Destination marketing expert Bill Geist maintains an excellent and very active blog called Bill Geist’s Zeitgeist.

Bill has terrific perspective around destination marketing, and he intuitively believes that more transparency in marketing through social media helps to build trust with visitors and consumers.

Yesterday, the Zeitgeist featured a post reminding that adding authentic, dynamic customer reviews on travel websites simply makes good business sense. And for good reason too:

Excerpted from Bill’s Blog:

“In Tuesday’s Z-News, we opined on the reticence on the part of some destination marketers to allow consumer generated comments on their websites. We, naturally, think it’s a necessary step…but that’s just us.

Minutes after the Z-News was posted, I came across an interesting bit of research (thanks to Ben at the Church of the Customer Blog) that indicates that 77% of businesses that included online consumer reviews are seeing increased site traffic…and 42% report higher average order values.

Just a little more for your pipe…”

Many organizations still resist featuring customer reviews on their sites for fear of negative feedback, but we have to remember that a chance to overcome an objective or solve a customer problem can be a chance to win-over that customer, guest, or visitor for life.

We are currently extending valuable partnership opportunities to qualified organizations.

You can access a copy of our partnership package here http://www.canadaeconnect.com/CEC_Partnership-Package_Eng_final.pdf. To secure a partnership opportunity, contact Trevor Roald (roald.trevor@ctc-cct.ca) to discuss availability and options.

Why partner with Canada-e-Connect?

• Benefit from associating with key organizations
• Create, maintain and enhance your brands awareness in the Canadian tourism industry
• Elevate your profile in the eyes of key tourism decision makers
• Create new business opportunities for your company
• Benefit from the media and industrial recognition given to CTC events
• Be seen as an intellectual influencer to your industry peers
• Take advantage of CEC’s high-traffic website as well as press and news service

I recommend securing your partnerships soon. Momentum is building and partnership opportunities are going very fast. Have a look at http://www.canadaeconnect.com/partner.php to view all standard partnership packages, or let us know if you have some other ideas how you may want to get involved.

Fostering innovation in online tourism marketing practices depends, of course, on attracting and retaining the very best talent that Canada has to offer. In a time when countless industries are competing for vital people resources and creativity, our industry must seek to nurture relationships with the brightest up-and-comers of our craft.

And where should we be looking to find talent? Our academic institutions is a wonderful place to start.

Canada-e-Connect has initiated an exciting student contest to generate excitement within our schools about travel e-marketing, and to offer students a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to connect with, and learn from the industry’s brightest minds.

The Canada-e-Connect Student Competition offers Canadian graduate and senior undergraduate students in Canada and abroad, the opportunity to win a scholarship to participate in the first Canada-e-Connect Conference. Students may enter the competition by providing a proposal of a research paper, or business plan by October 1, 2007.

The topic is “how can the Internet and new emerging technologies be leveraged to market Canadian travel experiences to the world”.

Successful students would be invited to come to Canada-e-Connect, engage in the event, network and learn, and use the event as their final “lab” to complete their project.

This is a terrific initiative, and a wonderful opportunity for Canadian students to showcase their talent.

Click here to review the contest details, and you can hear Jens Thraenhart explain his inspiration for offering the contest in the following video:

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?

Link
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?

Link
[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!

We all look forward to catching up with colleagues (and meeting new ones) at any conference, and we can usually anticipate that conference events, outings and parties will be great times for all.

First and foremost, however, conference delegates want to know that they will be exposed to timely, relevant and intelligent content. Speakers, breakouts, panels—these are the elements that differentiate a good program from a great one.

Today I am posting another excerpt from a recent interview with Jens Thraenhart, Canada-e-Connect conference chair. Jens outlines some exciting early thoughts on the conference program and speakers:

Today I am delighted to post an interview with Tom Wilson, Director of Recreation & Tourism for the Municipality of Victoria County, and Project Co-ordinator for Broadband Solutions for Rural Development.

Tom was kind enough to answer a few questions about his dynamic organization, and he offers some interesting perspective about e-marketing in the travel space.

Enjoy.

Tom, your tourism portal for Victoria County, Nova Scotia is a wonderful resource for operators. You have programmed so many practical tools in your suite of services.

1) Can you give some background or motivation as to how, or why you have developed such a hands-on resource?

TW: Good Research & data has to be the basis for making smart decisions. I wanted to provide the tourism industry in Victoria County with important stats and research to help them make informed & knowledgeable decisions. The portal has expanded over the years to include news, marketing, product development, training and now technology tools. I have included International Tourism News from countries such as New Zealand and Australia as they bring to the table new perspectives & ideas, innovated concepts and interesting web sites designs to attract visitors.

2) Your podcasts with e-marketing experts such as the Tourism Industry Association of NS and A Couple of Chicks e-marketing are a terrific idea. What has been the response from your constituents?

TW: A colleague of mine, Gerard MacNeil and myself developed a project called Moving Forward with New Media. Thanks to him and his staff, I was able to venture into this form of New Media – Podcasts. It has been a great learning experience and valuable one. The response to podcasts has been very favourable and I plan to continue to offer them monthly or more frequently.

3) You maintain an excellent blog on the Tourism Victoria site. Are you the editor of the blog? If so, can you offer some background as to why you started the blog?

TW: Yes, I am the editor of the Tourism Victoria County Blog. I guess I can thank Patricia and Alicia of A Couple of Chicks E-Marketing for helping me venture into this field. Alicia sold me on blogs and social media during her visit to Nova Scotia in April with NS Masterclass series. Blogs provide an excellent forum to share information with others in a brief but to the point format. Tourism VC blog also assists in driving visitors to my tourism portal. I find most of my relevant information in tourism via blogs today. It has become my news channel.

4 ) Would you give us some thoughts about the “state of the province” of online marketing adoption in Nova Scotia? What do think are the opportunities for your constituents moving forward?

TW: The Nova Scotia Dept. Of Tourism has taken great strides with its Google Earth adoption, short videos and its sample, lure and buy strategy in 2007 for www.novascotia.com . Much of this can be attribute to my colleague and fellow Canada E-Tourism Council member – Tanya MacLeod. Many in the tourism industry have embraced on-line marketing thanks to training received from Susan Sweeney BootCamp, NS Masterclass Series – A Couple of Chicks E-Marketing, TIANS, Tourism Technology and many more. We are not however at 50% level yet with on-line booking nor are offering high-speed internet at all accommodations for visitors and targeting & tracking e-marketing. But Nova Scotia is moving forward on all fronts and should reach a number of goals & objectives within two years. E-Marketing and social marketing are evolving all the time. Will we ever catch up ? I don’t know but it is important to be in the game and playing it. There are plenty of opportunities for tourism operators to reap the benefits of e-marketing and to track its campaigns.

5 ) Finally Tom, would you like to share what you hope to get out of the Canada-e-Connect conference program?

TW: Be a part of developing a national strategy – E-Tourism for Canada, meet & network with colleagues across Canada, learn and share experiences on new media & emerging technologies. Come back with new ideas to implement in my region and make us a leader in e-marketing. .

6 ) Any other comments about Canada-e-Connect, or e-marketing in general?

TW: The E-Tourism Council is a wonderful initiative and I see a lot of benefits coming when the strategy is developed and implemented. There are a number of success stories in the travel industry that can be champions and help the industry grow further with Canada’s e-Tourism strategy .ie. Hello BC Travel Blog, CTC travel Blog, Nova Scotia’s sample, lure, buy strategy and much more.

Tom C. Wilson is a graduate of Dalhousie University with graduate work at University of North Texas. He has a Certificate in Leading Innovation from St. Mary’s University, Certificate in Tourism Destination Management from George Washington University, as well Certificate of Community Economic Development from NSCC. He is currently the Director of Recreation & Tourism for the Municipality of Victoria County.

Mr. Wilson is the Project Co-ordinator for Broadband Solutions for Rural Development, Victoria County’s Broadband Project, bring Broadband to 90 plus rural communities. This 6 million dollar project will make the County one of the most connected counties in the world. 85% of the project is completed with the balanced to be done by early 2008. Victoria County has also invested in Broadband Applications with two projects - Enhancing Tourism with Broadband and Moving Forward with New Media.

Mr. Wilson has over twenty-five years of experience working with community groups, public agencies & businesses in rural communities and has extensive experience in project management. Former chair of the North Shore Learning and Enterprise Centre & Victoria County CAP Sites Association, and former member of the Provincial Tourism Task Force for E-Marketing. Nominated by his peers for the National Community Achievement Award with CANARIE in 2004 and TIANS Technology Awards in 2001 & 2006. Member of the Nova Scotia Provincial Broadband Advisory Committee.

Would you like to be featured in an interview? Let me know!

Recently I had a chance to sit with Jens Thraenhart, conference chair and founder of Canada-e-Connect.

We had a lively discussion about the conference program, and Jens shared his thoughts about conference speakers and content, the first ever Canada e-Tourism Awards (and how they are being judged), and a host of other topics including the CEC student contest.

You can watch the entire suite of videos right here on the Canada-e-Connect blog.

First up, Jens explains what sets the Canada-e-Connect program apart from other conferences in the travel e-marketing arena:

Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls…BIG news: Registration went live yesterday for the Canada-e-Connect conference event!

You can click here and head over to the registration page to lock in your spot for Canada’s premiere e-Tourism Strategy Conference & Awards.

The November 7-9, 2007 dates are only three short months away so now is also a good time to book your hotel and start arranging your travel details.

Do you have questions about the conference? Jens, Mimi and Trevor are at your service. If you have any other questions about Vancouver, travel logistics, or anything else for that matter please don’t hesitate to reach me through the blog contact form — I love email!