04 September 2008

ITB Asia Convention looks into the future

SINGAPORE Ã¢â¬' Up to 5,000 travel delegates from more than 50 countries are expected to attend the ITB Asia Convention in Singapore from October 22-24.

CEOs representing leading brands in travel Ã¢â¬' Starwood, Accor, Jumeirah, Carlson, PhoCusWright, Sabre, and others Ã¢â¬' will chart the future and identify the opportunities and challenges in all sectors of travel.

The kinds of holidays consumers are now demanding will be addressed by Peter Long, CEO of TUI Travel, one of the largest tour operators in the world.

A futurist will pose the question: Can virtual travel ever replace physical travel?

Ã¢â¬ÅâœIn testing times, it is always the ones who dare to confront the future and have a firm grasp on trends that manage to seize the opportunities,Ã¢â¬~ said Yeoh Siew Hoon, ITB Asia Convention programme organiser.

She said that following a successful Beijing Olympics, and with the worldÃ¢â¬â¢s first Formula 1 night race set to take off in Singapore in September, sports tourism was now being seen as an engine for growth.

She said: Ã¢â¬ÅâœThere are definite trends taking place in tourism that we need to heed Ã¢â¬' the evolution of the hotel industry to meet a changing customer, the realities facing global tour operators as they expand their reach into new markets, the increased penetration of technology into our everyday lives, and how that technology is changing the way we book travel and communicate.Ã¢â¬~

In a session called, Ã¢â¬ÅâœReality: Virtual, Mixed or Otherwise Ã¢â¬' How Technology Will Change The Way We Communicate and Travel in Future,Ã¢â¬~ award-winning inventor, one of the worldÃ¢â¬â¢s foremost thinkers in computer science, Professor Adrian Cheok of the Mixed Reality Lab, National Technological University, Singapore, will describe a future where we may not have to physically travel in order to have a rewarding travel experience.

Ã¢â¬ÅâœIn many ways, you could say technological and idea change is faster in Asia than elsewhere in the world,Ã¢â¬~ says Dr Martin Buck, director of Messe Berlin (Singapore), which is organising the inaugural ITB Asia and ITB Convention.

Ã¢â¬ÅâœBoth are being fuelled by double-digit demand growth in China and India. The result is that the travel industry in Asia is highly challenging Ã¢â¬' even for the experts,Ã¢â¬~ said Dr Buck.

The ITB Asia Convention takes place on the mornings of 23-24 October.

The latest travel industry trends will also be discussed at satellite events happening in and around ITB Asia such as the Web in Travel (WIT) event on 21-22 October.

The Association of Corporate Travel Executives (ACTE) has organised two morning sessions October 23-24.

Meeting Professionals InternationalÃ¢â¬â¢s (MPI) inaugural Asian Meetings and Events Conference takes place October 24-25.

Delegates attending these niche events can enter ITB Asia and the ITB Asia Convention free of charge.

For further information about ITB Asia Convention, visit www.itb-asia.com.

Registration for trade visitors: www.itb-asia.com/registration.

Online booking qualifies trade visitors for the special pre-event price of USD80 (on-site price USD120) and saves valuable time at the badge pick-up counter.