The Greek island of Rhodes was selected as the first European destination to host the Destination Academy with TripAdvisor (DATA) event.

The DATA event is an initiative by E-Tourism Frontiers and TripAdvisor to bring together destination managers, marketing executives and digital media experts at regional events to discuss the growing importance of user-generated content in travel planning.

The first DATA event took place in 2014 in Singapore, while this year took place in Victoria Falls.

The 2016 event is the first one to be held in the Mediterranean and it will take place on Rhodes on February 16-17, 2016 aiming to improve the way destinations use digital tools and content created by travelers.

The event will include interactive training sessions, guided discussions, best practices, destination case studies, multimedia, as well as analysis and trends from TripAdvisor.

“E-Tourism Frontiers, TripAdvisor and the South Aegean Region are working together to organize the first DATA MEDITERRANEAN event on Rhodes”, Chad Shiver, Senior DMO Sales Executive of TripAdvisor, said in an announcement on Tuesday.

“The whole event will highlight the hospitality, beauty and history that Rhodes has in abundance”, he added.