Africa’s Tourism Moving Online – First International E Tourism Conferences taking place on the Continent

Johannesburg… Africa’s first international e-tourism conference will be held early next month. The E-Tourism Southern Africa conference is the first in a series of pan African conferences, which aims to bring Africa’s growing tourism sector into the online spotlight.

The conference, sponsored by heavyweights such as Microsoft, Visa International and local leading South Africa bank First National Bank, (FNB), as well as the Johannesburg Tourism Company, signals that the continent is becoming serious about shifting its tourism product online, rather than relying on traditional sales channels. This is especially significant as the countdown to the FIFA 2010 World Cup, which will be hosted in South Africa, draws closer.

Damian Cook, Managing Director of E Tourism Africa, the company behind the conferences, explains how Africa is moving out of the digital darkness. “With global online travel generating sales of more than US $100 billion, and almost no African tourism sold online, it is crucial that Africa begins to harness the web, especially with the World Cup looming.  The E-tourism Africa conferences will help educate the sector to move online and take advantage of all the new opportunities – especially in the world of Web 2.0”, said Cook.

E Tourism Africa has partnered with EyeforTravel, one of the world’s largest online tourism conference organizers for the African events.   EyeforTravel holds over 25 conferences around the world each year and this will be their first time in Africa.

Simon Carkeek, the Executive Director of EyeforTravel, explains the aims of the conferences. “After ten years of hosting online tourism conferences globally, we can see how international speakers and best practice experts inspire and motivate the tourism sector worldwide. We now want to share this with African markets and give the continent access to some of the world’s experts on online tourism. Our partnership with e-Tourism Africa is enabling us to do this. We know that this will make a marked difference to tourism businesses across Africa, as well as their partners and suppliers abroad. Africa is an emerging and growing market on the tourism landscape”.

There is an impressive line up of speakers presenting at the E Tourism Africa conferences. Major players such as Microsoft, Expedia and Google will all present.  There will also be presentations by Web 2.0 success stories such as WAYN.com, the world largest social networking site dedicated to travelers.

Jerome Touze, the co CEO and founder of WAYN.com, talks of his involvement. “Africa really is the last frontier for the online world and I am very excited to help motivate and inspire people in the tourism sector there on what they can do to grow and expand their business online”.

UK based – Digital Visitor, a video marketing company specializing in the leisure and tourism industry is also presenting in Africa for the first time.

“UK companies should look to Africa as a fantastic new market. 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 Anthony Rawlins, the Managing Director of Digital Visitor.

The first E Tourism Africa conference will focus on the Southern African region and will be held in Johannesburg on the 1-2 September, Following the Southern Africa event, conferences will be held in Nairobi in October, with additional conferences planned for Cairo and Ghana in early 2009, culminating with a pan African event mid 2009.

For additional information visit  www.e-tourismafrica.com
Damian Cook- Managing Director E Tourism Africa
Email: damian@e-tourismafrica.com    Cell:+254 733 826 712