A wealth of expertise at the ITB Berlin Convention 2018

Published on : Friday, January 19, 2018

unnamed (3)From 7 to 10 March 2018 at the ITB Berlin Convention leading international speakers from industry and science will present valuable ideas and suggestions and provide first-hand expertise and information. Fascinating lectures and panel discussions and topical, exclusive surveys as well as reports on best practices will await visitors to the leading think tank of the international travel industry. Admission is free for trade visitors at ITB Berlin.

 

Forward-looking ideas for the travel industry

 

On 7 March at the ITB Future Day, kicking off events at the leading think tank of the global travel industry, leading scientists and practitioners will outline future scenarios within the tourism industry. Together with Zambia, the Convention & Culture Partner, and the WTCF, the co-host of the event, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, the partner region of ITB Berlin, will officially open the convention. Afterwards, in a keynote speech Jane Jie Sun, CEO of Ctrip.com International Ltd., will examine the much-discussed topic of ‘Tourism: the Gateway to Global Peace and Prosperity’.

 

In the afternoon attention will focus on an up-to-the-minute topic: ‘The Revolution of Travel’. Traffic levels are increasing all the time and in the long run cannot be handled by existing transport systems. Innovative technology and apparently revolutionary means of transport such as driverless flying taxis, high-speed hyperloop systems and fully automated electric shuttles will make it possible to implement completely new concepts. Dirk Ahlborn, CEO of Hyperloop Transportation Technologies Inc. (HTT) and founder and CEO of JumpStarter Inc., will talk about tomorrow’s transport system and the future role of Elon Musk’s hyperloop technology. Another session will discuss the reality of the ‘Revolution of Travel’. Technology pioneers including Dirk Ahlborn and Alexander Zosel, co-founder of Volocopter GmbH, will provide an update on their revolutionary projects, and discuss commercial prospects and business models. The latest findings of the market survey conducted by ITB Berlin in collaboration with Travelzoo will be eagerly awaited. In this survey for ITB Berlin the international publisher of exclusive travel deals researched the opinions of travellers from Europe, America, Asia and Australia on new forms of transport and the approval ratings they gave.

 

Rounding off the ITB Future Day will be two other fascinating sessions. In an ITB CEO interview Gillian Tans, president and CEO of Booking.com, will provide valuable insights into the world of online hotel booking platforms and give tips on how to improve one’s own strategies. A panel discussion entitled ‘Blockchain: the next Technology Disruption in the Travel Industry’ will examine what Blockchain really is and the impact of this innovative technology on the structures of the global travel industry.

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