TRAVEL TRENDS - INCORPORATING TRAVELTECH AND NOVACANCY
7 July, 2008, 7:30:05 AM
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Events
Bookings are now open for TRAVELtech 2008 - Australia's leading online travel marketing, distribution and tech event. This year's theme is the open-ended Year of Living Dangerously? It can be taken a couple of ways ... the obvious: oil, inflation, interest rates and marketing costs up - challenges ahead. But it's also a question, and the good news is there's increasing evidence the online channel may be the place consumers turn at times like these. Find out more at TRAVELtech 2008. Confirmed speakers are listed below, while the latest program has just been posted - it's packed with industry leaders and topical content.
TRAVELtech, founded in 1999, focusses on the latest online travel marketing and web-based innovations. It has a well-established reputation for delivering relevant, high-quality content and excellent networking - more than 300 delegates attended in 2007. If you have any questions, suggestions or would like to sponsor, please call Martin Kelly on (612) 9882-1575. Please visit the TRAVELtech photo gallery to see some photographs from the 2007 event. Sponsors include:
INFORMATIVE, educational, provocative and sometimes controversial, Search Engine Room is the leading event for Australasia's rapidly-growing search industry. Founded in 2004, Search Engine Room is locally owned and operated. It's held annually in Australia and New Zealand, attracting widespread industry support, and has a reputation for quality content, excellent event management and staging. The program focus is on respected, well-connected speakers delivering topical, relevant information. Search engine optimisation and marketing is well-covered, while broader industry issues are also addressed through interviews with leading search industry figures. There are case studies and debates, plus panels led by informed journos. Audience interaction is encouraged and Search Engine Room always makes an effort to be forward-looking, tracking the latest search and digital trends. Consumers are also given the once-over, enabling delegates to gain a better understanding of their customers. This format has great appeal and delegates come from around the country. Apart from search marketers, marketing managers, e-commerce managers, online business owners, senior management, digital media executives and agency types predominate. Companies large and small from diverse industries are represented, including travel. Some have been in the game for years, others are just starting out. If all this sounds interesting, and may like to attend a Search Engine Room conference, please subscribe to Search Engine Room News, which is packed with original content and comes out every five or so weeks. If you have any questions, please call Martin Kelly on 612-9882-1575.
A RECORD crowd attended the second No Vacancy acommodation industry conference in Sydney recently. It was a great day featuring industry leaders, panels, case studies, presentations and debate. There was a touch of controversy with hard questions asked - and answered. Program topics included online distribution, consumer trends, channel and yield management, carbon offsetting, star ratings, modern marketing tactics, pricing, social media strategies and plenty more. No Vacancy will return in 2009 - please sign up for the TravelTrends.biz newsletter if you'd like further details. |
Social Media Works For Melbourne and Tourism Vic
By Martin Kelly, Travel Trends IF there is one thing marketers hate – apart from the fact they get no love from financial types – it’s letting go and losing control of their brand. But for Don Richter, who invited outsiders to post their thoughts, photos and videos on visitmelbourne.com as part of Tourism Victoria’s ‘Red Thread’ campaign, the process was a revelation. “It was astoundingly successful,” he says. “We were concerned that people wouldn’t stay on the brand message but that wasn’t the case at all. “In fact, the thing that amazed me was that (the posts) were so close to our brand values I could have written them. “It was almost like I had copy writers come and write the stuff.” In terms of images, “some people aped camera angles, the whole look and feel” of the official campaign. To ensure the pages looked vibrant and healthy when the campaign officially launched, while getting the ball rolling on content, Tourism Victoria offered Melbourne’s creative and student communities prize incentives to post. It worked a treat but the number and frequency of posts on each of the different threads has dwindled with time – demonstrating that the coals firing social media need to be continually stoked. “If you can get community engagement with the brand then that is when the thing kicks,” he says. Richter says Tourism Victoria spends $1 million on its website every year and has three full-time people just keeping the factual information up to date. He says, “You have to have maps and tools but also have to partner with with third party providers. For example, we have an agreement with Trip Advisor.” Meanwhile, Richter believes State Tourist Offices must have a closer connection with the private sector. “In the olden days we could run a TV ad and then people would book Qantas through a bricks and mortar agency. Now they can do it all on a website. “ And while he says STOs should not be spending millions on their own booking systems, they need to be linking the public with commercial providers. Travel Trends: December 13, 2007 Latest News
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