Spotlight on China Spotlight on Jens Thraenhart - Canada-e-Connect eTourism Conference 2010

Today is Jens Thraenhart's birthday. Happy Birthday Jens.

Jens Thraenhart is a global eTourism visionary and global strategy expert who, in a previous life, was the Canadian Tourism Commission's Executive Director, E-Marketing/ Directeur exécutif, Marketing électronique. Jens also has extensive experience in the hotel space. Since leaving the CTC, where, by the way, he conceived the idea of a Canadian eTourism Strategy Conference which became Canada-e-Connect, Jens went East. Far East. He now lives in Beijing most of the time, where he works as chief strategist for DragonTrail, and in Vancouver (less of the time), where he founded Chameleon Strategies. When he's not in China or Canada, Jens travels all over the world. He's a sought after speaker at various eTourism and Hospitality conferences.

Jens will be a featured keynote speaker at Canada-e-Connect Montreal 2010 focusing on the potential of the outbound Chinese tourism market. Having recently been granted Approved Destination Status by the Chinese government (or at the very least opened the door wide open for it after Prime Minister Harper's recent visit to China), the Canadian tourism industry now has a unique opportunity to increase brand awareness and connect with the most lucrative consumer and travel market in the world. With his first-hand knowledge of the online landscape in China, Jens Thraenhart will provide insight into the complexity of this fast-growing tourism marketplace, and show how businesses can approach its 340 million Internet users by leveraging their social media, technology, and marketing strategies.

See you in Montreal,

Jaime Horwitz MBA
Co-Chair Canada-e-Connect eTourism Strategy Conference Montreal 2010 27 - 29 January

Spotlight on Claude Benard owner of HoteliTour - panelist Hoteliers 2.0 at Canada-e-Connect 2010

Claude Benard is an eTourism and eTravel expert in France who happens to blog in English. Claude started his career in tourism as a technical sales manager for a tour operator in Marseille (France) and worked with the network of travel agencies in the south of France. He spent 6 years as sales executive at the Envergure / Louvre Hotels group, especially for the 3 stars brand “Bleu Marine." After his work with the Louvre Hotels Group, Claude became the sales and marketing manager for a regional hotel booking engine managed by the Marseille Chamber of Commerce.

Since then he has spent many years as an independant consultant for the hotel and tourism industry with a dedicated focus on french DMO’s, independant hotels, emarketing, Travel 2.0 and travel social media. Claude managed the popular blog Les Explorers for 3 years and started his new blog (in English) www.hotelitour.com in march 2008. Claude is a member of the Tourism T-List, the international community of eTourism bloggers, and very active in the major eTourism and technology conferences like PhoCusWright at ITB (where we met a couple of years ago) and all the eTourism conferences in France. Recently, Claude joined Kevin May's TNOOZ, a digital portal and publication that covers tourism and technology issues and news (based in the UK).

I look forward to Claude's contributions and discussion at the Canada-e-Connect Hoteliers 2.0 panel on Friday, January 29 at 2 pm. This panel will deal with the issues, challenges and opportunities that hoteliers face in the new world of Social Media where digital channels are king and the traveler is in control. His fellow panelists will be Ken Lambert, Vice-President, Sales and Marketing, Delta Hotels and Dimitri Antonopoulos, Vice-Président, Marketing et Développement Hôtels & Restaurants for Old Montreal Hotels, a small group of high-end boutique hotels. The session will be moderated by Bill Brown, Executive Vice-President, Hotel Association of Greater Montreal.

Canada-e-Connect 2010 is almost full. You have a few days left to register if you want to attend this year's edition of the premier eTourism Strategy Conference in Canada. Go to www.canadaeconnect.com and register.

A bientôt,

Jaime Horwitz Rodriguez MBA

Chair Canada-e-Connect 2009

Co-Chair Canada-e-Connect 2010

Spotlight on Philippe Fabry, eTourism Manager for Atout France, speaking at Canada-e-Connect Montreal 2010

I follow Philippe Fabry on Twitter @filifab. I became a follower of his after I discovered him via my fellow Tourism T-List blogger, Claude Benard. Philippe Fabry has been working in the travel and tourism industry since 2003. He graduated from Limoges University in Knowledge Management and Online Community Management and now works as the e-tourism Manager at ATOUT FRANCE, France Tourism Development Agency. Under the supervision of the Ministry of Tourism, ATOUT France’s mission is to promote France as a destination for business and leisure and developing competitiveness in the tourism sector. It will very interesting to hear Philippe speak about the new digital era and the power of the consumer/traveler and how the new ways of communicating have impacted tourism in France, the number one destination in the world. What are the strategies that he sees growing out of the social media revolution. What is France doing in this space? Can Canada compete? Is Canada competing?

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Philippe blogs at www.tourisme-tic.com.

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Jaime Horwitz MBA

Co-Chair Canada-e-Connect 2010

Spotlight on Joe Buhler, panelist Mobile and Mobile Challenges, Canada-e-Connect 2010

Joe Buhler, Senior Destination and Social Media Marketing Analyst, PhoCusWright, has seen it all (well not all, but almost all) in the travel business. With wide-ranging global experience in destination marketing, the airline industry, retail travel and wholesale tour operations, Joe Buhler advises organizations on how the latest web developments impact customer interaction and travel marketing. Prior to joining PhoCusWright, Joe was Executive Vice-President, Business Development and Strategic Alliances of EuroVacations.com, and also worked for Switzerland Tourism, where he managed the development and realization of the award-winning myswitzerland.com. Joe is also an avid industry blogger and member of the T-List with his blog Marketing on the Smart Web.

Joe will bring his significant experience and vast knowledge of eTourism to the Canada-e-Connect 2010 panel on Mobile and Mobile Challenges. In the past couple of years we have all witness the revolution on mobile communications that is taking place around the world. As recently, as yesterday, January 12, an article in the Globe and Mail indicated that "Consumers are shifting away from land-line phones to wireless, with 28 per cent wanting smart phones and 19 percent a Qwerty keyboard...new research suggests the next six months will see 55 per cent of Canadians buying a new handset, likely a smart phone."

Moreover, the explosion of smart phone apps (ie iPhone), including thousands of travel related ones, has big implications for travel marketing and travel product distribution, from hotel rooms to activities to events.

While you don't necessarily have to develop a mobile app yourself, you should make sure that consumers can find information about your destination through your mobile device. The behemoth Google has entered the fray with its Nexus One device anticipating that the mobile device will be the computer of the future. Apple's tablet is generating enormous buzz in technology circles with some pundits saying it'll make the iPhone look like a toy.

Whatever the future holds in mobile technology, one thing is certain: tourism organizations and businesses must at the very least understand how mobile technology works, how consumers and travelers are currently using it and how they may want to use it in the future.

The Mobile and Mobile challenges session at Canada-e-Connect will take place Friday, January 29 at 2 pm. Time is ticking and the conference is filling up. If you plan to attend, register now before it's sold out. www.canadaeconnect.com

See you in Montreal,

Jaime Horwitz MBA

Co-Chair Canada-e-Connect 2010

Spotlight on Philip Wolf, president and CEO of PhoCusWright - Canada-e-Connect Montreal 2010

It would be very hard to say which presentation at Canada-e-Connect 2010 will be the most important to attend. One would think that it depends on the nature of your business or your role within the Canadian tourism industry. I also believe, based on past experience, that delegates to the conference will want to attend every session because the program is full of interesting, stimulating, and most of all, informative content. But, having said that I believe that one of the most important presentations to not miss at CeC 2010 will be Philip Wolf's. Philip Wolf is the president and CEO of PhoCusWright, the leading eTravel and eTourism research organization in the world that also happens to produce the most important travel and technology conference on the planet, the PhoCusWright Conference. Philip has been at the leading edge of innovation since the beginning of the online travel revolution.

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I have met Philip on two occasions in the past when I have participated in the PhocusWright Bloggers Summit as a member of the T-List - once in Berlin for PhoCusWright at ITB and once in Hollywood for the PhoCusWright Conference. I have seen Philip in action as a speaker and I can assure you that his presentation will be nothing short of fantastic. During his keynote address at Canada-e-Connect, Philip will share his outlook for the future of our industry. Find out what trends, technologies and paradigm shifts will change the face of travel in 2010. Whether your tourism business or destination is small or large, you will learn something of interest to your organization during Philip's presentation. Don't miss CeC 2010. Register before it's sold out.

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Canada-e-Connect 2010 marks the first collaboration between The Tourism Industry Association of Canada and PhoCusWright, a partnership that demonstrates both organizations' commitment to helping the Canadian Tourism Industry become more competitive in the fiercely competitive eTourism space.

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Jaime Horwitz MBA

Co-Chair Canada-e-Connect 2010

TIAC

PhoCusWright

Canada-e-Connect

Spotlight on Maria Ziv and Emmanuelle Legault - Canada-e-Connect 2010

Maria Ziv and Emmanuelle Legault are two of the foremost experts in the new digital marketing space. Or as experts as one can be with such a dynamic and revolutionary medium. Perhaps we can call them Digital Media practitioners and strategists. Maria is the Marketing Communications Director at VisitSweden and one of the people responsible for the fantastic and award winning social networking site CommunityofSweden (or CoS as some of us members call it). Community of Sweden is one of the most successful destination related social media websites.

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Emmanuelle is the Director of Communications at Tourisme Montreal and one of the main architects of Tourisme Montreal's Digital Strategy. Under her leadership the digital marketing team at Tourisme Montreal embarked on a bold assignment by shifting their entire budget online, 100%. Emmanuelle announced this initiative at last year's Canada-e-Connect conference in Toronto generating a lot of buzz in the eTourism blogosphere. The results for this bold move have been very positive, increasing bookings for Montreal's Sweet Deal packages by 51% and generating countless mentions, blogposts, comments and other social media goodies. Read more about this here: Tourisme Montréal: the shift to 100% Web-based advertising yields positive results.

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Maria Ziv and Emmanuelle Legault will present and discuss their respective e-tourism strategies at Canada-e-Connect 2010 in Montreal on January 28. Maria and Emmanuelle will engage in an interactive discussion over what tools and techniques have and haven't worked for their destination. It should be a not-to-be-missed session.

Register before it's sold out at www.canadaeconnect.com

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Jaime Horwitz

Co-Chair Canada-e-Connect 2010

Presented by TIAC in collaboration with PhoCusWright

Spotlight on Bertrand Cesvet and Conversational Capital - Canada-e-Connect 2010

Bertrand Cesvet is brilliant. Yes, a brilliant communicator and AdMan, Cesvet is the chairman and chief strategist of award winning agency Sid Lee. The AdMan term in this day and age is not quite appropriate. The advertising business has been turned on its head by the advent of social media and the power of the consumer. Cesvet understands this better than many in the advertising and communications business. His book Conversational Capital, co-written with Tony Babinki and Eric Alper is a case in point. Cesvet understands that today conversations have more power than ever. We've always known that positive word-of-mouth is the most powerful advertising any product can have. The difference today is that this word-of-mouth can now spread virally to thousands of people (and in some cases hundreds of thousands) very quickly in social media. Enter Conversational Capital. At its simplest, I understand Conversational Capital as the value of the conversations generated by a product, service, artist, or in the case of tourism, a destination or an experience. The hard part is how to create this Conversational Capital. It's very hard. But not impossible. And, contrary to what some people may think in regards to social media, creating word of mouth does not only happen through happy accidents (Banff Squirrel, Knut the Polar Bear), but through careful planning, flexibility (you must be ready to act at a moment's notice) and lots of creativity (Dove). And it may not be inexpensive as some people think when it comes to social media.

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The challenge for tourism marketers is to translate the lessons of the book into action. Tourism is very different than most other products, especially those that are known by their brands. One of the reasons for this is that the relationship with tourism product is normally very fleeting, a once-in-a-lifetime kind of thing. Not much repeat business -except perhaps for tourism products in certain categories, like skiing and beach getaways and business trips that take a traveler to the same city over and over again. While, I don't have hard data, I tend to believe that most vacationers want to go to many places around the world, but will not necessarily go back again and again, given the myriad destinations available. Thus the relationship with a destination is not the same as with other products like a car, a smart phone, an artist who has a new movie or a new album out every so often. Once, you've been to Paris you may want to go to Rome next time.

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So how can you work with the 10 engines of Conversational Capital - Rituals, Initiation, Exclusive Product Offering, Over-Delivery, Myths, Relevant Sensory Oddity, Icons, Tribalism, Endorsement and Continuity - to attract tourists to your destination or attraction? This is the key question, one, that I'm sure Bertrand will address during his keynote presentation at Canada-e-Connect eTourism Strategy Conference 2010 next January in Montreal. Try not to miss it. Register at www.canadaeconnect.com .

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Jaime Horwitz

Co-Chair Canada-e-Connect 2010

A TIAC conference in cooperation with PhoCusWright