Aug 10, 2010 (East African Business Week/All Africa Global Media via COMTEX) -- The East African tourism sector is set to benefit from faster online speeds, the dominance of e-commerce and the rise of social networking websites.
This is more so because of the global interest in Africa that was generated by the 2010 FIFA World Cup that was held in South Africa.
In an interview with the East African Business Week via E-mail, Mr. Damian Cook, the chief executive officer of E-Tourism Frontiers said: "Online sales have experienced major growth in the past year." "Travel is now the number one selling commodity online and is generating over US $110 billion annually in sales. We must get more African tourism products available to the online travel shopper, especially following the massive interest in Africa after the World Cup." E-Tourism Frontiers will be holding a two-day conference, with a Travel Technology Exhibition in Nairobi on the September 2nd and 3rd this year where East African Community (EAC) member states are expected to attend and to promote EAC as tourism destination.
The conference will help the sector understand and leverage the online opportunities and the new technologies available in the EAC region.
Following the success of conferences held last year in South Africa and East Africa, the E-Tourism East Africa Conference, will be addressed by some of the world's leading experts on online tourism.
They will include Trip Advisor, Expedia, WAYN.com and Google to cover website development, e-commerce, online reservations and booking, e-marketing, multimedia, Web 2.0 marketing, user generated content, social networks and mobile marketing.
Cook said many companies that attended previous events had already reported experiencing major results and a revolutionized approach to marketing.
"We have seen many companies switch to online marketing and invest heavily in their digital presence after attending our events. We have received great feedback especially from small and medium entrepreneurs (SMEs) who have made the move online and then recorded a dramatic boost to their business," Cook said.
"Uganda Wildlife Authority (UWA) for example placed its Mountain Gorillas on Facebook last year, through the Friend a Gorilla programme. We also saw Expedia expand into East Africa as a result of our first conference in Nairobi in 2008." With recent polls from eyefortravel, a leading research company on internet-focused travel, suggesting that 7 out of 10 travelers use the internet as their primary source of travel information and almost half of the planet's travel being distributed and booked online, it is crucial that the tourism sector across Africa invests in online marketing and management.
According to Cook, the registration for the E-Tourism East Africa conference is open now and those interested can register at on the company website.
Tourism experts reckon there are about 1.2 billion internet users globally. There has been substantial growth in all world regions, particularly in Asia and the Pacific. Current forecasts suggest 1.5 billion people will have internet access in 2011.
In general, travelers are increasingly computer literate and tech aware, with two thirds of the over 100 million travelers who are online using the Internet to make travel plans.
Among online frequent travelers, over 70%use the internet for travel planning, and a recent poll of young UK travelers showed an 89 per cent preference for online booking.
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