Add-on for the FACVB Presentation - Using Flickr.com for Photo Management

I mentioned in my session at the Florida Association of CVB’s Annual Marketing Summit, that an effective way to manage your photos is to upload them to Flickr.com.  As an example, I have created a new account for myself and uploaded a number of photos that were previously only available in my Facebook profile.  You can access the photostream here.  Note that all the photos have a clearly described title, a good description, and appropriate tags.  Given this is a new account it may take a while for Google to pick up the updates, however, given that I have included the link in this post... Read more »

Presentation for Florida Association of CVBs Annual Marketing Conference

Thank you to the Florida Association of CVBs for inviting me down to Gainesville Florida to speak at the FACVBs Annual Marketing Conference. The Conference was a big success and many of the people who were in my afternoon session provided me with positive feedback on the presentation. I really enjoy doing these presentations because I think it helps to take some of the mystery and fear out of these relatively new and sometimes “scary” tools. For those who would like to print out or review the presentations, I have embedded the two presentations below. If you are unable to see them,... Read more »

Social Media Advisors Must Lead by Example

I first saw Sean Moffitt do his “Word of Mouth” presentation at the Canada-e-connect conference in Vancouver in November of 2007. Since that time I’ve followed his blog and facebook-stalked him a bit. I noticed a facebook feed that caught my attention titled “Sean Moffitt posted To Advise Social Media, You Have to Be Social Media on TypePad.” I couldn’t agree with Sean more on his views.  Sean’s views are a confirmation of Joseph Thornley’s post called “Social Media Authorship is Mandatory for Credibility as an Advisor“.  As you can... Read more »

PhoCusWright to Showcase Hottest Travel 2.0 & Mobile Innovations

The PhoCusWright Conference, for the first time in its history, will be featuring a special summit dedicated to spotlighting the hottest innovations is mobile and web travel technology. The inaugural Travel Innovation Summit will feature 24 handpicked companies from around the World who want to demo their innovations to some of the most influential leaders in the travel & tourism industry. In their own words: Early-stage, emerging and established companies are invited to apply based purely on their innovative accomplishments, regardless of organizational size, age, sector or location. PhoCusWright’s... Read more »

Rezgo.com Moves to Round 3 of New Ventures BC Competition

I am very happy report that Rezgo.com has moved into the third round of the New Ventures BC Competition. My colleague Phil Caines has been spearheading the effort and has been submitting all the necessary information to the judging committee since the competition started back in April of this year. According to the email notice that was sent out by New Ventures BC: The New Ventures BC Top 30 Companies The jury has read, discussed, and deliberated over the record 149 entries submitted to Round 2 of the New Ventures BC Competition this year. Congratulations to the 30 companies advancing... Read more »

Responsible Tourism Awards 2008

I recently received a message from Alex Lyons at Responsible Tourism announcing that nominations are now being accepted for the 2008 Responsible Tourism Awards. It is pretty rare that direct messages like these actually make it through to the blog, but in this case, I really like the subject matter and I am passionate about the idea. In their own words: The idea behind the Awards is that all types of tourism – from niche to mainstream – can and should be operated in a way that respects and benefits destinations and local people. The Awards recognise individuals, companies and organisations... Read more »

Travel is doing a lot for sustainability

The main topic at this year’s Global Travel & Tourism Summit in Dubai was sustainability and what the travel industry is doing to promote it.  I was really quite surprised at the amount of discussion around how “we” collectively can make a difference and do things on a corporate level to reduce our impact on the environment and make travel more sustainable.  The cost of fuel was of particular interest especially with the large airlines that attended the summit.  What many seem to forget is that the travel industry actually only accounts for about 2% of the global carbon... Read more »

Android + Travel = Location Based Services

Mobile applications are not really my passion, but I have to say that after playing with my wife’s iTouch and viewing the latest videos about Google Android, I am truly excited about what the mobile web has to offer. I had a discussion with my colleague Phil Caines just today about AirG, a Vancouver based company that has developed a mobile social networking platform. It is very cool but I wondered how sustainable the model is given that mobile technologies will eventually support regular web applications. Phil’s argument was that our mobile market (North America, Japan, and Europe)... Read more »

Airlines are Looking for the Value Adds

Kevin May, over at the Travolution Blog, recently wrote that Ryanair has developed a user generated listing service which allows property owners to upload their own properties to the site. This allows Ryanair to sell unique accommodations along with the air fare. The article goes on to state that Ryanair already has a deal with Isango.com and Easyjet has a similar deal with competitor with Viator. Another great reason for suppliers to get their unique destination products into a system like, oh I don’t know, Rezgo maybe? Hey Westjet or AirCanada, are you interested in adding destination... Read more »

Small Travel Agencies have advantage in Social Media

It’s not very often that small travel agencies have any kind of advantage over their much larger and better funded counterparts, but when it comes to Social Media they have a distinct advantage.  Small agencies whether they have one employee or many tend to be better prepared to handle personal requests and offer one on one service.  Large agencies, especially OTAs, are generally more focused on volume and, although many have excellent customer service, their smaller margins and focus on the bottom line mean that personal interaction in social media needs to have a clear and measurable... Read more »

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