Call for ENTER Hosting

Call for ENTER Hosting

***  Download the requirements for bidding to host ENTER2025! ***

Deadline for proposals: 31st August 2023

In order to bid, please, fill in the template and send it with the budget spreadsheet in a digital format (word/pdf) to ifitt@ifitt.org (attention of Juho Pesonen, IFITT president). For more details see the end of the page. 

ENTER Requirements: ENTER is the annual tourism and technology research conference that offers a worldwide and unique forum for attendees from academia, industry, government, and other organizations to actively exchange, share, and challenge state-of-the-art research and industrial case studies on the application of information and communication technologies to travel and tourism (eTourism). ENTER is designed to enable the maximum exchange of information and interaction between participants. The International Federation for Information Technologies and Travel & Tourism (IFITT) grants the rights to implementing the ENTER eTourism Conference to a Host Organization that is responsible for the organization and hosting of the conference.

Dates: ENTER eTourism Conference typically takes place at the end of January. The conference is held on three days (Wednesday, Thursday and Friday). A PhD workshop and a local eTourism day (optional) happen on Tuesday – prior to the main conference.

Location: Conference Centre / Conference Hotel / Educational establishment

Participation: ENTER attracts academics, students, as well as tourism industry and government representatives from all over the world. The ENTER conference has historically welcomed around 150-200 registered participants annually.

Conference Fees: We welcome creative suggestions for conference fees and conference content. Fees are subject to negotiation but should remain below 500 € per person (Full price for IFITT members.)

IFITT responsibilities

  •         identifies a Host organization and monitors preparation stages
  •         creates scientific content for the program and supports identifying and inviting destination and industry speakers
  •         promotes the event on the international scale, especially among the IFITT eTourism community.   
  •         provides scientific secretariat
  •         provides invitations and briefings with conference speakers
  •         prepares calls for papers for the Research, Industry and Destination tracks and the PhD workshop
  •         selects thorough peer-review process academic papers and publishes them in the ENTER proceedings, published by Springer
  •         communicates extensively the event through all its communication channels

Host organization gains

  •         global exposure through IFITT and ENTER brands 
  •         reputation and exposure as a cutting-edge tourism destination
  •         expertise on eTourism from global experts
  •         revenue share from the registration fees
  •         delegate fees from local national day
  •         revenue share from the sponsorship income
  •         exhibition income
  •         IFITT Membership for two years subsequent to the conference
  •         listing on the IFITT website as an IFITT sponsor
  •         international audience visiting the host destination for several days

Host organization responsibilities

  •         nominates a project manager that will be the contact person for the organization committee
  •         identifies and books the conference venue, pending IFITT approval. 
      •  A suitable conference venue includes one large room for about 200 people + four parallel-sessions rooms for up to 50 people. 
      • All rooms must be fully equipped with audio, video projection, and high-speed internet connection for streaming and recording conference content.
      • Organizes technical support for the registration and conference venue. 
  •         manages the program and content for the event ENTER25 on the website enter-conference.org. This includes responsibility for a timely publication of a detailed conference programme, inclusive of location and speaker details.  Please note that the hosts are expected to work closely in collaboration with IFITT board and ENTER research track chairs, and any updates to the website will require prior approval, thus, advance planning.
  •         contributes to promoting the event using the hashtag #ENTER25
  •         writes and distributes a set of press releases
      • Announcing the selection of the destination (end of January)
      • Presenting the details of the event including the call for speakers and Industry track (April)
      • Announcing the event for the industry participants (October)
      • Inviting the press during the event
      • Presenting the results of the event
      • Promotes IFITT to the local academic community and local industry as well as helps IFITT increase awareness and memberships at the host destination
      • Manages online registration of delegates, which should include
        • full major credit card processing
        • attendee list (global & per session)
        • badges
        • social activities and tours
  •         prints and publishes on the website the final conference program
  •         prepares delegate bags
  •         provides good quality free Wi-Fi connection to the attendees
  •         organizes two evening social events. Delegates have to have the option of buying conference registration with or without these two events included in the price. 
      • welcome reception on Wednesday
      • a gala dinner/party on Thursday night
  •         prepares coffee breaks and lunches, which are included in the price of the registration
  •         provides office or a room for the IFITT-ENTER committee equipped with internet access, phone and printer
  • Records keynote presentations and obtain necessary permissions for publication of the keynotes at IFITT members’ area
  •         organizes the national day in collaboration with IFITT
  •         ensures the organization of a sustainable conference by
      •  contacting an association for distributing all uneaten food to charities
      •  ensuring that the catering provides water distributors to reduce plastic waste.
      •  minimizes the use of single-use plastics throughout the conference and encourages recycling.
  • the host organization may like to establish preferential rates at a range of accommodation establishments in the area
  • please see the bidding template for more details about the revenue-sharing model

Host organization financial commitments

  •  shares revenue with IFITT from delegates registrations and the contribution of sponsors. Revenue sharing will be negotiated with the host organization and the share of the revenue for IFITT will relate to the number of registered participants: the more participants, the smaller the IFITT share of revenues. However, no less than 10% of registration revenues and 5% of sponsorship income will be designated to IFITT.  IFITT will be granted a maximum of 35 free registrations for the conference.

  • the host organization covers the proceedings open access fee for Springer. This fee is typically 12,000-14,000€ and has to be paid by the local host directly to Springer in January 2025. The fee can be paid by the local host or by sponsors the local host has identified.

  •  covers travel costs for two ENTER/IFITT board members for a site inspection before the conference and post-conference thank you dinner for a maximum of 20 IFITT board memes and key stakeholders.
  •  active marketing and paid advertising of the conference on social media, search engines, and other relevant outlets. Marketing is done in collaboration with IFITT.
  • please see the bidding template for more details.

Become the Host of ENTER2025

  • In order to bid, please, fill in the template and send it with the budget spreadsheet in a digital format (word/pdf) to ifitt@ifitt.org (attention of Juho Pesonen, IFITT president). The document should indicate:
    •         the motivation of your institution to host ENTER conference
    •         proposed hosting time period
    •         presentation of the institution, conference rooms and catering facilities
    •         presentation of the destination (including transportation, accommodation and touristic attractions)
    •         details for a welcome reception and conference dinner
    •         local organizing committee (consisting of industry and academic members)
    •         a list of 10+ potential companies/speakers, linked to the eTourism domain, with their data (name, phone, email, company name).
    •         potential conference sponsors
    •         brief marketing plan for the event including target groups and the processes to market the event to these target groups.
    •         experience in organising hybrid and online conferences 

    We welcome innovative approaches for organizing the conference and consider the information above preferred but not mandatory. We are inclined to work closely with the potential hosts and listen to their ideas on how we can organize the best possible conference for all the participants.

    Application template

Impressions of ENTER Conferences