MYRTLE BEACH -- The Myrtle Beach Area Chamber of Commerce hosted the 2011 Tourism Marketing Summit Thursday morning.
The keynote speaker was Sarah Travis, with Google's online sales group. Travis talked about industry trends in online travel as well as the impact of social media and mobile advertising.
Travis told the more than 200 in attendance that Google believes by the end of next year one-third of travel will be booked online. In the United States, half of travel is booked online already, said Travis.
Kim Kelley with Barefoot Landing said Travis reinforced the importance of matching up all a company's technology.
"Everybody's got to have a mobile application and a mobile website," said Kelley. "Everything has got to work together with your online website. It was very enlightening, but it just reinforced that you have to keep up with the technology of today."
Travis' presentation is key for the Myrtle Beach area, said Kelley.
"If you're doing marketing particularly in a tourist town, you need to be online. You need to be mobile, and you need to be out there."
The conference also included updates from members of the tourism and travel industry in the Myrtle Beach area.
