Facebook, Expedia to visit SA for E-Tourism summit

Remember travelling before the internet? What a pain in the arse that was. No user reviews to save you from dodgy hotels, no quick ticket booking from the comfort of your office, no way to share your boring holiday photos with anyone until you got home.

I think it’s fairly safe to say that the internet has changed tourism. The ways it has done so, and continues to do so, is the focus of this year’s E-Tourism Summit in Cape Towm.

The annual summit’s focus this year is “one-billion”. That’s a significant number for two reasons: It’s the total number of people who are predicted to be on Facebook by August. It’s also the total number of tourist arrivals that the United Nations World Tourism Organisation (UNWTO) has forecast for this year, which will be the highest ever recorded.

According to the conference’s organisers:

In terms of how tourists are deciding where to travel and where to book their trips, we need to consider that other one billion landmark, the population of the world’s largest social network.

As such, it will include sessions covering Facebook campaigning for tourism organisations as well as for mobile apps.

There will also be presentations by the likes of online travel giant Expedia and Trip Advisor as well as Google.

If tech and tourism are your vibe, you can register on the site.