TOWARD Europe expands industry forums

The web and business operations will be the focus of an expanded range of 12 industry forums run by TOWARD Europe in 2006.

The organisation created to maximise the profitability of the European travel industry has expanded its conferencing programme by more than 50% over this year, following industry demand.

The forums will focus exclusively on either online operations or on key business issues, divided into six ‘Online Imperatives’ conferences and six ‘Business Agenda’ conferences.

Online Imperatives forums cover everything from designing the perfect website to online marketing and pay-per-click advertising, while Business Agenda forums will cover everything from distribution to technology, market trends to Europe, according to the organisation.

Meanwhile, the organisation is giving travel companies not yet members a 10% discount on their annual membership fee, if they join before December 21. This means that membership for 2006 will cost £900 (normally £1,000 p.a.) for tour operators, travel agents or online sellers and £1,800 (normally £2000 p.a.) for all other travel industry companies. Members are entitled to send two delegates from anywhere in their organisation to each monthly event for free.

Speakers confirmed for the events next year include Hugo Burge, head of international at Cheapflights.co.uk; Nick Jones, UK category development director at Overture; Steve Endacott, CEO of Holiday Group; Andy Tidy, managing director, Up Trips; Sue Hurdle, director of The Travel Foundation and John Harding, CEO of Trustaccomodation.com. All events will be held between 10.00–13.00 at 28 Portland Place, London.

The first Industry Forum takes place on January 26, entitled ‘The Perfect Website’. The forum will be a master-class in how to make your online experience attractive, user-friendly and above all, business-winning.

The line up of forums for 2006 is:

·                     The perfect travel website (‘Online Imperatives’), Thursday, January 26

·                     GDSs and the future of distribution (‘Business Agenda’), Thursday, February 16

·                     CRM and tracking the web customer online (‘Online Imperatives’), Thursday, March 23

·                     Travel trends: How the industry will change in the future (‘Business Agenda’), Thursday, April 20

·                     Online marketing: Ensuring the right mix (‘Online Imperatives’), Thursday, May 18

·                     The systems showdown: Latest innovations from the technologists (‘Business Agenda’), Thursday, June 22

·                     Portal power: Which websites will win out? (‘Online Imperatives’), Thursday, July 13

·                     New developments in dynamic packaging (‘Business Agenda’), Thursday, August 31

·                     Pay-per-click and search engine optimisation (‘Online Imperatives’), Thursday, September 28

·                     New products, new markets, new opportunities (‘Business Agenda’), Thursday, October 26

·                     Online intermediaries showdown: Choose your partner please! (‘Online Imperatives’), Thursday, November 16

·                     Europe: The new opportunities (‘Business Agenda’), Thursday, December 14

Report by Phil Davies