We’re Live at World Travel Market 2011!

That’s all for this year! Thanks for stopping by, and we hope you enjoyed the live coverage of WTM2011.

Wilhelm Bakkus talking about the 2010 Olympic Games social media campaign in Vancouver, BC.

Does two qualify as a ‘trend’?

Josephine Wiggall-Lazurus, Director Quebec Tourism in the UK, says that she started dabbling in the new world of social media and bloggers by researching and then inviting food bloggers, not travel bloggers.

That’s the second tourist office that has told me that. Are food bloggers viewed as less risky, less controversial or something? Must enquire further.

Wilhelm talking about the way videographer, Chris Wheeler became an accidental celebrity by video-blogging the trail of the Olympic torch through British Columbia. The whole school at Half Moon came out to see him after following him in their classes. (Their teacher had been using his videos to teach them about their own state.

Canada Social Media seminar gets underway with Wilhelm Bakkus from Think Social Media talking about running social media at the 2010  Games in Vancouver.

Powering WordPress seminar coming to a close. Canada social media case study seminar coming next.

Darren Cronian, Dylan Lowe and our own Rich Whitaker are answering tough questions from ‘Rockstar’ Kevin May on how blogs are monetizing, competing with other social media platforms like Facebook, and how are they addressing the growth of mobile.

I’ve still got some of these 10 Euro Travel Sim cards to give away to travel bloggers. (Prepay card, can use for data roaming, works in 190 countries can save up to 85% in international roaming charges). Ask me if you want one, or go to their stand in the Travel & Technology section at east end of south hall, and ask Sergei Sinjagin for one. Tell him Travelllll.com sent you :)

Heather Cowper (@Heathercowper) has had a chance to sit down and collect her thoughts on World Travel Market this year

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Getting word of an impromptu ‘How to Work with Bloggers’ session at 1500 on the France stand.

Once again the demand for social media & blogging sessions far exceed the room space allocated. Hopefully this will help… but only just!

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Photo from packed Making the Most of Social Media session.

Those excluded from Working with Travel Bloggers session included sponsor Debbie Hindle, Andy Jarosz, Mark Hodson, Terry & Sarah Lee, Nellie Huang, and a whole bunch of disappointed PRs and travel professionals.

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15 mins before the ‘How Working with Travel Bloggers can Increase Sales and Brand Visibility’ is due to start, the queue to get in the room is already extending 60 metres down the corridor. In the end half of the queue couldn’t get in

For those who hear that the travel industry is interested in social media and bloggers, but can’t be sure whether they really believe it or not, you should have taken a look at one of World Travel Market’s largest breakout rooms (the Platinum Suit 1) this afternoon for the first Social Media event, entitled Making the Most of Social Media.

No seats left, nor any standing room. The doors looked like tube train doors at rush hour with people crushed up against them. My guess is around 450-500 people.

It was so packed, there was another crowd outside watching on the live stream monitors.

Debbie Hindle, MD of FourBGB PR, talked about the ways VisitBritain, Viator and other companies are using social media.

One stat in particular was interesting. Viator have been closely tracking the people who engage with them on Facebook and on Twitter right the way through to purchases and have worked out what each Facebook fan is worth to them (over ) and what each Titter follower is worth(38 cents). This is real ROI!

If you’re thinking about visiting Portugal, you might want to explore the city of Guimaraes, 40 mins from Porto in northern Portugal. It was declared a UNESCO World Heritage site in 2001 and will be a European Capital of Culture in 2012.

The first of the Social Travel Market events #STM2011 starts in100 mins. ‘Making the most of social media’. There’s a live stream at http://ow.ly/7miPn

DIY social media.

The Ushuaia Ibiza Beach Hotel is giving its guests (if they want it) a wristband synched to their Facebook account. Scattered around the resort are various points where they can check in, take pictures and/or update their status simply by swiping their wristband across a sensor.

Apparently there are sensors and wristbands available in the press centre and around WTM where you can try it out, but I haven’t noticed them yet.

I mentioned WTM is welcoming bloggers this year. I’m not sure some of the old guard are. In yesterday’s crowded press conference with the Egyptian Minister of  Tourism, I detected a definitely disapproving intake of breath and the sound(?) of pursed lips around the room when the first two questions asked were not about politics and security but about the Tourism Authority’s policy on bloggers  (they are v keen on bloggers – that probably didn’t go down too well either!).

I had to leave shortly after that to get to another press conference, but I’m told that a little while later, a late-arriving journo asked exactly the same thing and wondered why everyone started laughing!

This year for the first time, travel bloggers have been welcomed to WTM as members of the press. The press centre is spread over two floors. This is the social area at a lighter moment. The tell-tale sign is… no huge queue at the cloakroom as everyone arrives, or tries to leave at the end of the day!

Day two of WTM starting soon.

This is the day the Social Media Market events programme starts. There will be panel sessions and talks from this afternoon onward about blogging and social media, both for travel industry professionals, and for bloggers.

Wi-fi is just a little slow. I just spent 15 mins uploading a photo, which then crashed the live blog. So sorry, maybe photos later.

The Egyptian Minister of Tourism, HE Mounir Fakhry Abdel Nour, says that despite a focus by the international media on events in Tahrir Sq ( “Tahrir Sq is Tahrir Sq, not Egypt”), security in the country as a whole is good.

Tourism figures have recovered to around 20% of their previous levels. They hope that by the end of the year 11 million vistors will have come to Egypt and that they can get back to normal in 2012.

Tahrir Sq is Tahrir Sq, not EgyptThe Minister told Travelllll.com that travel bloggers would play a large role in the Egyptian Tourism Authority’s marketing campaigns. They recently had a celebrity tv presenter from Turkey live tweeting on a fam trip which generated a huge amount of interest in the country.

Last month, he said, actor Sean Penn also visited the country and used social media to get the message that Egypt is open to tourists again, out to a wider audience.

He confirmed that there were two large travel blogger initiatives planned for the end of this year.

Been off air for a while. Wall-to-wall press conferences. As usual at WTM, most of them scheduled for the same time or overlapping, and somehow always at opposite ends of the building.

World Travel Market 2011 Industry Report says that almost half the travel & tourism industry (48%) believes that social media will be more important than Pay Per Click advertising as a marketing tool in 2016.

Presently 2.4 out of five travel industry professionals think that Social Media is the most important marketing vehicle. 2.9 think Blogging /Consumer Reviews are, 3.2 believe Mobile and PPC are the most important and 3.3 think that Video Content is the most important.

WTM Global Trends Report has identified a new product "trend" - Magical Mystery Tours. They point to American Express' Nextpedition.com where travellers take an online quiz to determine what kind of traveller they are - Adrenalista, Histocrat, or Hiplomat.

Travellers are then invited to post their sign onto their Facebook wall, while allowing an Amex travel agent to contact them and discuss the budget and parameters for a possible trip. The agent then create an iteinerary which is revealed to the traveller day by day as the departure day draws near.

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Our glamorous venue for the Quiz Night last night.

Here’s hoping the T5 server holds up with this fancy live blogging stuff. Have a great day everyone!

Morning everyone. Just firing up the WTM live machine… and a few brain cells too (more coffee needed). A great Travelllll.com Pre-WTM Quiz night last night at the Charing Cross Hotel. Thanks for coming everyone :)