Not only dyed-in-the-wool ‘digital natives’ are well-acquainted with the expression barcamp. At first sight this event looks like an ordinary conference – but do not judge this book by its cover! There is no key-note speaker, the participants are on a level playing field during the discussions, work out their own short presentations, and on the morning of the camp, they decide on the topics which will be discussed during short sessions. For this reason barcamps are called ‘unconferences’, too. So far, so good. But what is a castlecamp then? The answer is rather simple: it is Kaprun’s own version of this unique kind of conference which is steadily increasing in popularity. The castlecamp owes its name to its venue: Kaprun Castle. It is exactly here, where Castlecamp:Tourism 2010, the year’s highlight for e-tourism experts from Germany, Austria, Switzerland, and Italy, is taking place on 11th and 12th September.

Already in the last two years Rainer Edlinger and his team of our client Zell am See-Kaprun invited guests to this historic setting to exchange ideas on the future of the tourism industry. After all, it is not least in this field that the Internet’s importance is increasing. Today’s holidaymakers collect information on their holiday destination on the Internet instead of leafing through a catalogue. What does my holiday destination have to offer? Did other travellers comment on the quality of the hotel I will be staying at? What are the people like? Answers to these and other questions can be found online. But what can the tourism industry do to use the Internet in its favour and cater to the guests’ needs? By now more than 100 participants have already announced their coming to discuss this essential question during two days and in uncountable sessions.

We as the partner in communication of Castlecamp:Tourism have signed up as participants early on, of course. Our interest has several reasons: on the one hand we think that the camp’s concept is extraordinarily innovative and definitely one of the best that has seen the light of day lately. For this reason we want to support Rainer Edlinger and the organizers with our know-how and contribute our share in making the barcamp series on tourism in Austria a resounding success. On the other hand, the topics of the event have many points of contact with our daily work: online tools – not least social media – are gaining more and more relevance in communication. And it goes without saying that we will not let the opportunity pass to profit from the experiences of other participants who have worked in this field for several years. That way the castlecamp and familiar events help us to stay up to date which pays off for one special group: our clients.

Related articles:

• castlecamp Kaprun: we’ll be there!
• A voice with substance: Rainer Edlinger talks about social media
• #tc10: Is the trademark alive or is it dead and gone yet?