Some of the world’s leading online tourism experts will be speaking at the E Tourism Africa Summit in Johannesburg, which is being sponsored by Visa and Vodacom Business. Global online giants such as Trip Advisor, Travelport, Expedia and Google will be giving presentations at the two day conference on the 1-2 December, on how Africa’s tourism sector can harness the potential of the web, especially in the lead up to the 2010 FIFA World Cup.
The stellar line up of speakers includes Head of Tourism for Google Andrew Pozniak, Trip Advisor’s Head of Emerging Markets, Maude Larpant and leading Internet innovator Jerome Touze – the co CEO and one of the Founders of WAYN.com – the world’s leading travel social network, which has over 15 million members.
Touze spoke at last year’s E Tourism Southern African Conference and he has since worked with South Africa Tourism on a social media campaign called the “Face of South Africa”, which has been hugely successful, attracting over 5 million views and 20,000 applications for the competition.
“We have achieved some amazing results through social media for South Africa Tourism and I am very pleased to be returning to Johannesburg to speak at the E Tourism Africa Summit. Its great to see much more awareness and understanding from Tourist Boards about the importance of the web and social media as a strong marketing tool”, said WAYN.com co-CEO Jerome Touze.
Damian Cook, the CEO of E Tourism Africa, said that alongside the international speakers at this year’s summit, there will also be an impressive number of Africa based companies and projects presenting new and innovative ways of promoting and selling Africa online.
“Since our first conference in Johannesburg last year, we have seen major changes in the way African tourism companies and destinations are using the web. We have some amazing projects in our line up this year- including South African company – Wild Earth who stream game drives live to the world via vehicle mounted webcams and provide Twitter updates and interactions with viewers as they go”, said Cook.
Uganda Wildlife Authority will also be presenting at the summit. UWA recently made their population of endangered mountain gorillas members of Facebook, through the launch of Friend a Gorilla. The project, supported by a group of Hollywood celebrities, grabbed world headlines and garnered over 12,000 supporters in the first weeks of operation to both promote tourism and conservation in Uganda.
Also presenting at the summit will be ecologist and author Dr. Paula Kahumbu – CEO of Wildlife Direct who have created a blogging platform and social network for conservation projects that has seen donations of almost US $1 Million in recent months- Paula will be discussing how Tourism and Conservation can work together online.
The E-Tourism Africa CEO summed up, “African Travel companies have seen the success of tourist produced online viral videos such as the Battle of Kruger, which has been viewed by over 50 million people, and they are now creating platforms for user generated content, reviews and discussions of their products. More companies are also using Twitter and Facebook to develop strong networks of supporters and consumers. One of our key messages is that the market now looks to their users for advice and content- and a great review or video posted by a user is marketing gold- it’s all in how you make use of that. The web has really made it easy for small players to use technology, creativity and innovation to make a big connection with global markets. And with the world’s spotlight on Africa next year with the 2010 FIFA World Cup™, it is critical that tourism companies in South Africa and across Africa take advantage of online marketing opportunities. The E Tourism Africa Summit will show them how”, said Damian Cook.
The E Tourism Africa Summit will be held in Johannesburg at the Gallagher Convention Centre – Midrand on the 1st-2nd December 2009.
Registration for the E Tourism Africa Summit is open now – www.e-tourismafrica.com
Blogger Muzi Mohale
I’m Muzi Mohale, based in Roodepoort (South Africa). Blogger with www.travelwires.com. Love Travelwires.com since I get to travel our beautiful country through blogging and get first hand tourism experience.
Wow, quite a line-up of speakers. I truly hope I can make it.
@Peter Fabricius, it’s an important event indeed Peter for all those involved within the online space.
This promises to be a great event with that lineup of speakers.
With Google Maps recently being launched for South Africa, I’m sure that will be a part of it. I wonder is Street View and Virtual Tours will be presented as well?
Added to diary, I hope to be there.