ICTT 2017: Tourism Technology Conference to Address Woes of Hospitality Industry

KOCHI:
Traveland hospitality players struggling with slow online bookings, low website rankings and damaging customer reviews in a rapidly digitizing business space will have the chance learn from industry leaders on how to keep pace with technology to boost sales and profitability at the upcoming International Conference on Tourism Technology (ICTT).
The second edition of ICTT, being held in Kochi, Kerala, from June 8-10, 2017, in the only conference of its kind in the country focusing on the most pertinent aspects of building businesses on technology platforms in such detail.
This includes topics such as managing online reputations; using Whatsapp, Snapchat, Facebook, Instagram and other such tools for product marketing, writing content for websites and blogs, video marketing on Facebook Live and YouTube, and so on.
Around 500 delegates including tour operators, hoteliers, resort owners, homestays, SEO (search engine optimization) companies, software firms, social media marketing companies and bloggers, are expected to attend the conference organized by the Association of Tourism Trade Organisation (ATTOI) with support from Kerala Tourism.
Registrations are ongoing, with details available on www.icttindia.org and www.facebook.com/ictt2017 . Kochi’s Hotel Le Meridien is hosting the three-day event.
“We aim to make ICTT the most comprehensive capacity-building exercise for travel and tourism businesses. They should be able to leave ICTT with knowledge and learnings that can be put to practice immediately,” said ATTOi President Anish Kumar P.K. “The internet has made marketing more measurable and accountable with different metrics; and analytics that show the contribution of marketing to the bottom line.”
Over 15 subject experts across the globe will offer their insights on 24 different topics related to online promotion of the business.
“These channels are becoming essential if hoteliers want to retain customers, improve hotel positioning, and gain a competitive advantage in markets that are sometimes saturated with hotel supply. ICTT will be beneficial for Hotels and Tour Operators who wants to develop strategies to reach out to direct clients,” Anish added.
Topics ranging from content and search engine strategy; use of social media and branding and positioning to video marketing and managing online reputations and even the payment gateway will be the point of discussion for the event.
Anish Kumar said the entire session will include topics such as how to get the most out of review sites, how to respond to negative reviews and how reviews affect people’s conversations.
“The ICTT is a platform for travel businesses to learn from the experiences of people who have benefited tremendously from the technology route,” he observed. “And your consumers are not just sitting behind computers; they are making their searches on tablets and smart phones, so you need to make your presence felt on all devices.”
He said the future of travel is certainly digital, and ATTOI is maximizing its use of technology by using live streaming as a promotional campaign tool for the ICTT.