Within the scope of the latest FITUR, the International Tourism Fair held in Madrid from January 30th to February 3rd, 2008, the OMT - United Nations World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) held a seminar on the 30th under the title of "E-Marketing in Tourism - Keeping Pace with the New Challenges" which set out to explore the role of the Internet and new technology in the tourism market. The changes in this sector have been so widespread with the arrival of the Internet that it has by no means been easy to maintain the balance between change and development. What new trends will affect the tourism market? The seminar explored the new possibilities of e-marketing, social networks, Web 2.0, SEO (Search Engine Optimization), mobile technology and a long et cetera.
Spenta Consulting played an important role at the seminar as Gerard Esparducer, a Spenta project manager, was the guest expert in conceptual design and the development of the latest generation in tourism sector portals. This should come as no surprise, given Spenta Consulting was responsible for developing such tourist information portals as www.costabrava.org, the official tourism portal for the Costa Brava and the Pyrenees of Girona, or www.andorra.ad, the Government of Andorra’s official tourism portal.
Gerard had the chance to share his knowledge and experience in this complex field in a round table discussion before a select group of tourism sector professionals such as Eric Basha, Managing Director of the Tourism Industry and Worldwide Public Sector at Microsoft Corporation, Simon Walsh, the Commercial and International Development Director at Eviivo (UK), Rob Franklin, the Executive Director of the European Travel Commission (ETC) and Mark J. E. Walker the General Manager of the Authentrex company