Hostelworld Conference, Buenos Aires 2009

Hostelworld.com hosts 2nd Latin American Hostel Conference

[INDENT]Buenos Aires, Argentina – 11th November 2009 - Hostelworld.com is hosting its 2nd Latin American Hostel Conference on the 11th & 12th of November in Castelar Hotel & Spa in Buenos Aires, Argentina. In the region of 200 hostels from all across Latin America are attending the 2 day conference, testament to the value of the Hostelworld.com brand to accommodation providers. Hostelworld.com has seen demand for travel to Latin America increase by over 50% year on year. The key focus of the conference is to develop and share marketing insights and expertise among hostel properties that are largely underserved by main stream travel trade events.

The conference this year will cover a number of topical themes relevant to the hostelling industry with the primary focus on the marketing power of social media; how hostels can lower their marketing costs and use social sites to their advantage. Expert speakers include Adrian Gonzalez, Marketing Manager for Adviline.com, who will examine the importance of hostels building their own brand; Ignacio Fernandez Gorgolas who specializes in online tourism and marketing strategies; Patricia Ruiz a recognized expert in Tourism Marketing in Argentina and Pablo Bozzone an expert in multimedia, Internet and computer graphics.

Itziar Gonzalez, Business Development Manager with Hostelworld.com commented – “After the popularity of last year’s conference we’re delighted to be hosting our second ever Latin America conference here in Buenos Aires. Demand this year is higher than ever with the number of delegates registered growing by over 90% on last year”.

She continued “Latin America is an extremely important region for Hostelworld.com as it represents a growing and emerging market for us in terms of both Latin Americans customer demand and as a destination for travellers. Our conference is a recognised industry event for hostel properties and key to the value we want our brand to drive for hostel properties world-wide”.

Last year’s conference generated great interest amongst the hostel industry in Latin America with hostels giving extremely positive feedback including - “Generated identity and binds us together as a sector” - HI Manager Argentina; “The organization and the content were excellent, hope will be repeated again. In the name of the Backpacker's World, we wanted to thank you for everything” Cristian Saavedra; “The presentations were very enriching for me, provided extremely valuable tools for each of us”- America del Sur Hostels.[/INDENT]

More information here:
http://www.hostelconference.com/samerica/

Sounds interesting -- is anyone here going?