Titanic Belfast venue for digital tourism event

An event aimed at raising the profile of Northern Ireland’s tourism industry around the world, organised by Digital DNA and Tourism NI, will take place in Belfast this week.

Digital Tourism, set for Titanic Belfast on Thursday, November 12, will see a host of speakers from some of the world’s leading travel, tourism and hospitality organisations come to Belfast to inspire Northern Ireland’s local businesses to embrace technology for growth.

Speakers will include experts from Google, Expedia, Yotel, Hospitality Ulster and lastminute.com, who will host main-stage key notes and deliver workshops aimed at helping local businesses increase their profile among tourists around the globe.

The gathering is the latest technology event from the team at Digital DNA. Digital Tourism follows October’s Digital Business event which saw more than 500 delegates visit Belfast to learn how to embrace technology for growth from experts at Facebook, Google and more.

Speaking at the tourism event launch, Digital DNA founder Gareth Quinn said that Digital Tourism’s sole aim was to help hospitality businesses across Northern Ireland grow by embracing technology, increasing their profile online and bringing more tourists into our towns and cities from around the world.

“We want to drive as much wealth into Northern Ireland as possible and the tourism event is one of the ways in which we’re doing that, increasing knowledge and sharing best practice from some of the world’s top businesses,” he added. “It’s fantastic that Tourism NI, who share our goals and ambitions, are partnering with us for the event and I’m looking forward to welcoming all the speakers and delegates to Titanic Belfast on Thursday.”

Event partner and key note speaker, Tourism NI chief executive John McGrillen, added:

“There is a seismic shift going on in travel and tourism that involves a move from traditional marketing mediums to digital and social media platforms. While Tourism Northern Ireland has grasped this shift and is working to be a fully digitally-enabled organisation itself, it is my view that the entire industry’s ability to capitalise on this change will be absolutely vital to its future success.

“The technological challenges of the tourism industry are often unique when compared with other businesses, so we are always keen to support a dedicated tourism initiative, and especially one that is part of the range of events the Digital DNA team is delivering in 2015.

For more information on the event and to buy tickets, visit www.DigitalDNA.org.uk.
Our picture shows keynote speaker, John McGrillen, chief executive of event partner, TourismNI.