 7% it looks like it’s going to be a bumper year.

At this years INDABA a new initiative will be introduced – the South African Tourism Online Marketing Educational Seminar. Scheduled to take place on the 14th of May from 10am to 4:30pm the seminars purpose is to educate the tourism industry on the steps it can take to harness the power of the Internet. The discussions will revolve around the online travel industry in general, SEM, online CRM, Web2.0 and social networking as well as website requirements for a top notch travel site.

Several local and international speakers are set to take part in the seminar and will be presenting a host of tips, guidelines and case studies to illustrate the importance of the online travel environment. Don't miss it if you are involved in marketing South Africa as a tourist destination - with the build up to 2010 this could be your opportunity to gain a real competitive advantage.

The speaker everyone is really looking forward to is Erica Eyring, the Senior Manager of Expedia.com. Erica will be covering an online travel case study as well as tips on how to get your product integrated into Expedia.com. There are also several local speakers on the line up including Quirk’s very own Rob Stokes. Rob will be presenting on Search Engine Marketing, his session will cover a range of topics including the difference between Paid and Organic Search as well as 10 practical tips for each and a review of South African search.
Diane Charton of Acceleration Media will be covering topics related to traditional online media including the options that are available to you, tracking campaign performance and measuring ROI and Luisa Mazinta of TheMarketingSite.com will be covering Web2.0 and Social Networking and how it impacts businesses, customers and websites. Other speakers on the agenda include Rosa Di Montefiano from Lastminute.com, Alison Guise from Commission Junction and Fiona Buchner from South African Tourism.
With a line up like that the delegates are in for some serious insight into the online travel environment.

“The new online seminar is a ‘must-attend’ for anyone in the tourism industry who would like to know more about marketing their business online. Bearing in mind the phenomenal growth of our tourism industry and the fact that the FIFA Soccer World Cup comes to South Africa in just three year’s time, an understanding of the online travel environment is not just important - it is essential.” - Fiona Buchner, E-Business Manager at South African Tourism.

I couldn’t have said it better myself!

2007/04/17 | permalink | comments (0) | trackbacks (0)

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