E-Tourism Africa hosts Travel Technology Exhibition in Johannesburg
01. Oct, 2009
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With faster online speeds, the dominance of e-commerce and the rise of social media networking- the tourism business has been revolutionized. Add to this the global interest in Africa for the upcoming 2010 FIFA World Cup™, and it is critical that tourism companies in South Africa and across Africa take advantage of online marketing opportunities.
E Tourism Africa will be holding a two-day conference, with a Travel Technology Exhibition in Johannesburg on the 1-2 December this year, to help the sector understand and leverage the online opportunities and the new technologies available.
Mr Damian Cook, the CEO of E Tourism Africa explains, “Online sales have been one of the few sectors to experience growth despite the global recession. Travel is now the number one selling commodity online and is generating over US $110 billion annually in sales. We must get more African tourism products available to the online travel shopper, especially with the World Cup looming and interest in Africa growing”, said Cook.
Damian Cook, CEO of E Tourism Africa
Following the success of conferences held last year in South Africa and East Africa, the E Tourism Africa Summit, which is being sponsored by Vodacom Business and Visa, will include presentations from some of the world’s leading experts on online tourism, including Trip Advisor, Travelport, WAYN.com, Google, Expedia and Quirk E – Marketing. Sessions will include website development, e-commerce, online reservations and booking, e-marketing, multimedia, Web 2.0 marketing, user generated content, social networks and mobile marketing.
The E Tourism CEO said many companies attending the previous events had already experienced major results and a revolutionized approach to marketing.
“We have seen many companies switch to online marketing and invest heavily in their digital presence after attending our events. We have received great feedback especially from SMEs who have made the move online and then recorded a dramatic boost to their business. Hotels, lodges, airlines and tour operators are now extremely active on social media networks such as Twitter and FaceBook. Uganda Wildlife Authority has now placed their Mountain Gorillas on FaceBook. We also saw Expedia expand into East Africa as a result of our conference in Nairobi last year, said Damian Cook.
Visa, a lead sponsor of the E Tourism Africa Summit, said: “We want to ensure that the tourism sector is able to capitalise on the interest the country and the continent will receive from the 2010 FIFA World Cup™. Our Tourism Outlook South Africa report results announced last month showed an 11% increase in spend on credit cards from international travelers visiting South Africa from 2007 to 2008. With so many products and services being purchased online today, we want to ensure that the tourism sector knows the value and benefits of accepting online payments,” said Nick Essame, Head of Innovative Payments, for Visa Sub-Saharan Africa.
Vodacom Business, also a lead sponsor, said “We are geared up to be a key service provider to the tourism sector and we have the right infrastructure in place to help promote this industry,” says Ermano Quartero, Managing Executive: Vodacom Business. He went on to say, “With a marked increase of tourists booking online it is extremely critical that the tourism sector across Southern Africa begin to market- and do business online. We hope that the E Tourism Africa Summit will create awareness with the sector to focus online and get connected”.
The E Tourism Africa Summit will be held in Johannesburg at the Gallagher Convention Centre – Midrand on the 1st-2nd December 2009.
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My name is Muzi Mohale a full-time travel blogger, your host at Travelwires.com responsible for all editorial on this blog. I blog about the travel and tourism industry in Africa. Apart from blogging about tourism, I also run 
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