E-Tourism Frontiers recently launched an all new initiative in partnership with TripAdvisor, the world’s largest travel site, and the Pacific Asia Travel Association, working with 24 regional destinations.
DATA (Destination Academy with TripAdvisor) was the first of a series of regional events that bring together destinations to discuss the growing importance of user-generated content in travel planning.
With more and more consumers relying on content from ‘fellow travellers’ to plan their trips, it is vital for destinations to understand how this can be incorporated into their marketing strategies. DATA events include training sessions, guided discussions, best practices, as well as analysis and trends from TripAdvisor.
The inaugural DATA event was held in Singapore on the 27th and 28th of November, 2014, and TripAdvisor partnered with PATA to host 24 regional Destination Managers. The two days of sessions included analysis of big data, discussion of strategy, challenges facing Digital DMOs and best practice with sharing and using content from travellers. In addition to the group sessions, attending DMOs also got to experience Singapore on an interactive night out on the town using the TripAdvisor city guide to seek out some specially arranged local experiences.
The event was a great success with excellent feedback from attendees. Michael Lu from Sarawak Tourism said “This has been an amazing and informative two days that has shown us so many new ideas that can be easily and practically implemented”. Mohamed Eelaf from Maldives tourism agreed 
that “this event was an excellent way to see what we are doing right and wrong” and Alistair Tavares from Gold Coast Tourism added “this was a fantastic event which I would recommend to any destination”.
Sarah Mathews, Destination Marketing Senior Manager, APAC, TripAdvisor, said, “We are delighted to partner with PATA to launch DATA, a highly innovative and dynamic programme specially designed for destinations. As the world’s largest travel site with nearly 280 million unique monthly visitors we see that engagement with destinations is key, so that they can leverage the positive power of travellers reviews, opinions, and content in their marketing strategies. Travellers today want to hear from other travellers and see genuine, experience-driven content, and we can help destinations achieve this.”
Further regional DATA events in other emerging markets will be announced soon.
