Magical Kenya Tourism Expo 2017, the leading travel-trade fair in East Africa is schedule to begin tomorrow from October 3 2017. MKTE is one of the fastest growing tourism events in the region and is currently positioned as the leading travel trade fair in East Africa. This year some of the seminar sessions have an integrated focus on capturing the digital travel strategy as well as understanding the online travel patterns.
Kenya Tourism in the Digital Marketplace, 3rd October 12:00pm – 1:00pm
This session will look at the key trends, innovations and digital tools that are reshaping the global travel market- and the challenges and opportunities they present for Africa and Kenya. Using international and local examples and case studies- this session will show the direction Kenya tourism must take to be a sustainable, future proofed destination. Join us the next day to see how KTB is addressing this with a bold new digital approach.
Presenter: Damian Cook, E Tourism Frontiers (Image Source BBC)
Damian Cook is the founder and Managing Director of E-Tourism Frontiers- a major global initiative to develop online tourism in emerging markets. He has lived and travelled all over Africa- and it was his experience of working in tourism, the media and marketing that led him to see that Africa’s failure to access the online sector presented a major threat to the sustainable future of tourism. After working as a consultant in both the public and private sector developing destination websites and online marketing campaigns he formed E-Tourism Africa, which worked across the continent, training and facilitating business for the sector. E-Tourism Africa has successfully trained hundreds of tourism professionals and has brought leading international experts and major travel firms and intermediaries to Africa to do business. E-Tourism Frontiers now takes the same approach in all emerging markets. Damian has made presentations to numerous international forums, including the World Information Summit in Tunis, the UN Experts Panel on E-Tourism, ITB in Berlin and the IFITT ENTER conference, as well as Presidential African inward investment presentations in China, Japan and Thailand.
Online Travel Bookings in Kenya, 3rd October 1:00pm – 1:30pm
World’s largest OTA, Expedia will be presenting a focus session which examines the current state of online bookings in Kenya. it will also look at strategies/advise on better selling online. The session will be presented by Ross Kata from Expedia.
Presenter: Ross Kata, Expedia (Image Source: Flickr)
Ross Kata has been working for Expedia Inc in Africa since 2003. Kata spent seven years in the hotel and tour operator industry in Europe and the Asia Pacific. His primary role on behalf of Expedia Inc is negotiating airline, hotel, destination experiences and affiliate deals. He has expertise in online retail, merchandising, search engine optimization, search engine marketing, and mobile and social media. Kata is also a Board Member of the Tourism Business Council of South Africa (TBCSA), Chairman of African Travel Association (ATA) and Member of the Tourism Advisory Committee at UNISA.
