More than 120 outstanding experts from the travel industry will closely examine the latest trends and pressing issues at ITB China Conference 2019 in around 70 lectures, discussion rounds and workshops.
The leading Chinese travel industry think tank runs parallel to ITB China from 15 to 17 May in Shanghai and is co-organized by TravelDaily China. The second conference day, 16 May, is dedicated to sessions dealing with Travel Tech, Online Travel, Hotel Marketing & Distribution, Business Travel & MICE. The key findings of the newly launched ITB China Travel Trends Report 2019 will be presented at 10 a.m. in the presentation hub. The report is a yearly publication commissioned by ITB China and conducted by Kairos Future and covers the main upcoming trends in Chinese outbound travel.
The Travel Tech sessions start with a keynote speech by Guanchun Wang (CEO, Laiye) under the heading “How smart robots facilitate pre-trip consumption” at 10 a.m. in room A. “How WeChat influences hotel marketing and sales?” is the hot topic of the keynote held by Yun Chen (Co-founder of Zhiketong) who kicks off the Hotel Marketing & Distribution sessions at 10 a.m in room B. Another highlight of Day 2 is the 3. ITB China Startup Award which acknowledges outstanding new products and services from aspiring startups. The pitches followed by the award ceremony start at 3 p.m. in room A. Full details of the conference program are available online at:http://www.itb-china.com/
Travel Tech and Hotel Marketing & Distribution
The Travel Tech sessions in room A close with a panel discussion moderated by Joseph Wang (Chief Commercial Officer, TravelDaily China) at 11.10 a.m. Under the heading “How technology innovations will impact the way travel products are distributed and purchased” Karen Bai (Director of Sales Operation and Revenue Manangement, Shimao Star Hotels Group), Xiaoyun Liang (Senior Director of Distribution and International Business, JinJiang WeHotel), Fisk Yu (CEO, HaoQiao) and Jingkui Shi (General Manager ofKiwi CN, Kiwi.com) will impart further knowledge and information on the topic.
Another panel discussion dealing with Hotel Marketing & Distribution is featured in Conference room B starting at 11.10 a.m.: Moderated by Joseph Xia (Founder & CEO, Yearth Group), top speakers, such as Cinn Tan(Chief Sales and Marketing Officer, Pan Pacific Hotels Group), Marcel Gu (General Manager, Shanghai Jinmao Hotel Management Company., Ltd), Jie Feng (Senior Advisor, Meituan Hotel Meituan) and David He(Vice President and General Manager of China Business, DerbySoft) will provide useful industry insights on the topic of “Hotel Marketing & Distribution: New Channels, New Tools, New Trends”.
Online Travel & ITB China Startup Award 2019
Online travel bookings in China are booming: At this year’s ITB China Conference the afternoon sessions in room A are solely dedicated to Online travel topics. Starting at 2 p.m. participants can expect top keynote speeches by Bin Du (Vice President of Mafengwo.com & Chief of E-commerce Center, Mafengwo.com) or Annie Lin (Customer Operation Director of Fliggy Oversea Travel BU, Aliba Fliggy).
From 3 p.m. the 3. ITB China Startup Award will round off Day 2 with outstanding pitches by six aspiring travel startups whose innovations might change the future of the travel industry. The following six nominees qualified for this year’s competition: Air Black Box, Nobility Technology Group, the Robins Barrier-free Travel, Pointmark, SeeVoov and TravelRight The finalists shortlisted by a jury of well-known industry professionals from Amadeus, Ctrip, Ping An Ventures, Tongcheng-Elong, KarmYog Education Network and Yuantai Investment Partners Evergreen Fund are to describe their innovative products during eight-minute pitches. Based on topicality and relevance to the industry the winner will receive the ITB China Startup Award 2019 and will be awarded a booth for ITB China 2020.
MICE & Business Travel sessions
Under the heading “Current trends of the development and innovation in China’s MICE market” Maria Zheng(Deputy Chairman & CEO, Jin Jiang Travel) kicks off the MICE sessions at 2 p.m. in room B. Her keynote speech is followed by a panel discussion on the topic “How China’s MICE market is progressing”: At 2.25 p.m.Jack Shi (Director of Area Sales Center, LN Hopitality), Tyler Tang (Founder & CEO, HotelGG/MeetingBest) and Crystal Zhang (President, UCC) will engage in the panel discussion moderated by Justin Yang (Vice Director of 31 Research Institute, 31 Events).
At 3.20 p.m. Jiqin Fang (CEO of Ctrip Corporate Travel & SVP of Ctrip Group, Ctrip) opens the Business travel sessions in room B. His keynote speech “The future of Traffic Message Channel (TMC)” is about the opportunities and challenges of online booking tools, user behavior and new technology applications, such as Artificial Intelligence or machine learning. The Business travel topic will be concluded with a panel discussion under the heading “How technological innovations are transforming Business travel” at 3.45 p.m. Moderated byJonathan Kao (Managing Director – Greater China, BCD Travel) the panelists will discuss about the rapid changes that the business travel sector is currently undergoing. Among the experts are Kelly Huang (Manager International Distribution Strategy – APAC, American Airlines), Suhua Dong (Director of Ecommerce Dept.,China Air Service Ltd.) and Cypher Cao (Director, Sales, China, CWT China).
Presentation hub sessions
Starting at 10 a.m. there will be varying presentations in the presentation hub in intervals of 20 minutes.Andreas Reibring (Head of Research, Kairos Future) will present the exclusive key findings of the ITB China Travel Trends Report 2019 at 10 a.m. More than 300 Chinese outbound travel agents from ITB China Buyers Circle, a nationwide buyers’ community for all professional Chinese travel buyers, have been surveyed and interviewed to describe the most important current travel trends. Participants to the conference can expect an exciting keynote speech and panel discussion from the Adventure Travel and Trade Association (ATTA), the official Adventure Travel Partner of ITB China, at 10.20 a.m. A keynote speech followed by a panel discussion byKiyoshi Fujita (Japan Inbound Business Division Senior Manager, JTB) will give ITB China attendees extensive information about sports travel, which is a hot topic that will significantly impact the Chinese travel market. The JTB Group celebrates its premiere as the official Sports Travel Partner of ITB China this year. The afternoon sessions start with a keynote speech by Paul A. Strachan (Sr. Director, Canada, Bahamas Ministry Of Tourism) about island travel. The Bahamas have recently been confirmed as the Official Island Travel Partner for the upcoming ITB China. Speeches about world animal protection or the breakthroughs in the development of 2nd & 3rd tier city travel agencies are further hot topics on Day 2. Starting at 3.40 p.m. the CTW Awards by COTRI will round off the presentation hub sessions on the second conference day.
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