Social Media – a hot topic, but does it really deliver visitors and revenue for city tourist organisations and convention bureaux?

Social media, with their huge potential for interacting with customers, are becoming an integral component of mainstream marketing campaigns and supporting press and PR activity in the tourism and meetings industry.

 

The seminar will consider best practice from all over the globe and from within the ECM network, to determine whether or not the use of social media really does translate into new visitors for the destination and increased income for the city tourist office and convention bureau. The seminar presentations will be made by highly qualified specialists in the field of social media and online marketing, amongst them the keynote speakers Walt Judas, Vice President, Communications Vancouver Tourism, and Javier González, Managing Director of Google Travel in Spain.

 

“Social media have given us a completely revolutionary way to talk to our clients, whether you are a tourist office or a convention bureau. The overall objective of the seminar is to discuss not only social media, but also the link to online marketing and sales. These trends strongly affect both us as destinations and our commercialising habits.” explains Camilla Nyman, Director Business Development, Göteborg & Co, who will co-chair the seminar with her colleague Ossian Stiernstrand, Director Research and Development, Göteborg & Co

 

Several ECM members – Amsterdam, Copenhagen and Valencia among them – will add to the seminar content with case studies from their cities, sharing their experience and best practice of social media with conference participants.

 

On top of all that, the programme will, this year, be enriched by a panel debate and the results of the survey currently being conducted by the Research & Statistics group. This forum will create a platform where experiences from the earlier sessions together with European cities’ particular circumstances can be discussed and evaluated.