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TBEX Europe 2013 coming to Dublin –
A Win Win Conference for Tourism
The Benefits for Irish Tourism of the Upcoming Global Gathering
of Travel Bloggers on 03 & 4th of October
1. TBEX is a win win conference for Dublin, the conference attendees, the Irish trade and
regional travel destinations. Dublin wins by welcoming up to 500 travel bloggers who start
tweeting and blogging about Dublin and Ireland even before the event starts (TBEX Toronto
tweeted that there had been over 25 MILLION impressions on Twitter even before the first
day of the event)! The bloggers win because they get to network with other bloggers,
destinations they might not have visited yet and the tourism trade; and they get the
opportunity to go on some excellent press tours developed by the Failte Ireland with lots of
photo opportunities and great story ideas. And tourism wins, because the travel bloggers
community is are growing all the time in strength and influence. This is an opportunity to
win more visitors by positioning Ireland as a European leader in the use of social media
and to communicate compelling messages on reasons to visit to new international target
markets and convert them into visits.
2. High-calibre conference delegates at TBEX 2013
TBEX brings together the most influential travel writers and online content creators in the
industry for two days of comprehensive educational programming and engaging networking
events. TBEX also attracts some of the world’s best-known travel brands and Destination
Management Organisations as sponsors who are eager to connect with the travel journalists
of the future.
3. Irish trade and Travel industry get unique access to worldwide online travel media
Previous TBEX conferences have generated some 16.2 million monitored blogs and
tweets. This is an excellent opportunity for the tourism industry, Irish trade and travel
brands to promote Ireland, their destination, businesses and engage with the most
influential travel bloggers and leading digital content creators. 100 members of the trade
will be selected to attend TBEX and network with the delegates. This is a chance to meet
with professional Travel Bloggers who can help businesses reach their target audience. They
will be able talk about their destination, company or product story with skilled, influential
people who are in a position to help them with effective storytelling and marketing
4. The opportunity for Dublin city
Dublin has a great profile to host TBEX - as the European headquarters of companies like
Google, Facebook, LinkedIn, Zynga and Twitter; it’s a thriving social media hub. FI gets to
present a fresh perspective on Dublin and brand it as an edgy, innovative cool,
contemporary European city by creating an amazing conference experience for delegates
before, during and after the conference . Delegates can share their unique Dublin
discoveries and experiences with the world online and highlight the beauty, heritage and
extraordinary atmosphere of one of Europe’s most cultural and vibrant cities. Failte Ireland
is creating a series of Dublin and Dublin’s doorstep day tours for TBEX which will encompass
and promote cool Dublin.
5. TBEX will promote the importance of Social media to Tourism businesses
People planning to go on holiday now have more choices and can access more detailed
information than ever on destinations when planning their trips. The most successful
destinations are tailoring their communications to embrace social media and engage with
the vast social audience. With 91% of today’s online adults using social media regularly, this
major conference will convey a strong message to the tourism trade that their businesses
can benefit tremendously from engaging effectively with social media.
6. Exciting, press trips will provide Great story hooks for Social Media Travel Journalists….
A key opportunity for the regions will be the Pre- and Post- FAMs. 100 bloggers/journalists
will be invited on the tours and two pre- and two post- FAMs of up to 25 bloggers per FAM
and there will be a number of day tours of Dublin and Dublin’s doorstep. We will plan an
itinerary that will excite the bloggers and ignite their interest in Ireland and getting them
tweeting, blogging and Facebooking about their trips. Bloggers, like most journalists love to
discover new trends and the quirky angles. So in tourism, that would be bringing their
audience a new dimension on places in Ireland they already know and helping them
discover high quality tourism experiences, whether its festivals, food , adventure or
attractions and in particular quirky, off-the-beaten-track experiences they cannot find in
existing travel guides.
7. The Social Programme will create exciting evening programme of entertainment for
delegates which will inspire and enthral them and position Dublin and what it has to offer in
a very positive way.
8. FI gets an opportunity to promote key corporate messages during TBEX and press trips.
Keys themes and messaging are the Wild Atlantic Way, New Year’s Eve, ‘Cool’ Dublin and
Limerick, European City of Culture 2014.
9. The Gathering: The Global Gathering of Travel Bloggers
2013 is also the year of The Gathering (a year-long celebration of Ireland, its people and all
that is great about its connections, both at home and abroad in Ireland) and TBEX is one of
the flagship Gathering events of 2013. The Gathering will be in full swing during TBEX and
everyone attending TBEX will get to link in with everything that is happening for The
Gathering this year.
“When it comes to learning about building new relationships with travel outlets, nothing
compares to the face-to-face interaction with bloggers that you get at TBEX. This
interaction helps reshape how tourism professionals work today.”
Caroline Bean, Director of Social Media, Greater Philadelphia Tourism Marketing Corporation