ENTER 2012, the annual IT and Tourism conference, will be held from 24th to 27th January 2012 in Helsingborg, Sweden. Organised by IFITT this conference is expected to be the biggest tourism IT and tourism related event of the year, attracting over 340 participants from more than 60 countries.

More than 150 presenters are expected to attend and discuss the present and the future of eTourism with some great names including Ed Parsons, the Geospatial Technologist of Google, Director e-Acquisition Viktor van der Wijk from Air France KLM, Olaf Schlieper, Head of Media Management at the German National Board and Diego J. Lofeudo from Expedia Travel. There will also be representatives from VisitSweden, Thai Tourism, European Travel Commission and VisitBritain participating to name just a few. Overall, the event will include 6 keynotes, 51 research papers, 59 industry presentations, 16 PhD students’ presentations and 14 Scandinavian day presentations.

Professor Buhalis stated, ‘This annual conference organised by IFITT explores the latest developments in eTourism through a variety of presentations and speeches from academics and industry professionals. It is a chance for officials, industry representatives, IT companies and consultancies from around the world to discuss the impact of information and communication technologies on the travel and tourism industry.’

Numerous awards will be sponsored by IFITT and presented during a special session including the Hannes Werthner Tourism and Technology Lifetime Achievement Award, Thesis Excellence Award, Outstanding Industry Contribution Award and for the very first time, Journal Paper of the Year Award. ENTER 2012 will also acknowledge the best research papers and PHD proposal.

IFITT is the only leading organisation to assemble global communities to discuss the latest technological advances and impacts of eTourism. Its members treasure the power of networking and through events such as ENTER, IFITT hopes to bring together organisations, researchers and practitioners to create the global eTourism knowledge network.