Partnership to bring technology to tourism boards
The WTO has teamed up with the International Federation for IT and Travel and Tourism (IFITT) in an effort to promote technology in travel.
IFITT vice president, Roger Carter told TravelMole: “IFITT has a strong interest in the destination aspect of IT. This partnership will enable tourism authorities to look at the wider ways technology can be used to help tourism, from the tourism supplier at the local level to travel intermediaries.”
Mr Carter said the partnership would mean that WTO members were informed about workshops and conferences like the ENTER conference, which was held in Helsinki in February.
He said: “The role of IFITT is not so much to provide information but to act as a forum for exchange of information. The members of IFITT are its resource.”
Mr Carter told TravelMole that the current hot topic among IFITT members was “ambient technology” – the concept of technology being everywhere around you. He said that for destination tourism this could have implications for providing tourists with more information, about things like shops and restaurants, while they are abroad.
Other implications of the partnership, said Mr Carter, could be an improvement of the WTO and IFITT resources such as the organisations’ websites.
IFITT organises ENTER, an IT and communications technology conference for travel and tourism.
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