HISTORY OF STS A timeline of the Social Travel Summit
The Social Travel Summit is where top international travel influencers meet with industry representatives to exchange expertise, experience and ideas. Originally founded in 2014, STS is organised by iambassador in cooperation with Traveldudes and the Reiseblogger Kollektiv.
Each annual Summit results in new profitable relationships as well as the development of strategies and tactics outlined in a Think Tank report that benefits all digital marketing partners in the travel industry.
THE SOCIAL TRAVEL SUMMIT IN LEIPZIG, 2014
The first Social Travel Summit took place in Leipzig, Germany in April 2014. Over 60 professionals from the travel industry attended, in addition to 50 of the world’s best travel influencers, all personally invited because of their niche, reach and reputation.
In addition to a number of presentations, workshops and panel discussions, the Social Travel Summit was where a number of key collaborations began that are still ongoing today.
It also resulted in the publication of the first STS Think Tank report, which has helped shape how successful collaborative campagins between the travel industry and travel influencers are achieved. Feedback from the event was overwhelmingly positive and so a new annual digital marketing conference for travel professionals was born!
Read iambassador’s full report from the first Social Travel Summit in Leipzig.
THE SOCIAL TRAVEL SUMMIT IN HAMBURG, 2015
In 2015, The Social Travel Summit in Hamburg built on Leipzig’s success by launching more new and innovative collaborations between travel influencers and the tourism industry. After two days of inspiring keynotes, educational seminars, networking and brainstorming sessions, delegates scored the Summit a 4.7 out of 5.
In the feedback from the Summit, many attendees, ranked The Social Travel Summit as one of the best conferences they’ve ever attended.
You can the Think Tank’s report from the 2015 conference here.
THE SOCIAL TRAVEL SUMMIT IN INVERNESS, 2016
Inverness, Scotland was the host of STS in 2016. This was the year the Summit became truly global with bloggers, brands, influencers and industry leaders from all over the world. Another very productive Think Tank session resulted in a revelatory report on the future of
digital marketing in the travel industry, presented at WTM in London just a few months later.
You can read our write-up of the 2016 Social Travel Summit in Inverness here.
THE SOCIAL TRAVEL SUMMIT IN KITZBUHEL, 2017
The 2017 edition of The Social Travel Summit took place in Kitzbühel in Tirol, Austria from the 18th to 20th September.
146 delegates from 26 countries – including 56 influencers – gathered together in the Austrian Alps to share their experiences, learn from each other and to take home a lot of new knowledge and inspiration, and
possibly a little bit of extra weight thanks to truly fantastic Tirolean food and hospitality!
Lots of buzz was created around the event – and #STSKitzbuehel was a number one Twitter trending topic in Austria for both days of the Summit!
Read about #STSKitzbuehel.
THE SOCIAL TRAVEL SUMMIT IN BELFAST, 2018
The fifth edition of The Social Travel Summit was held from the 24th till 26th September 2018 in Belfast, Northern Ireland, United Kingdom. 147 delegates from 20 countries – including 47 influencers – converged in Belfast for two days of
learning, networking and discussions. The highlight of STS Belfast was undoubtedly the spectacular STS Gala Dinner, in Game of Thrones style, at the Belfast Cathedral! Read about #STSBelfast