BTO – Buy Tourism Online

I attended this year’s BTO for the first time and was really excited to see the direction of online tourism in Italy, Europe and in general. Working for a touristic community website based in Italy, France in Spain in addition to my personal blog, all of the seminars and conferences were very relevant to me and what I am looking to learn from. I was impressed with the level of organization for the most part. The only complaint was the lack of plugs available to bloggers are those looking to recharge their phones & laptops.
I think these sort of conferences are really important also for a networking perspective. I was able to meet many contacts that I knew «online» but hadnt yet met in person so this was the perfect opportunity to ‘meet and greet’ and exchange conversation. I also appreciate the live-​streaming for those who could not attend and the twitter exchange which was pretty awesome, #bto2012 will forever stick in my mind.
It was also interesting to see new companies present themselves and what works for them and different program workshops to help those looking to optimize their website, blog and social networks. As a social media manager, and sales manager this is really what I wanted to know. I hope to go again next year, I thought the fortezza was a good location for the event and even got to spy on Kristina, the Unilocal community manager in Firenze participate in a panel with tripadvisor and other online travel sites. Being social ‘online’ means nothing if you aren’t social offline.