Johannesburg to host E Tourism Pan African conference

Johannesburg – Africa’s first international e-tourism conference was held last week in Johannesburg.  More than 250 delegates attended the E-Tourism Southern Africa conference and training seminars, including delegates from South Africa, Botswana, Namibia, Swaziland and Lesotho.

The conference, which was sponsored by FNB Bank, Microsoft, Visa International and the Johannesburg Tourism Company had more than 27 speakers and presentations, including eight international speakers, many of who were presenting in Africa for the first time. Global internet innovators such as EyeforTravel, Microsoft, Google, Expedia, Digital Visitor and Trip Advisor all gave presentations. Jerome Touze the co CEO and Founder of WAYN.com, (Where are you now?) the largest social networking site in the world with 13 million members, also gave the delegates a good introduction to the world of web 2.0 and the marketing advantages social networking offers.

It was announced at the conference that Johannesburg will be the host city for the E Tourism Pan African conference, which will take place next year. Johannesburg Tourism Company CEO Lindiwe Mahlangu, said she was delighted that Johannesburg had been selected. “We want to show Africa and the rest of the world that Johannesburg will be ICT prepared for the FIFA 2010 World Cup.  Johannesburg is a world class city not only in terms of our infrastructure and facilities but also in terms of how we are developing and building our online capabilities”.

Damian Cook, the Managing Director of E Tourism Africa, the company behind the conferences, said the success of the Southern African event, showed that Africa is becoming serious about shifting its tourism product online, rather than relying on traditional sales channels.

” We were extremely pleased with the feedback and responses we received from our delegates. The tourism sector in Southern Africa is eager to learn more about the web and the marketing opportunities it brings. With the FIFA 2010 world cup looming, the travel trade is anxious to leverage online marketing opportunities in a much greater way”, said Mr Cook.

One of the highlights of the conference was a presentation from Adam Brown of MATCH, the official travel partners of FIFA.  The MATCH team outlined the world cup tournaments, how they will be managed and the opportunities for local tourism both pre and post 2010. A panel of tourism experts including the CEO of the Tourism Business Council – Mmatsatsi Marobe, answered questions on how Southern Africa should leverage the world cup.

The conference also opened up many new business opportunities. Anthony Rawlins from UK based company – Digital Visitor, said the conference had been a great event for business networking.

“We are really pleased with the response we received at the E Tourism Southern Africa conference. We developed many new business leads and it was great to be able to offer a real business solution for online video to the local tourism sector”.

He went on to say, “I would really encourage UK companies to take Africa seriously. Tourism numbers to Africa are rising and broadband speeds are increasing across the continent, so we see many opportunities for new business. An increasing number of tourism players in the African market will move to online marketing in a much bigger way”, said Mr Rawlins, the Managing Director of Digital Visitor.

Following the Southern Africa event, the next E Tourism Africa conference will be held in Nairobi in mid October, with Safaricom, as the title sponsor. Microsoft and Visa International will also be lead sponsors. Additional conferences are then planned for Cairo and Ghana in early 2009, culminating with a pan African event in Johannesburg mid 2009.

Information on the E Tourism Africa Conferences is available online at www.e-tourismafrica.com

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