Tourism INTERNET Marketing Blog 1.0

I was invited to participate in a panel discussion about "Social Media and Travel" at TIA TravelCom in Las Vegas last week. I shared the panel with Jasper Malcomsen, GM of Yahoo Travel, Jim Korvarik, GM of AOL Travel, and Christine Petersen, SVP Marketing Tripavisor. Our panel was moderated by Suzanne Cook, SVP Research TIA. All the prep work was taken under by Cindy Estis Green, who has just recently published a report on Website Best Practices – and the Canadian Tourism Commission was featured in the report.

After a general overview of Social Media in Travel and Tourism by Dr. Suzanne Cook, the discussion went into questions how to deal with negative postings, and how to leverage social media for an organization’s marketing mix. In the end, everybody agreed that social media is just a shift from the traditional word-of-mouth to the web. When a guest complaints about his or her stay in a hotel, the successful front desk staff could try to leverage this opportunity to turn the negative situation into building loyalty. Very similarly to the hotel example, Christine from Tripadvisor encouraged hotels to leverage the situation and engage in a conversation with the guest.  (View more pictures of the panel here.)

This time in Asia at a luxury high-growth hotel company to head up E-Commerce, Distribution, Strategic Analysis, Revenue Management, and Reservations - reporting to the Senior Vice President of Sales & Marketing. It is a very interesting opportunity. Please read the job description below, and send your resume to "tourisminternetmarketingjobs at gmail dot com", indicating "Asia Dir Distribution April 21 07" in the subject line. Your resume will be redirected, and if you qualify you may be contacted. PLEASE only send your resume if you do qualify.

There are quite a few job opportunities that are currently available for Internet Marketers. Below is just one that has come via my desk. If you are interested, please send your resume to this email address, and it will be redirected to the respective sources. Please only send your resume if you do qualify, and mention that you saw the opportunity on this blog.

Google Leadership, Online Sales and Operations - Mountain View
(Position available in Mountain View, California)

Google is looking for strong leaders who can take charge of high-performing teams in our Online Sales and Operations group. Our group needs leaders with flexibility, management experience, and outstanding decision-making skills. This role requires direct management over highly skilled client service and operations associates. Online Sales and Operations Managers drive key components of Google's revenue-generating businesses, and thus must be able to use quantitative skills to make strategic decisions. In this fast-growing environment, Online Sales and Operations Managers must also exercise extraordinary judgment as key stakeholders in our hiring process. Strong candidates should be extremely proactive, motivated, organized, responsible, and should work well within a fast-paced group.

Sorry, I have taking a little break from posting on my Tourism Internet Marketing Blog.  I was in Las Vegas, speaking at TIA TravelCom, and attending the HSMAI Internet Marketing Strategy Conference. I will write something about both events in the next few days. Then I was in St. Lucia for a wedding.  I can tell you – traveling from Vancouver to St. Lucia is a 30 hour affair, however the island is beautiful.  With amazing beaches and lush rainforest makes it nice get-away.  And it has been rated as one of the best Wedding and Honeymoon Destinations…