Top speakers to present at E- Tourism Africa Summits

Presenters will include leading global online brands including Facebook, Twitter, TripAdvisor and Google alongside new creative travel companies and content creators who are changing the way travel is sold. South African Tourism is the title sponsor of the summit in Cape Town and Joburg and the Gauteng Tourism Authority is supporting the summit in Joburg.

Damian Cook, the CEO of E-Tourism Frontiers, the company organising the summits, said this year's events will focus on the how online travel is changing and adapting, and how a personal touch is becoming a key focus.

"The human face of travel is really becoming more important online. When people are researching a trip, they now want to see opinions and comments from a trusted, and often local, source. The value of local, real-time experts is now hugely important and sites such as TripAdvisor and Facebook are seeing this change and ensuring that travel content has a genuine human presence," said Cook.

Reflecting this personalised touch in the online travel world is Tripbod, a popular travel app that was recently bought by TripAdvisor. Tripbod offers personalised travel experiences by having local experts share their favourite places and uncover hidden local gems. The CEO of Tripbod, Sally Broom, will be presenting at both summits. Also presenting this year is Tim Davey, the CEO of Onefinestay, one of the leaders in the new and popular online community of non-hotel accommodation sellers.

Great international speakers

"Both the summits in Cape Town and Joburg are packed with a line-up of great international speakers and global online brands. To open the summit in Cape Town this year, we will have the new Minister of Tourism for South Africa: Derek Hanekom. We are very privileged and delighted to have the Minister on board and it really shows how the E- Tourism Africa Summit has gained in stature over the years to become Africa's premiere online tourism and technology event," said Cook.

The Gauteng Tourism Authority's CEO, Dawn Robertson, said she is very excited about the summit coming to Joburg this year. "We are delighted to support the first E-Tourism Africa Summit at the unique Turbine Hall venue in Newtown, Joburg. In giving the Gauteng tourism community access to some of the world's leading online travel companies, we are ensuring our industry stays informed about the latest trends and innovation in online travel, so they remain relevant in a highly competitive, ever-evolving digital environment. We are very pleased to work with E-Tourism Frontiers and TripAdvisor to provide our industry further business development and training opportunities post the summit to learn essential and practical online skills. Gauteng, as an innovative province and a premier business and events destination, is an ideal host for this cutting-edge tourism event and we look forward to facilitating networking, stimulating business growth and sharing the experience."

Registration for the E-Tourism Africa Summit 2014 is available at www.e-tourismfrontiers.com/etas.