Joe Buhler is a global travel & tourism expert with experience in destination marketing and online tour operations. Joe is a visionary thinker about developments in web based travel, and his blog is consummate playground for thoughts about travel & tourism in the age of Web 2.0.

Here’s a snippet from earlier this week:

8 out of 10 US Shoppers Put More Trust in Brands that Offer Customer Reviews

…reads the headline of this opinion poll conducted by Bazaarvoice and Vizu Corp.

While this particular survey comes from the online shopping world, I would venture a guess that very similar results would be shown in the travel industry.

It’s one more important indicator of the importance and influence of what your customers are saying about your product or service on future buying decisions.

Are you incorporating customer reviews into your own strategies?

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Buhler Works [Blog]

Canadian online travel and hospitality marketers are pushing out some of the most innovative content available anywhere. And now, you have the opportunity to be recognized for your incredible creative and development efforts at the first ever Canada e-Tourism Awards.

Hosted by the Canadian e-Tourism Council, the prestigious Canada e-Tourism Awards recognize excellence in website design, online marketing campaigns and innovation within three sectors: public, private and small-to-medium sized enterprises.

The awards also aim to recognize travellers by showcasing the best in user generated content with awards for the best storytelling, the best photo, and the best video or short-film.

Nominations run until August 31st, so it would be a great idea to start thinking about your entries.

Will award winners receive prizes? Of course! Read all about it here.

Click on the video below to hear Jens Thraenhart discuss the strategy behind Canada’s first e-Tourism Awards, and find out why the awards were initiated this year:

How are the Canada e-Tourism Awards being judged?

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[Canada e-Tourism Awards]

Stephen Joyce, Vancouver-based travel trade creative and technology consultant with the Sentias Software Corp. mentioned Canada-e-Connect this week on his excellent Travel & Tourism Technology Trends blog.

Stephen also writes that user generated content is quickly becoming the content of choice for most savvy travellers (Managed Content is dead, long live UGC). And another post sparks some interesting dialogue about the reality of Expert vs. Amateur Reviews in the hotel and travel sphere.

Prior to co-founding Sentias Software Corp., Mr. Joyce was a Managing Consultant with marchFirst, Inc., a large IT Consulting company in Chicago as well as a Creative Director at Communicate.com, one of Vancouver’s premier web development studios.

Stephen and his team have developed a side project at Sentias called the Karma Exchange, a web application designed to promote everyday acts of goodwill. This initiative seems to have been the precursor for Hilton’s “Be Hospitable” UGC campaign!