BU’s eTourism Lab member and PhD student John Fotis has been invited to deliver a keynote presentation, among a number of distinguished speakers, at the 11th annual “Tourism & Development” conference in Athens, organized by the Association of Greek Tourism Enterprises (SETE).
The conference is taking place on 29-30 October at Athenaeum Intercontinental, and the keynote panel consists of Mr Antonio Tajani, Vice-President of the European Commission responsible for Industry and Entrepreneurship; Mrs Maria Damanaki, European Commissioner of Maritime Affairs and Fisheries; Mrs Olga Kefalogianni, Minister of Tourism; Dr Andreas Andreadis, SETE President; and Mr George Drakopoulos, SETE Director General and President of the Affiliate Members Board of UNWTO.
John’s keynote will be entitled “Communication and promotional strategies for tourism enterprises and destinations: A low cost approach and ways of influencing travel related consumer behaviour”. The presentation will describe the role of social media in tourists’ “expanded trip”, their impacts on travel related consumer behaviour, and will suggest tactics and actions that destinations and tourism companies can incorporate into their marketing and communication strategies. The topic relates directly to John’s PhD research (under the supervision of Prof Dimitrios Buhalis, Prof Alan Fyall, and Dr Miguel Moital) on the role and impact of social media in leisure travel related consumer behaviour.
The Association of Greek Tourism Enterprises (www.sete.gr) represents 14 Panhellenic Unions of Tourism Enterprises & 485 Tourism Business Units, and aims at constantly boosting competitiveness and demonstrating the key role of tourism in the Greek economy. Their annual conference is considered to be the leading tourism forum in Greece.