New Tourism Solutions to be Launched in Nairobi
E-Tourism East Africa Conference 2010
A wave of new online travel solutions,
especially relating to E-Commerce will be unveiled for the first time at the
upcoming E Tourism East Africa Conference in Nairobi on the 2nd and
3rd of September.
The conference, which is being sponsored by Kenya Commercial Bank, Safaricom and the Crowne Plaza Hotel will feature leading global players such as Trip Advisor, Expedia and WAYN.com – the world’s largest travel focused social media site. The international experts will be giving presentations at the two day conference, on how East Africa’s tourism sector can harness the potential of the web, especially following the enormous interested generated in Africa from the 2010 FIFA World Cup.
Also being previewed for the first time at the conference will be a newly created e-commerce solution specially designed for East Africa’s tourism sector by Kenya Commercial Bank.
KCB, a lead sponsor of the E Tourism East Africa Conference, said: “The Tourism sector is hugely important to the growth and development of the region’s economies and now with e-commerce available in Kenya, we have produced a product that will allow both online transactions and real time reservations – two very vital ingredients needed for the future of tourism across East Africa. We will be providing the tourism sector with an easy and affordable solution that will give access to taking both real time reservations and managing online payments. With so many products and services being purchased online today, we want to ensure that the tourism sector knows the value and benefits of accepting online payments”
Safaricom through the Easy Travel portal, said “We will also be unveiling a new online reservation system that will allow for hotels to be included in our Easy Travel site. We are especially focused on the domestic market, there is growing awareness about how easy it is to book and pay online, whether using a credit card or MPESA. We hope that the E Tourism East Africa Conference will create awareness with the sector to focus online and get connected”.
Damian Cook, the CEO of E Tourism Frontiers, 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.
“We have some amazing projects in our line up this year- including some exciting local products and projects from Kenya, South Africa and Uganda. We will be presenting a case study of the Friend a Gorilla project which made Uganda’s gorillas individual members of Facebook- and their updates and followers made them a social media success story- with increased bookings and massive global media coverage”, said Cook.
The E-Tourism Frontiers CEO summed up, “African Travel companies have seen the incredible success of tourist produced online videos such as the Battle of Kruger, which went viral and 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. The web has really made it easy for small players to use technology, creativity and innovation to make a big connection with global markets.” said Damian Cook.
This years event includes specific training sessions on the use of social media for tourism businesses.
The E
Tourism East Africa Conference will be held in Nairobi at the Crowne Plaza Hotel – Upper Hill on the 2nd and 3rd of September 2010. For full information and registration click here.
