Associates

Karin Elgin-Nijhuis

Karin is a specialist in online branding and marketing. She co-developed the UNWTO Destination Web Watch, a global audit and evaluation benchmarking scheme for Destination Management Organisation web activities.

Karin co-authored:

• the 2005 UNWTO publication 'Evaluating and Improving Websites - The Destination Web Watch'
• the 2008 ETC-UNWTO publication 'Handbook on E-marketing fo Tourism Destinations'.

Fascinated by the challenges and opportunities of new media, she trained as an internet developer and consultant in 1998-1999, and followed courses in information strategy and post-graduate in e-commerce with distinction at the Erasmus University Rotterdam.

She was employed as an internet consultant in 1999 with the Holland Community, a project group established to publish Holland online as tourism destination. In this role, and subsequently as Head of Development and Head of Consultancy and Projects at the Information and Media Services Department of the Netherlands Board of Tourism and Congresses (NBTC), she was jointly responsible for the overall strategy, development and management of www.holland.com and for many city, regional and theme sites in The Netherlands.

Since 2004 Karin has been in consultancy. Recent project include work for Friesland Marketing, Slovenian Tourist Board, Malta Tourism Authority, Losinj Hotels and Villas in Croatia, and Fáilte Ireland. She developed a successful range of training and coaching programmes in the field of online branding and marketing and e-business, also available via TEAM Tourism Training.

Karin served in committees as the ETC New Media Group and the Working Group 'Mobile Services for Tourism' of the European Commission. She was co-chair of the ENTER 2004 and 2009 conferences in Cairo and Amsterdam and a board member of IFITT, the International Federation for IT and Travel and Tourism (2004-2007).

Key areas of expertise

Planning and implementation of e-business; e-marketing; website and e-business evaluation; e-business training.