Advantage names woman as this year’s conference keynote speaker
Female broadcaster Sarah Smith has been chosen as keynote speaker at this year’s Advantage Conference as the association looks to increase the number of women who speak at its events.
The theme of this year’s conference, taking place in Cadiz in May, will be the evolution of the travel industry over the past 40 years, in celebration of Advantage’s 40th anniversary.
Smith, who is Scottish editor for the BBC, has covered Scotland’s independence referendum, Barack Obama’s election as US President, the Madrid train bombings and the trial of Saddam Hussain.
Prior to joining the BBC full-time, Sarah was the presenter of the Scottish current affair programme, ‘Scotland 2014’ on BBC2. She was also Channel 4 News business correspondent for three years.
"Sarah Smith will be one of the great female speakers in our programme line up for this year’s conference. We are committed to increasing the number of women who speak across all Advantage events to echo the gender-balance in our industry, which we also reflected at our last Advantage Business Travel Symposium where more than half of our speakers were female," said CEO Julia Lo Bue-Said.
"Sarah will provide a fascinating perspective on the impact of politics on the travel industry, as well as the challenges of working in a fast-moving industry. Sarah’s understanding of the political process also enables her to be in a position to influence and articulate the views of travellers all around the world, especially as we may be in a post-Brexit era by conference."
Conference sessions will be held at the four-star Valentin Sancti Petri Hotel and Convention Centre, the largest event space in the Cadiz region. Advantage Conference guests will stay in a number of four and five-star hotels located on Sancti Petri’s beachfront.
Linsey McNeill
Editor Linsey McNeill has been writing about travel for more than three decades. Bylines include The Times, Telegraph, Observer, Guardian and Which? plus the South China Morning Post. She also shares insider tips on thetraveljournalist.co.uk
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