Welcome,

I am glad you are here. FastenYourSeatbelts.at is about tourism marketing and communication in the Web, with a clear focus on the Social Web.

My name is Karin Schmollgruber. I am an independent communications consultant, and have been in online-marketing and communications since 1997.  Passionate for Public Relations I have named my agency passion PR. Most of my clients are tourism companies. They book me for their Web 2.0 projects, workshops and presentations. And yes, for classic Public Relations as well. I was also a lecturer for "Writing for the Web" at the course Innovation & Management in Tourism at the Salzburg University of Applied Sciences www.fh-salzburg.ac.at.

Why Tourism?

I discovered my love for the travel industry - tourism & destination marketing in particular - when I was working for the Vienna Tourist Board, where I managed and supervised all content for publications such as newsletters, brochures and international press kits. As content-manager I was also in charge of the website in 14 languages, launching several services like a trip planner and an Arabic version.

Why Web 2.0

I started blogging in 2003. When I heard about podcasts in 2005 I understood instantly how these new tools would help to reshape the tourism industry. I have been writing about tourism marketing at FastenYourSeatbelts.at since September 2006 - with growing enthusiasm. While most of FastenYourSeatbelts.at is in German, I publish one English article every Monday. Please check out my English articles category and keep coming back for new ones. I also invite you to read Claude's interview with me: PR, Tourism, Marketing & Web 2.0. Interview of Karin Schmollgruber from Passion PR and blog FastenYourSeatbelts.at

Are you for hire?

Yes, and I would love to work internationally. Call me, if you are looking for an energetic speaker and no-nonsense consultant.

Who are thou?

I was born in Chile, raised in Germany, studied in Ecuador, the US and Belgium before moving to Austria and graduating from Law School in Vienna. I am married and have been living in Vienna since 1991.

Contact

If you would like to contact me (in German, English, Spanish or French) please call or mail.

mail: ks at passionpr . at
call: +43-1-925 4040
cell: +43-699-1925 4040

If you want to link to me, please use this URL http://www.fastenyourseatbelts.at

I look forward to your feedback and comments.

Karin

Special thanks to Casey West for the picture used in the blog header. Icons courtesy of Leinir, Alexandre Moore,and Everaldo.