Press information

First Social Travel Summit: over 100 international delegates expected in Leipzig

Frankfurt am Main, 10 April 2014 – The first Social Travel Summit, which is taking place on 15 and 16 April 2014 in Leipzig, is attracting a huge amount of international interest. Currently, more than 100 bloggers and travel industry professionals are expected to attend this social media marketing (SMM) event. The conference is being run by the Reiseblogger Kollektiv, an affiliation of leading travel bloggers from German-speaking countries, and the iambassador media network.

During the SMM conference, the hashtag #STSLeipzig will be used to summarise all the talks as well as the latest trends and developments in online marketing and publishing. At the venue, industry insiders will have the opportunity to talk to 50 of the world’s top travel bloggers to find out how social media has changed travel marketing and how they can make this trend work for them. There will be around 15 workshops providing specific tips on different aspects of social media. ‘How to use GooglePlus’, for example, will showcase the potential uses for this social network, while ‘Blogger Relations for Beginners’ and ‘Blogger Relations for Pros’ will explain to delegates how they can successfully collaborate with travel bloggers. The finalised program is available.

The German National Tourist Board (GNTB) will be tweeting live from the Social Travel Summit, with its feed.

The GNTB and Leipzig Tourismus und Marketing GmbH are joined as main sponsors of the event by German rail company Deutsche Bahn. Deutsche Bahn is providing transport for the 25 bloggers who will be touring Germany after the Social Travel Summit and reporting live on their experiences via Twitter, Facebook and their own blogs.

About the GNTB

The German National Tourist Board (GNTB) has its headquarters in Frankfurt am Main, Germany. It works on behalf of the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy (BMWi) to represent Germany as a tourist destination and is funded by the Ministry in accordance with a decision taken by the German Bundestag. The GNTB develops and communicates strategies and products to promote Germany’s positive image abroad as a tourist destination and to encourage tourists to visit the country. It has 30 agencies around the world to support its activities. More information can be found in our online press centre.

MSC Cruises: Proud Sponsor of the Social Travel Summit

 

The Social Travel Summit team is excited and very proud to announce a new Premium Sponsor: MSC Cruises. In the past several years, MSC Cruises has stepped up its collaborative efforts with travel bloggers, inviting bloggers to experience the ‘Mediterranean Way of Life’ on board their cruise ships.

“We are delighted to attend the first edition of “The Social Travel Summit” in Leipzig. This is another great opportunity to meet Travel Bloggers from all around the world. MSC Cruises have already organized various activities with travel bloggers in the last couple of years to enlighten diverse online communities about the unique travel experience that cruising provides. Moreover, I believe that by giving bloggers a hands-on experience to write about we can engage with communities we may never have reached with traditional marketing techniques”. – David Arcifa (Corporate Social Media CRM Manager, MSC Cruises)

 

The Social Travel Summit offers MSC Cruises  a unique opportunity to connect with leading bloggers from around the world, learn about digital marketing trends as well as participate in discussions and brainstorming sessions. Representatives from MSC Cruises will also share their experiences of working with travel bloggers during the ‘Working with Travel Bloggers and Measuring Results’ session on Day 2.

MSC Cruises and travel bloggers: what’s the connection?

We know what you’re thinking.

You hear “cruise” and images of white-haired pensioners playing shuffleboard automatically spring to mind, along with stuffy dining rooms, outdated dress codes and excruciating dance classes.

“Travel blogger,” on the other hand, conjures up images of young, bold, tech-savvy adventurers. You can imagine them backpacking around Mongolia, climbing Mount Kilimanjaro or hitchhiking through South America with their smartphones at the ready, keeping their followers up to date with a steady stream of Instagram photos and witty blog posts as they go.

What you really can’t imagine is that same travel blogger walking voluntarily up a ship’s gangway to embark on a cruise; which is precisely why MSC Cruises decided to invite a group of international travel bloggers on board MSC Splendida in 2012, on MSC Preziosa for the Christening last March 2013 and onboard of MSC Divina during her arrival in Miami last November.

This was the first in a series of blogger events and competitions from MSC Cruises in which we aim not only to change bloggers’ own views on cruising, but to change the views of their networks and online communities.

MSC Cruises is in fact making it a priority to engage with the travel blogosphere. We know that blogging is one of the most effective ways of communicating the reality of the cruise holiday experience, as well as one of our greatest tools for dispelling the many myths which surround it.

Cruising combines travel, fine dining, adventurous excursions, relaxation and cultural discovery. It really is the perfect 360° holiday experience for any traveller of any age – and we need bloggers to help spread the word.

As more and more bloggers discover what MSC Cruises has been hoping for all along – that cruising and bloggers are actually compatible – larger and more diverse audiences will learn what cruise lovers have always known; that cruising really can capture the authentic art of travel, if only you let it.

About MSC Cruises

MSC Cruises is the market leading cruise company in the Mediterranean, South Africa and Brazil and operates across the globe. MSC Cruises sails throughout the year in the Mediterranean and in the Caribbean and offers a wide range of seasonal itineraries in Northern Europe, the Atlantic Ocean, the French Antilles, South America, Southern Africa, as well as Abu Dhabi and the Emirates. Its modern fleet comprises twelve ships: Fantasia-class MSC Preziosa, MSC Divina, MSC Splendida and MSC Fantasia; Musica-class MSC Magnifica, MSC Poesia, MSC Orchestra, and MSC Musica; Lirica-class MSC Sinfonia, MSC Armonia, MSC Opera and MSC Lirica. MSC Cruises is the only company in the world to receive the “7 Golden Pearls” award from the Bureau Veritas in recognition of its high level of quality management and environmental responsibility. MSC has also achieved ISO 9001 and ISO 22000 certification for the quality and food safety of all aspects of its catering, both on shore and on board. MSC Cruises believes that global leadership brings increased responsibility towards the physical and human environments in which it operates. As such, a long term partnership with UNICEF was undertaken in 2009 to support educational programmes for children in Brazil, for which almost three million euros were raised. The partnership was renewed early 2014, this time to support UNICEF’s efforts to tackle child malnutrition in developing countries and in emergency situations.

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