Cape Town hosts eTourism Africa Summit, Joburg in running for One Young World

One Young World Founders confirmed on 17 August 2011 that the bids from the cities of Pittsburgh, US and Johannesburg, South Africa have been shortlisted as the two finalists in the running to host One Young World 2012. The winner will be announced on Saturday 3 September at the closing ceremony of the One Young World Summit in Zurich.

This year's summit sees over 1200 young leaders under the age of 30 and representing 170 countries, meet to discuss some of the big challenges facing mankind and resolve on their actions to address them.

Kate Robertson, One Young World co-founder and UK group chairman of Euro RSC G, commented, "The bids from both Pittsburgh and Johannesburg were exceptional. They showed an unhesitating commitment to the ethos of One Young World in championing young people and the vision to create a formidable event in 2012."

eTourism Africa Summit

The two-day online tourism conference and travel technology exhibition is aimed at developing online tourism with a focus on e-marketing, travel distribution and sales, social networking and new media.

Mariette Du Toit-Helmbold, CEO of Cape Town Tourism says, "We are looking forward to building on the momentum of last year's successful summit by sharing our findings with the industry. E-marketing is central in the marketing and communication strategies of Cape Town Tourism and our deliberate and consistent online focus emphasizes quality and interactive content. Its various online platforms were the ideal mediums to engage with World Cup audiences and it continues to define our relationship with a new era of travellers."

The summit will feature a programme of international and local speakers presenting on tourism technologies and solutions to help build and better business online as well as a day of training seminars on digital marketing, social media and e-commerce. A number of panel sessions will address critical issues for the development of local, regional and African tourism online.

Speakers

• Jason Shlosberg, an American tourist who created the safari video, "The Battle of Kruger" that went on to become an award-winning internet sensation;
  
• Visit Britain, recently named the most influential online Tourist Board;
  
• MDS Ideas;
  
• Founder and CEO of Travelbod, a new travel social network that connects travellers with local people to provide them with genuine local advice and expertise;
  
• Top industry players from Google, Trip Advisor, Expedia and the International Federation of IT in Travel and Tourism.

This is the second year that the event is sponsored by South African Tourism and Cape Town Tourism, and hosted at the Cape Town International Convention Centre.

For more, go to www.e-tourismfrontiers.com.