Comptoirs du eTourisme Marseille Travel Massive - DMOs, Bloggers and Digital Marketers working together.

Last week I participated in Marseille's #Travelmassive organized by my friend @claudebenard of Hotelitur. It was a fun and interactive chat among Keith Jenkins, blogger extraordinaire of VelvetEscape fame, the sweet and brilliant Fabienne Wintle of Untanglemyweb and myself. We connected to the event via Group Skype, and even thought we had a couple of technical glitches, we did have a great time. Our task was to address the question of how can digital marketers, travel bloggers, hoteliers and destination management organizations (DMOs) best work together? Not an easy topic to summarize because there are many variations on the theme. For example we talked about the different types of travel bloggers and their different objectives. A professional blogger working for a large organization (like Conde Nast, for example) would not have the same objectives that a blogger who does note depend on his or her blog to generate revenue. We commented as well on the different projects a digital marketer might encounter. Fabienne, for example specializes in assisting, training, educating and helping small tourism businesses in Australia on the various topics related to digital and social media marketing. Her challenges are very different than those a digital marketer/consultant working for a large DMO or a multi-national hotel chain might face.  Keith addressed the issue of fees for blogging - something that might have been taboo 2 years ago, but something that's very important. Some bloggers are quite happy with getting travel invitations from destinations and blogging about them without getting paid for this content hoping that they will generate revenue through advertising. Other bloggers are offering sponsored blog posts thereby getting fees per post.  Still other bloggers are now getting speaking fees at various conferences and events.

My conclusion after our very interesting chat is that there are great opportunities for bloggers, digital marketers, hoteliers and DMOs to work more effectively and strategically to achieve the ultimate goal - more satisfied visitors and guests.  One of the points we touched on was international collaborations wherein we could share our audiences with each other, offer a syndicate of bloggers (guest blog posts as well) to destinations, access our different networks to offer clients more bang for their marketing dollars - bring in our Facebook and Twitter followers.  For example, I offer my clients campaigns that include display advertising, blogging, tweeting, facebooking which reach Hispanic travellers everywhere. What if when I am pitching to them I can offer increased reach by offering them coverage from Keith who reaches another audience altogether. Destinations do this all the time with bloggers. A group of bloggers (Kim Mance, Wendy Perrin, and Shannon Hurst Lane), were invited to Toronto for Canada-e-Connect 2010 in Montreal. Since they  were going to be in Montreal, Ottawa invited them to visit there before or after the conference. So destinations and bloggers can reach out to each other to maximize social media and digital marketing opportunities. 

As for Travel Massive Marseille, I hope a group of us bloggers get together in Marseille in the near future under a strategic digital marketing plan from the DMO there. We can certainly get some traction in the blogosphere. En Français, in English y en Español.

Bon voyage,

Jaime

A Twitter customer care experience from a brand that cares about its customers - IHG again

In my previous post I wrote about the great experience I had at the InterContinental Le Grand Paris. Speaking of IHG brands, on our last night in Paris we stayed at the Holiday Inn Express Charles de Gaulle Airport in order to be at our departures gate with plenty of time to check in the next day. As I mentioned in the previous post, I usually look for IHG hotels whenever I travel, but especially when I am not very familiar with the destination. And so we booked a room at this Holiday Inn Express. But this experience did not meet my expectations. It felt short. However, the post-stay-Twitter-customer-care experience made up for it and it's a great example of how a global brand in hospitality is looking after the brand and its customers.

We arrived in the afternoon and checked in. The front desk attendant was very friendly, polite and professional and she gave us an upgrade to an executive room because of my loyalty card status, which was great. Only thing was, this executive room's bed is awful. I was not surprised that the room is very small (as they tend to be in many hotels in Europe), but my wife and I were surprised that the bed in this executive room is a Murphy bed (wall bed). The bed has two metal feet jutting out on either side which one can keep bumping into on account of very little space between the bed and the wall. But we took that in stride and even thought it was a funny thing since we kept bumping into them (as long as we didn't hit a toe, it would be alright). 

But then we tried the bed and this bed is very uncomfortable – uneven – like Murphy beds and pull out couches can be.  We decided to ask for a different room and – coincidentally at that point – there was a blackout at the hotel. All electricity went out. We went to the front desk and waited for Rommie, the front desk manager, to have a minute since she was really trying to do something about the blackout (she was on the mobile phone speaking to someone about it).  Once we were able to talk to her, she understandably told us that she couldn't tell if she had another room to do the switch because her computer was down.  Being close to dinner time – and not knowing if the electricity was coming back any time soon – we decided to go to Paris for supper and deal with the room upon our return to the hotel.  When we returned Rommie had gone home and we told the front desk person in charge about the bed and that we would like another room.  Unfortunately by then all he could offer was a regular smoking room. My wife thought that room could be worse than the exec room (because the smoking room might smell of smoking, which we don’t like at all).  So we kept the exec room and slept there as best we could.  When we checked out and the attendant asked us how our stay was, we said – ok, “but the bed in that room is terrible, really bad.” She did not know how to react and just gave us the bill for € 221.20. 

Before we left for the airport, I tweeted that the bed in question was the worst I had ever slept in at any hotel. We flew back home and several hours later when I checked my Twitter account I saw a reply by IHGCare "We would like to assist w/ your exp..." inviting me to email IHGCare to explain. So I did. Very soon after I sent the email, I got a very nice response and apology for the inconvenience from Global IHG care indicating that they would forward my comments to the appropriate people at the CDG HIE. They also said they would credit my loyalty program account with a few thousand points.  

As I said in the first paragraph, this experience is a great example of using Twitter strategically to protect and enhance a brand's reputation and of showing customers that they are important to the business. IHG is out there listening and responding to customers concerns and doing it in a timely fashion. This ensures that customers remain engaged with the brand and hopefully satisfied.  However, having said all this, I do think that in cases such as this one, it would be much better to empower front line workers to deal with issues like these. The front desk person in charge should have been able to apologize on the spot and to offer me the loyalty program points. If I wasn't a loyalty program member then she should have been able to offer a discount on the rate right there. Many customers are not on Twitter and might not be inclined to try and escalate the issue. You would just lose those customers.  So the moral of the story is: yes, use Twitter to listen, engage, respond and promote, but you should also empower your front line workers to do the same in person and on the spot.

Happy travels.

Jaime

www.cactusrock.com 

What I'm looking forward to at the Canada-e-Connect eTourism Conference 2011

The Canada-e-Connect eTourism Strategy Conference 2011 is around the corner. This will be the 4th edition of Canada-e-Connect and it promises again to stimulate thought and conversation and to encourage attendees to take a fresh look at their current strategy vis a vis the ongoing digital/social revolution and the tourism sector. These are the sessions I am very much looking forward to:

Geo-location Meets Social: The Business Case

Explore the integration of geo-location applications within social media, from lessons learned to the values and benefits of location-based social networking service in helping clients explore the world around them.

This session will deal with one of the hottest tools in social media marketing today, geo-location services. If you don't use them as a consumer or as a business, at the very least you will have heard of them - e.g. Foursquare, Facebook Places, Google's Places App, Gowalla and others. The session's panelists/presenters are Sarah Best, Social Media Strategist for Chicago Tourism and Andy Elwood, Director Business Development for Gowalla. The moderator will be a good friend of Canada's Tourism Industry, the affable Jim Brody from TripAdvisor. Don't miss this session. In my opinion, Geo-location services will be the biggest thing in social marketing in 2011 (followed by Group Buying services like Groupon, Wagjag, LivingSocial, etc - unfortunately we won't have a session on Group Buying, but there's always CeC 2012).

Online Video: Luncheon & Panel Presentation

Join session moderator Jaime Horwitz as he explores the world of online video applications with an impressive line up of experts who have applied this innovative technology to generate positive results. An opportunity to ask questions on the value and worth of incorporating video into websites; the return on investment and the dos and don’ts.

I'm moderating this session, so naturally, I'm very much looking forward to it. We all know the power of the moving image. However, implementing a video strategy is very daunting to many tourism businesses. It is much easier to start a Facbook page and a Twitter feed than to start a video strategy. First, there's the cost and then there's the knowhow. And most importantly creativity: how to use video and digital video technology to achieve organizational goals. We will address this topic during the session and we will also talk about the latest developments in this space. We have four terrific panelists from 4 different companies working with video and digital technology. Kulin Strimbu, President and CEO of TripTelevison, Abe McCallum CEO Clikthrough, Todd Pasternack, Director Technology Group Pointroll and Bob Kane, TV Producer and Principal Entertainment Travel Consultants and the Creative Alliance Network.

Panel Discussion: Building a Social Media Department

Re-thinking your social media strategy? This panel session will consider some of the administrative realities of running an in-house social media department. Topics will range from human resources issues to establishing practical social media guidelines, as well as other considerations to keep in mind when implementing your strategy.

Ah, social media, the Holy Grail - getting society to do your marketing for you - going viral - everybody's new dream. But someone has to be in charge. Someone has to Tweet. Someone has to update the Facebook page. Someone has to manage the Foursquare specials. Etc. How do you keep up? How do you establish an in-house social media department "without breaking the bank" as Joel Peters (Tourism Toronto) put it? This session will deal with this challenge. The panel couldn't be better. Moderated by Troy Thompson of Travel 2.0 consulting, Ed Lee, Director Social Media DDB Canada, Sean Moffit of Agent Wildfire and Wikibrands fame, and Erica Ehm, Creator/Publisher/Entrepreneur The YummyMummyClub.ca. I am sure this will be one of my favourite session at the conference.

Finally, I am also looking forward to the closing Keynote with Amber MacArthur aka Amber Mac, technology host, journalist, strategist and social media guru author of "Power Friending" a book that has been widely praised by Canadian and international media (my review coming soon on this blog).

Check out the entire Canada-e-Connect 2011 program to see what sessions appeal the most to you. And register if you haven't already. Hope to see you there.

Jaime Horwitz MBA,

Digital Marketer, social Media Strategist, Canadian Tourism enthusiast

Is your brand a One Night Stand or a Serious Relationship? Part II

Staying with the topic of relationships and tourism destinations or businesses (see previous blogpost), tourism marketers would benefit from strategies that segment their visitors between those who are just looking for a "one night stand" and those who want or could develop a "serious relationship" with their destination, attraction or tourism business. This is easier said than done, but not impossible. At the micro-level, small tourism businesses like lake resorts, B&B's, restaurants and some attractions already have "going steady" relationships with many of their customers. For example, my family has an ongoing relationship with the Gravenhurst, Ontario area. We try to go to the same vacation rental property every year. Every year we go to the same ice-cream parlour at the Muskoka Wharf and the same café in Port Carling. We always shop at the stores in that town - I particularly like Muskoka Bear Wear.

I also have a "serious relationship" with the IHG Hotel Group. I am a Priority Club Ambassador member. Informally, I have made a commitment to stay at IHG hotels wherever I go if at all possible. Priority Club is their loyalty program and Ambassador is a higher level of membership, and implies a bigger commitment from IHG to make these loyal guests happy and treat them in a special way. As long as I perceive a real benefit from this membership, I will remain loyal to the brand. The main reason for this loyalty is that I always know what I'm going to get when I travel and stay at the different IHG brand hotels.

In today's "world of the customer," in the new "era of pull", where the "customers are the message", and brand is the sum of customers' Public tweets, comments, complaints, videos, etc., knowing what kind of relationship your business or destination can aspire to and with whom is critical for long term viability. The number of substitutes for all leisure and entertainment products is growing exponentially. The current global economic reality will force consumers to make tough decisions. "Should we go for a weekend to Montreal or New York or should we buy the new Apple MacBook Air?" We are not just competing with other destinations or attractions. We are competing for consumers' share of wallet with a myriad of products and services. Today more than ever we must strive to make our guests and visitors feel special. We should focus on developing "long term relationships."

When applying Social Media strategy to these two kinds of customers what might be the right approach:

• For your "going steady" customers you should strive to develop an ongoing dialog. These customers should be more open to receiving your newsletters and follow you on Twitter. It is very important that you listen and respond to these customers more than any others. They will be the champions of your brand. Applying what I call PERL to these guests would yield the best results. P for promotion, E for engagement, R for responding and L for listening, not in that particular order, of course, but easy to remember. Furthermore, you should consider a loyalty program of some sort. With the explosion of geolocation services that are easy to use, you should think about a FourSquare, Gowalla, Living Social, WagJag and/or other geolocation and group buying strategy.
• For your potential "one night stands" you would apply more traditional marketing tactics, including digital and traditional advertising, supported by social media elements (and attractive price points). Harness the positive content created by past guests and your brand champions and do everything possible to distribute that content for all to see. Tourism British Columbia is an example of a destination that has striven to do this with their blogs. TBC was one of the first destinations in Canada that offered travelers the opportunity to create blog posts on their official website. When TBC started its blog social media had not taken off yet so readers could not share blogposts via Twitter and FB, but today they can and TBC rightly added "share this" buttons to every post.

In conclusion, I suggest you begin to look at the marketplace with fresh eyes. Take time to figure out how marketing fits with this idea of your "steady" guestfriends vs. your "short term affair" guests and how you can use digital marketing to engage them both. Remember that divorce is a very real threat and that there are many other destinations that could take your "steady" guestfriends away if you don't treat them right. I leave you with another TIAC Tourism Summit tweet from Pierre Bellrose - I believe - about Doug Fyfe's presentation on the US Market:

Pierrebellerose

"Peut importe ce que le Canada essaie sur le marché touristique américain depuis 10 ans, cela ne donne pas de résultats #Tiacsummit" "No matter what Canada has tried to do with the American tourism market, after 10 years we haven't seen results"

Cheers,

Jaime

Is your brand a One Night Stand or a Serious Relationship? The challenge for Tourism Destinations in Social Media

"Thanks to all re: #TIACsummit. Seems #socialmedia is top of mind. What are your thoughts on its place in the #tourism industry? Discuss! ^AJ" Deloitte Canada's Tweet from the Tourism Summit 2010 - Ironically, Social Media is not an official topic in the conference (for that don't miss Canada-e-Connect 2011, next February in Toronto)

More than 15 million people like "Starbucks" on Facebook. Same goes for Coca-Cola. The Skittles brand has generated about 12 million likes on the dominant social networking site. (see "5 Most Engaged Brands in Social Media" on Mashable). The official Facebook page for the city of Paris has only 381,818 likers as of today (Nov 2, 2010). Amazingly the official FB page for NYC & Company, the official tourism board for the Big Apple, only has 7,964 likes! Ironically, a non-official community (Community Pages are not affiliated with, or endorsed by, anyone associated with the topic) Facebook Page for New York City has over 1 million members. Canada? Well, the Canadian Tourism Commission's official "Keep Exploring" Facebook Page has 16,309 likers as of today. Tourism Toronto's official FB page? 25,144 likers. Tourisme-Montreal, which does not have a direct link to Facebook on its official website's home page (sacrebleu): 18,286. The blog I ♥ Mtl, which is not connected to Tourism Montreal, has over 41,000 likers.

Starbucks and Coca-Cola are two of the biggest global brands. But one could say that New York, Paris and Canada are also global brands. These destinations are known the world over. So what happens in the world of social media that the difference in engagement between these product brands and just about any destination in the world is so big? The answer is simple. Consumer brands have the potential to develop "serious relationships" with consumers, they can achieve a "going steady" state of affairs.

Many consumers drink a Starbucks coffee or a Coke soft drink every single day so they have an ongoing and physical relationship with the product. Millions of consumers use their iPhones not only every day, but every hour! They even feel attached to their mobile device (not me).

Tourism destinations, on the other hand, particularly for leisure travelers, are usually "one night stands." This is great for the traveler, but not so good for the destination. Given the myriad destinations available to the average traveler, why would anyone commit to visiting the same place year after year? Similarly, if I will probably visit your destination only once (maybe twice) in my lifetime, why would I join your Facebook page or your Twitter feed? If I joined all the FB pages of destinations I want to or plan to visit in the future, my FB wall would be clogged to the point of annoying frustration (I have already started deleting some "Likes" in order to clean up the stream).

Fortunately, not all destinations are a "one night stand" for every traveler. It is possible to "go steady" with many (sometimes millions) visitors. While not all destinations (or specific tourism businesses) can aspire to achieve this in any substantial way, activity specific destinations and large urban centers have the best chances for two reasons: 1) passion and 2) proximity. Passion refers to people who belong to specific groups or tribes who travel to the same destination because of the activity that takes place there and nowhere else. The Caribana and Toronto International Film Festivals are two examples. Many passionate Caribana revelers and avid film-goers go to these events every year they can. The SXSW Festival in Austin Texas attracts many repeat visitors every year as do many music Festivals like Coachella in California. Proximity: destinations that are easy and affordable to get to in a short period of time can also develop "long term relationships" with travelers (e.g. New York City, Toronto, Niagara Falls, Boston, Montreal, Ottawa can all be reached relatively easily from each other - of course some pairing work better: NYC-Toronto, Toronto-Niagara, etc). I know destinations close to other cities, states or countries have always targeted those nearby consumers in traditional ways, it is important to revisit this in the age of social media.

It is the consumers closer to your destination that are the best prospects for ongoing social media engagement because it is these consumers that are most likely to be repeat visitors. It is these travelers who may be most interested in what's going on at your destination, e.g. events, festivals, special offers, etc. And it is with these travelers with whom your destination has the best chances at developing a dialog with. Finally, it is these visitors that you should find a way to reward for their "loyalty."

To be cont'd.....

Jaime Horwitz MBA
Cactus Rock New Media

From the great women at the YummyMummyClub - watch this video, get inspired!

We've talked about generating conversational capital in the past. This is an example of an event that creates great conversational capital, but also is a great example of how to use social media and the physical world to inspire people. "Social Media for Social Good." Enjoy (grab a facial tissue first).

J

Canadian Sport Tourism Alliance's Sport Events Congress Toronto 2010

Yesterday, I had the pleasure of doing a presentation on Social Media and Sport at the Sport Events Congress in Toronto. It was a brief presentation to a pack room of sport tourism destinations and sport organizations professionals. I must apologize for the fact that we barely had time for questions at the end, but I think delegates were pleased with the content of my presentation. Interestingly, but not surprisingly, everyone in the audience was familiar and/or active with Facebook and Twitter. However, it was also clear that as Dr. Ian Fenwick (author of DigiMarketing) has said before, quoting William Gibson, the future is here it's just not evenly distributed. Most organizations and individuals know about Social Media, but the level of involvement and understanding of it is all over the map. But sports and social media are a natural fit, so it's incumbent upon those organizations involved to take the most advantage of what social media can offer. I am not talking about the large entities like professional sports like the NBA or the NHL. The NBA is making the most of it. Fans - or should I say likers - or the NBA and NBA teams on Facebook surpass 17 million people. I am talking of smaller organizations like the WTF Tae Kwon Do Canada or Soft Ball Canada or destinations like Tourism Abbotsford, Tourism Burnaby, The City of Kingston, Tourism Kamloops, etc.

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Many destinations want to attract sport events to their communities and the sport organizations who are events rights holders want to find the best places to hold their events. Conferences like the Sport Events Congress are excellent for these organizations to make connections. The SEC holds a business to business Sport Events Exchange where rights holders and destinations can meet in person. Social Media will never replace the value of face-to-face contact, especially in business. But before you get to that meeting, if you want to raise the profile of your destination and your venues, and you want to generate excitement and support from your community, social media is your best vehicle today. Conversely, if you want to raise the profile of your sport to attract new practitioners and spectators using social media well is your best bet.

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So whether you are a large or a small destination or a large or small sport association, take the time to devise a social media strategy and, depending on the size of your organization, work on and write down a social media policy as well.

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Jaime

www.cactusrock.com

What do Social Media managers do? Who plays the role in your Tourism Business? No one?!?!

The roles of Social Media Manager and Director of Social Media (or similar titles) are very new. Even as recent as a year ago you would have been hard pressed to find any organization with a manager or director of Social Media. Some companies had people doing some of the things that social media managers are doing now. Many organizations delegated the functions to an outside Ad or PR agency. Some other organizations delegated some of the activities (or all) that social media managers should do to someone in their IT department or a Webmaster. Recalling Dr. Ian Fenwick's remarks at Canada-e-Connect 2009, having an IT professional doing digital (or social media) marketing is insane! Even today, I come across job postings looking for Social Media expertise that are more focused on technical aspects, like programming or CMS expertise, instead of communications and marketing backgrounds.

Canada is just beginning to catch up to other parts of the world (mostly the US and the UK to be more precise) when it comes to creating specific roles for digital and social media marketing practitioners (one job posting that I thought was funny was one in which the organization was looking for someone with about 8 years experience in Social Media - laughable, right? there was NO social media to speak of 8 years ago when Google was barely 3 years old!).

So what do the responsibilities of a Manager of Social Media would look like on paper?

Strategy - work closely with the appropriate colleagues to devise and implement the organization's social media strategy

Content (is still king) - create and agglomerate content from colleagues or outside sources, get approval for posts if needed) and publish content across social media platforms (make the content travel). Maintain the organization's social media presence up to date.

Engagement - harness the power of super fans of the brand, product, destination, by designing ways to reward these consumers for their contributions

Training - train and educate colleagues in the organization on the relevant aspects of social media depending on the organization's objectives

Research - stay informed on latest developments and trends in social media and communicate these to colleagues in the organization - monitor competitors' digital presence.

Measurement - use relevant metrics to measure effectiveness and prepare reports

Analysis - make recommendations on marketing initiatives based on sound analysis

Jaime

www.cactusrock.com

Canada-e-Connect 2010 went viral and international. Musings #CEC2010 Post #4 Cajun_Mama's video: the Travel Bloggers Forum

Shannon Hurst Lane set up her laptop to Ustream our Canada-e-Connect 2010

Travel Bloggers and Twitterers panel with her, Wendy Perrin and Kim Mance, and myself moderating

Thanks Shannon.

Canada-e-Connect 2010 went viral and international. Musings #CEC2010 Post #2 Twitter

Last year at Canada-e-Connect 2009 in Toronto, I had a conversation with Ted Souder of Google (head of Industry Travel Mid West - named "25 most extraordinary minds in sales and marketing" by HSMAI in 2006). This conversation took place on stage during the luncheon as a keynote presentation. At that time, I asked the audience whether anyone was using Twitter. This was January 2009. Only one or two people in the audience of more than 200 raised their hands. Many hadn't even heard of Twitter (Ted, of course, not only had heard, but was using it already), so I proceeded to do one tweet live from the stage about interviewing Ted Souder of Google at CeC2009.

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12 months is an eternity in digital time. At Canada-e-Connect 2010, pretty much everyone knew about Twitter and the majority of attendees (I think) have Twitter accounts. But not all. In fact, about a dozen people started tweeting for the first time at Canada-e-Connect. The fact that #CEC2010 became a trending topic in Canada during the conference bodes well for Canadian Tourism. It should very much be an example of the kind of exposure and "word-of-mouth-on-steroids," to use PhoCusWright's Philip Wolf's phrase, that social media can provide for an event or a destination. I know that Montreal, CEC2010's host city, is very happy about all the mentions that it too received from hosting the event.

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While Twitter, just as any other element of Social Media or of the marketing mix, is not the end all and be all, I think it is clear that it has become an extremely important tool (if used well) for tourism. What better example to confirm this than Ken Lambert's statement. Ken is VP of Sales and Marketing for Delta Hotels and Resorts, and a great panelist at CEC2010's Hoteliers 2.0 session. Ken said (I'm paraphrasing here) that "Twitter is very important for us and it's growing tremendously. For us Twitter is more important than Facebook."

Jaime Horwitz MBA

Digital Marketer and Strategist

Chair Canada-e-Connect 2009

Co-Chair Canada-e-Connect 2010

Member of TIAC since 1999

Social Media is not a FAD. It's the new way to communicate and stay in touch.

I don't know if all the data on this video is correct, but it is undeniable that social media and social media tools are here to stay and are changing the way a significant percentage of the world's population behaves in their daily lives. Digital everything, as Prof. Ian Fenwick has said, is the new standart gauge. And digital technology is what enables social media.

The enormous challenge for tourism marketers is understanding how best to take advantage of the new normal in communications. At Canada-e-Connect 2009, we focused a lot on engaging people as oppose to targeting target markets. This is easier said than done. Travel is very unique in terms of engaging people and creating relationships with destination brands. Destinations are not like iPods or Nike Airs. Many people visit a destination just once or twice in their lives. They don't interact with the destination on a daily basis like people do with their iPhones, Blackberrys, Nike Airs, Honda Civics or Swatch watches. How then to take advantage of the conversation out there. Currently, Twitter is the rage, but the micro-blogging service is just one in many tools that tourism marketers can use. No tool will accomplish everything you need to accomplish as a tourism marketer. Sometimes, old style call-to-action price-point advertising may be just what is needed. Social Media should be more of an ongoing activity regardless of the season.

Jaime Horwitz MBA

101 travel and travel related Twitterers

Twitter was the social media story of 2008 and it shows no sign of abating, rather it continues to grow with more people and companies signing up daily to micro-blog and take part in the conversation. I did not find current stats for Twitter, but it's widely thought of having millions of users. Twitter is a great way to "blog" in a very short period of time. It can be used to promote travel deals, announce special events in your area, new attractions, etc. Messages can only be 140 characters long or less, so it doesn't take much time to do (beware of conversation hoggers and try not to hog it yourself or you may lose followers). Many travel pundits and tourism professionals have mentioned to me that they still are not sure what to make of Twitter, how to measure its effectiveness. Many people are still wondering about the value of blogging, let alone micro-blogging. In both cases, in my opinion, it's not so much what return your business or destination can get from blogging and twitting (tweeting, twittering), but what the impact on your organizaton may be if you don't. As with blogging, one of the measures of success is not in terms of $$$, but rather in terms of engagement: how many readers, followers you generate. Blogging and Twitter are nothing more than tools for communication. From a strategic point of view you must consider all means of communication with your guests and potential guests. Who does the actual writing, is up to you, but don't dismiss blogging or twitter as fads. Whether Twitter, as a business, survives (it is not making money yet) or not, I am sure that some form of micro-blogging is here to stay. Here's a list of 101 travel and travel related Twitterers:

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Jaime Horwitz twitter.com/jaimehorwitz
West Jet - twitter.com/Westjet
CTC CCT Canadian Tourism Commission Media Centre twitter.com/ctccct
Hotel Chatter twitter.com/hotelchatter
SouthWest Airlines twitter.com/SouthwestAir
SeatGuru twitter.com/seatguru
La Times Travel twitter.com//latimestravel
twitter.com/travelsavvymom
Karen Bryan twitter.com/karenbryan
Hertz – twitter.com/connectbyhertz
Jetblue - twitter.com/JetBlue
Luxor Hotel and Casino - twitter.com/LuxorLV
MGM Mirage - twitter.com/VegasConcierge
MGM Grand Hotel and Casino - twitter.com/mgmgrand
Marriott - twitter.com/MarriottIntl
T Mobile - twitter.com/FlyWithTMobile
Travel Channel - twitter.com/travelchannel
Travel writer twitter.com/Nancydbrown
Travel writer – twitter.com/TravelSavvyKayt
Carnival Cruises twitter.com/carnivalcruise
Travel Blogger twitter.com/alexbainbridge
Travolution twitter.com/travolution
BootsNall twitter.com/SEKeener
TargetVacations twitter.com/targetvacations
Viscape twitter.com/viscape
iSango twitter.com/isango
Conde Nast Traveler twitter.com/cntraveler
Capilano Suspension Bridge twitter.com/capsuspbridge
NewYorkology twitter.com/newyorkology
British Airways twitter.com/britishairways
UpTake twitter.com/uptake
BootsNAll twitter.com/BootsnAll
Tim Huges Blogger twitter.com/timothychughes
TravelMuse twitter.com/travelmuse
Roger Gruys blogger twitter.com/bluepeak
NileGuide.com twitter.com/nileguide
William Bakker twitter.com/wilhelmus
TripBase twitter.com/tripbase
Tripit twitter.com/tripit
Fairmont twitter.com/fairmonthotels
HotelierPortal twitter.com/hotelierportal
MiNube twitter.com/minube
HostelTurCom twitter.com/hostelturcom
HotelChatter twitter.com/hotelchatter
TravelPR twitter.com/travelpr
HotelBlogs twitter.com/hotelblogs
Destinos Actuales twitter.com/destinoactuales
FlyAwayCafe twitter.com/flyawaycafe
Peak2Peak Gondola twitter.com/gondolatour_m
JetWithKids twitter.com/jetwithkids
HotelJuice twitter.com/hoteljuice
Hoteles 2.0 twitter.com/hoteles20
TravelRants twitter.com/travelrants
TravelerWire twitter.com/travelerwire
MarketingTravel twitter.com/marketingtravel
JebWorks (Joe Buhler) twitter.com/jebworks
Planet Eye twitter.com/planeteye
NY Times Travel twitter.com/nytimestravel
Blog on Travel twitter.com/blogontravel
Claude Benard (Hotelitur) twitter.com/claudebenard
Happy Hotelier twitter.com/happyhotelier
The T-List (travel bloggers) twitter.com/tlist
Jens Thraenhart twitter.com/jensthraenhart
Vicky Brock twitter.com/brockvicky
Arizona Tourism twitter.com/arizonatourism
Phil Caines twitter.com/philcaines
Stuart MacDonald twitter.com/stuartma
WorldTravelista twitter.com/worldtravelista
PromoTurismo twitter.com/promoturismo
Stephen Joyce twitter.com/stephenjoyce
Travel2dot0 twitter.com/travel2dot0
Fodor’s Travel twitter.com/fodors
Travel Alberta twitter.com/travelalberta
Heather CTC twitter.com/hadola
Wendy Perrin twitter.com/wendyperrin
Albert Barra twitter.com/albertbarra
The MayFair Hotel London twitter.com/themayfairhotel
Where twitter.com/whereitsat
TravelinGirls twitter.com/travelingirls
TravelPRgirl twitter.com/travelprgirl
CoTravelGirl twitter.com/cotravelgirl
EverywhereTrip twitter.com/everywheretrip
Asheville Travel twitter.com.ashevilletravel
MatadorNetwork twitterl.com/matadornetwork
Travel Trade Gazette UK twitter.com/ttglive
Travelography twitter.com/travelography
GoVisitHawaii twitter.com/govisithawaii
Budget Travel Mag twitter.com/budtravel
Carlo Alvarez Spagnolo twitter.com/cortomaltese
Jet Blue Airways twitter.com/jetblue
Miss ExPatria twitter.com/missexpatria
Go Green Travel Green twitter.com/gogreentraveler
Jaunted Travel Guide twitter.com/jaunted
Gadling twitter.com/gadling
Travel Pod twitter.com/travelpod
Venere Hotels (Spain) twitter.com/venere_hotels
Top Vancouver Restaurants twitter.com/van_restaurants
Travel Off the Cuff twitter.com/travelotc
Wine Travel twitter.com/winetravel
Scottsdale Arizona twitter.com/scottsdaleaz

DealBase twitter.com/dealbase

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Beware of squatters, impostors who may use someone else's brand to Twitter.

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Canada-e-Connect eTourism Conference will have a panel session on Strategic Blogging, forums and Twitter on Jan 22 at 3 pm. Come hear some experts discuss this fascinating topic and prepare your questions.

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Jaime Horwitz MBA

http://twitter.com/jaimehorwitz

Diane Clarkson, expert eTravel Analyst at Jupiter/Forrester to speak at Canada-e-Connect

I first came across Diane Clarkson on the web. I stumbled upon her blog posts on the Jupiter Research Blog (now a Forrester company) sometime ago and began following her via my Google Reader. After I was approached to Chair the Advisory Committee for Canada-e-Connect 2009, she was one of the first people I thought that could bring something of value and interest to the conference. I am very pleased that TIAC was able to confirm Diane Clarkson as one of our speakers. "As a travel analyst at JupiterResearch, Diane Clarkson focuses on travel consumer behavior and industry trends. Her research focuses on online leisure and business travel, with a particular interest in travel consumers research and booking behavior." Jupiter Diane's research "has looked at many different trends, including the role of social media, the growth and evolution of online travel providers and at the specific opportunities brought by travelers' access to mobile devices. Diane's most recent research has identified how the current economic environment is forcing online travel advertisers to redevelop their marketing and advertising strategies."

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Before I had the pleasure of meeting Diane on a conference call for the event, I did not know that she is actually Canadian, now based in San Francisco. I think this fact makes her an even more interesting speaker for our Canada-e-Connect audience because she has an intimate knowledge of Canadian and American business cultures. Don't miss Diane's Luncheon Address: "Making Travelers Feel Valued in the Web 2.0 Era" at Canada-e-Connect 2009 on Thursday Jan 22, 2009. Register now before the conference is sold out.

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see you in Toronto
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Jaime Horwitz MBA
Chair Canada-e-Connect 2009
www.canadaeconnect.travel

Focus on Canada-e-Connect the Shift to DigiMarketing

TIAC's and my own focus as Chair of the Advisory Committee now turns to Canada-e-Connect eTourism Strategy Conference, the Shift to DigiMarketing. This conference designed for decision makers in the industry will cover the vast number of topics surrounding Digital Marketing. We are calling it Digital Marketing a oppose to Online Marketing because it is the digital aspect of communications technology that tourism marketers should understand best. Whether it is the Web, Mobile, Digital Signage (indoor and outdoor), digital TV, or Gaming, all of it is based on digital technology which means content can travel. It means a digital poster can communicate with a mobile device. Dr. Ian Fenwick, co-author of DigiMarketing has been confirmed as our opening Keynote Speaker. Consumers, i.e. travelers can interact with tourism providers via many devices. What are the implications for marketing and tourism product distribution in this constantly evolving environment? Canada-e-Connect 2009 will answer many of the questions from a strategic point of view. Whether you own a small B&B or manage a chain of hotels, you should not miss Canada-e-Connect January 21 to 23 at the InterContinental Hotel in Downtown Toronto. Registration is now open.

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Jaime Horwitz MBA
Chair Canada-e-Connect Advisory Committee

Get them while they're young. Targeting Hispanic backpackers and Web 2.0

Yesterday I went to visit my client Richard McCarron of Global Backpackers Village and the Moose Network, two tourism businesses that target and cater young people around the world. Our meeting's purpose was to discuss online marketing options to promote their offerings to Mexican and other Hispanic young travellers. In addition to featuring Global Backpackers Village and the Moose Network on our Toronto en Español website we talked about doing some Tourism 2.0 and social media marketing (e.g. BlogdeCanada.com and Canadamigos.com ). I will write another post on this topic later.
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Young people in Latin America as a market segment are quite different from families or couples. While they are also very family oriented and will not hesitate to travel with their parents and even grand parents, hundreds of thousands of them in Latin America also travel with one or more friends. Many get to know Europe as many other young people do, i.e. backpacking. I for one visited Europe for the first time after high school as young Mexican kid on a semi-camping trip on a bus with a bunch of young people from several countries. That was one of the best vacations I ever took because of the people I met on the trip (i.e. young women). In a region where the median age is under 30 years old - in Mexico the median age is 25.3 years of age (see The Washington Post's Voices of Culture)- there is a huge opportunity for tourism businesses like Global Backpackers and the Moose Network. Furthermore, it is a huge opportunity for the entire Canadian Tourism industry. As Richard mentioned during our conversation, we must get them young. Many of these young people (from all over the world) come to Canada as young backpackers with limited budgets. But when they have a great experience, they remember and once they move to a higher stage in life with more disposable income they return with their partners or with their families. I have met many Mexicans who came to Canada when they were young some as teen agers attending summer camps and later in life as adults they came back on vacation with their families (I know of one gentleman who moved to Canada based on his experience at summer camp).

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Where do you find these young people? As Richard and I talked about, you find them online. (I am of course biased, but independent studies show the facts and young Spaniards and Latin Americans are also avid online users just as their North American counterparts). In 2007 (according to the Mexican Internet Association) 44% of Mexican Web users are between the ages of 20 and 35. Furthermore 55% of all Mexican online users fall between the ages of 12 and 24. Learning how to reach these online users and joining their conversations will be increasingly important in marketing tourism products and services in the very near future. As for Richard, Global Backpackers Village and the Moose Network I will be working with him to reach not only Mexican young travellers but also those in South America and Spain.

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Jaime Horwitz MBA
www.canadaenespanol.ca

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Canadian Tourism. Targeting the real decision makers in Mexico: affluent Women

Women in Mexico are still behind their North American counterparts when it comes to progress in the workplace or politics. Although they have achieved remarkable progress in the last twenty years, the fact is that Mexico is still quite a male dominated society. However, when it comes to the household, women in Mexico are queens. They exert enormous influence in the family or couple's decision making and in many instances they are the key decision maker. One area where women pretty much make the decision is in that of travel. Whether they travel with their partner or with the whole family, women are the key decision makers when it comes to travel. Men may dominate the workplace, but at home they aim to please when it comes to travel. If a Mexican woman does not want to go to a destination you can be sure the trip won't happen.

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Swishy is an up and coming publication from one of the largest travel trade publishers in Mexico, Grupo Boletur. It is the first magazine in Mexico exclusively targeting affluent women travellers. According to their data (it would be easy to find other surveys corroborating this. In my case I just have to look no further than my experience living in Mexico and my relatives and friends there):

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•95% of Mexican women are active decision-makers in the planning of a trip;
•1/3 are the main decision-makers
•80% of women consider vacations as a must have

Barely two years old, the magazine is distributed in Mexico, South America and Miami. It is found in key high end spots, including several hotels, around Mexico with a circulation of 35,000 issues plus special inserts in the Mexican Reforma newspaper. It is also found aboard Aeromexico and LanChile flights.

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I have always been aware that content on the Canadá en Español sites should appeal to women as well as men. Going forward, with particular attention to the Canadamigos Social Network, there will be more content that appeals to this segment of the travelling public. For example, last year I covered Toronto's Fashion Week for my Blog de Canada.com and Toronto en Español. This year I plan to cover Montreal's Fashion week. When I was in Berlin last march attending the PhoCusWright Bloggers Summit at ITB, I ran into Magdalena Saldivar, Director of Sales at Swishy and Grupo Boletur. Since then we have in contact to discuss potential collaboration between Swishy and Canada en Español. In the meantime, this month I placed a full page ad on Swishy to promote the entire network of websites (clic on the images to see a large version). The issue features Toronto as an international fashion centre in an 8 page article.

Saludos,

Jaime Horwitz MBA

www.canadaenespanol.ca

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The Canadamigos Social Network hits 1,000 members and counting. Canadá en Español goes 2.0.

Canadamigos.com is a new social network launched late December 2007 by the Canadá en Español Network. The site is intended to foster travel to and within Canada through friendship among Canadians, Hispanic-Canadians and Hispanics around the world. This past weekend, Canadamigos reached and surpassed 1,000 members from many countries including Canada, the USA, Mexico, Spain, Argentina and others. Members communicate in Spanish, English and French. Membership is free for individuals but all memberships need to be approved first.
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The idea for a social network like Canadamigos had been brewing in my head for several months before its launch. Throughout 2007 I had been reading about Web 2.0 and Social Media in tourism. Social Media and Social Networking became the new buzz words for the tourism industry. Marketing experts began to pay attention to consumers' conversations online - reviews, blog posts, discussions, forums (e.g. Tripadvisor, WAYN, VirtualTourist, Facebook). Many hoteliers and destinations began to realize the power of these conversations (positive and negative). Tourism businesses were encouraged to "Participate in the Conversation" as a means to protect or enhance their reputations and the phrase Social Media Marketing was (and still is) constantly referred to as the must do for online marketers.

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Knowing Hispanics around the world are very interested in Canada and witnessing the growth of inbound Hispanic tourism markets to Canada as well as continued traffic growth from the Canada en Español websites I did not worry that maybe I would not find a sufficient number of members, but rather whether the investment and effort involved in launching, managing, monitoring and contributing to the network would be worth it. After reading more about this issue in the blogosphere (e.g. Sponsorships on Social Networks -Niche Social Networks Will Continue To Be Hot In 2008 - Social Media is the Future of the Travel Industry) and feeling the pressure from my own marketing juices, I decided to go ahead.

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Two of my fellow Tips From the T-List bloggers, Vicky Brock and Stephen Budd define Web 2.0/Travel 2.0 as "Community, interactivity, reciprocity, two-way marketing conversation, the long tail, create, modify, self-publish, user generated content, rich media, collaboration," and "Technically: blogs, RSS, flash media (no flash = no YouTube). Economically: (almost) zero cost to entry. Socially: critical mass of chatterers." (Tracking Tourism: The Tourism Research Blog: Travel 2.0: what does it mean and do you need to care? )

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All the elements mentioned by Vicky and Stephen are present in one way or another in Canadamigos. People are interacting, asking questions, participating in groups (e.g. Travel Within Canada Group, Toronto Group, Adventure Tourism Group, Canadian Culture Group, etc). However, we're just in the early stages. The next stage is to achieve the support of the supply and DMO side of the Canadian Tourism Industry. The vision is to create a platform where consumer generated content interacts and complements professional content, where consumers can find great options for travel to Canada and within Canada and tourism businesses can "participate in the conversation" and attract new customers and repeat customers (long tail).

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In future posts I will describe how Canadamigos is doing and provide examples of the Web 2.0/Travel 2.0 elements mentioned above.

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Saludos,

Jaime Horwitz

EMAIL

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