A top line up of speakers from around the world will educate and inspire attendees at the Etourism 12 conference, taking place in Auckland, on 19-20 September.

Speakers includeJens Thraenhart, co-founder and President of award-winning travel technology and digital marketing firm Dragon Trail, helping travel brands develop a China presence leveraging social media, digital marketing and internet technologies.

Attendees will also get the chance to hear from Rodney Payne, co-founder of Think!, who has worked with hundreds of organisations all over the world to help them adapt to the digital age and understand how the social web affects their marketing activity.

Topics to be discussed include: Travel Bloggers – friend or faux?; Are you mobile ready; How do we effectively market to Chinese visitors online; and Getting the most out of NewZealand.com

Full programme and speaker details are available on the conference website – www.etourismnz.com

The event will also host the inaugural eTourism NZ awards, recognising excellence in web presence in three categories; Destinations/Regional Tourism, Activities/Tours/Attractions and Accommodation.

Entry criteria for the awards are available on the website. The judges for the awards are Dr Carolyn Deuchar, Associate Director of the New Zealand Tourism Research Institute; James Hacon, CEO of Destination Content; David Brem, Websites Manager at Tourism New Zealand and Lea Boodee, Director of eTourism NZ Conference.

The judges are seeking entries from any New Zealand based tourism enterprise in line with the categories and hope to be inundated with applications in the awards first year.

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For further information contact Lea Boodee on +64 (0)3 546 6330