E-Tourism for Southern Europe on Tap in Athens

On January 31st in Athens, Greece EyeforTravel will play host to delegates from 13 countries from Bulgaria to Turkey. The so called “E-Tourism and Travel Distribution for Southern Europe and Mediterranean” will also feature expert speakers from 10 countries. The conference will address the state of the evolving travel consumer, and how suppliers in the region can engage them more economically and efficiently.

EyeforTravel, in collaboration with Travel Media Applications, has organized this conference so that industry experts and professionals can build better understanding and strategies for the Southern European travel market. The panel will look at the current state of this market, identify the opportunities and the appropriate distribution channels, and initiate direct engagement of customers via the growing social media and mobile channels.

A few of the many speakers scheduled to address the conference are; Chris Amenichi, Continental Airlines; David Slocombe, Innovation Product Manager, lastminute.com; Nick Hall, Online Marketing Manager, European Travel Commission; Xavier Vallee, Head of Direct Marketing and E-Commerce, Avis Europe and many other distinguished and expert guests.

Looking at the areas of expertise, and the schedule of the conference, it’s easy to see many of the key segments in the industry will be addressed. Mobile to cutting edge future conversion conduits, Athens is the place to be at the end of the month for Eastern European travel companies.

In particular, the social media channels will be addressed where those channels can leverage lower conversion costs and increased visibility.  FourSquare, Facebook, and of course Twitter will be focal points of the discussions there. Other key topical analysis and discussion include; mobile, payments, hotel website development, the role of tourist boards, search traffic, ancillary revenue, and many other topical analysis.

E-Tourism and Travel Distribution for Southern Europe and Mediterranean is being held at the Technopolis in Athens’ Gazi technical district. Be sure and check too for what’s on while you attend the show. The world famous Athens Carnival is one event that should coincide nicely for your visit.

EyeforTravel and TMA are famous in the region for spreading the technologies and information businesses and industry experts can glean value from. Connections, technology, emerging markets, and the new strategies for building a dynamic and healthy industry – these are the hallmarks of any great trade show or conference.

From our perspective, just looking at the speaker, and in particular innovators like Slovenia’s Tinkara Pavlovcic Kapitanovic, makes us sorry we cannot attend. For those who do not know, Slovenia’s efforts at riding the razor’s edge of “new age” tourism efforts is fairly well know, and Tinkara (pictured below showing off Slovenia’s new travel site) is one of that country’s authors.

Here is a recent study (PDF) Kapitanovic published concerning new social media and online engagement. Besides actually taking the reader there by the hand, offering the best of this show is about all we can do. If you are interested in attending, please visit the EyeforTravel website here. Alternatively, you can contact them via their Facebook pages or Twitter.