|
First Annual Online Revealed Caribbean Internet Marketing Conference a Success Written by Sandi Currie on September 22, 2008
With a mandate to bring education about Internet Marketing to the Caribbean tourism community, the first annual Online Revealed Caribbean held last week in Puerto Rico was a great success.
23, September 2008 â€" San Juan, Puerto Rico â€" The community gathered last week in San Juan, Puerto Rico for the first inaugural , Online Revealed Caribbean. With an innovative agenda including speakers from Expedia, VFM Interactive, Travelzoo, Marketwire and more.
With an attendance of over 75 Caribbean tourism professionals from destination marketing organizations, hotels, resorts, media and marketing agencies, and tourism suppliers from the Caribbean destinations of Aruba, US Virgin Islands, Barbados, Tortola, Montserrat, Jamaica, St. Maarten, Puerto Rico and beyond, the event provided an opportunity to network, learn and share best practices for success on the web.
"The first and only conference of its kind in the Caribbean provided the participants with real life case studies, solutions and hands-on tools and resources that they could use to learn and understand more about Enterprise Marketing, Web Management and Internet and Distribution to fiercely compete in this global marketplace," said Hari Nair, the Vice President of Lodging at Expedia, Inc. "I was also impressed with the calibre of the attendees and their sense of engagement throughout the duration of the conference...truly, very well done by the Online Revealed team."
The two-day agenda, modelled after the successful Online Revealed Canada Conferences, offered a hands-on practical approach to , bringing keynote presentations, a B2B Expo offering attendees one-on- one time with leading e-marketing specialists, hands on workshops with case studies, and steps for getting started online.
"The majority of travel conferences tend to be simply infomercials for speakers and sponsors," said Mandy Gresh, Country Manager for online travel deal publisher, , and speaker for the Caribbean event. "Online Revealed brings a refreshing approach to actually educating attendees about how it is actually done."
Delegates heard industry experts speak about how to get the most ROI from your website, how to reach new markets even if you are a smaller destination, how to work co-operatively with online travel agencies, and how to decide if social media and joining the world of bloggers is right for your travel and tourism organization.
Industry experts included representatives from Expedia, Marketwire, Travelscream, T4G, VFM Interactive, A Couple of Chicks e-Marketing, TIG Global, radonicrodgers design+marketing, Idea Market and POWERi, just to name a few.
Plans for the second annual Caribbean Internet marketing conference are already underway for 2009.
About Online Revealed:
Online Revealed has been successful in bringing together over 800 tourism industry professionals from Canada and the Caribbean over the past three years to learn about marketing tourism and hospitality online. Produced by , with a mission to bring hands-on learning and practical applications to tourism professionals, Online Revealed has a mandate to assist tourism professionals to be successful in what has become a worldwide and ever changing marketplace. Speaking and sponsorship opportunities for the 2nd annual Online Revealed Caribbean Conference to take place in 2009 can be submitted through , and the 4th annual Online Revealed Canada Conference will take place April 13-15, 2009 in Niagara Falls, Ontario.
|
