5th Tourism Summit
Program
Tuesday, November 29, 2016
| 8:30 - 9:00 | Welcome and Registration |
| Introduction | |
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| 9:00 - 9:15 |
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| THE TOURISM INDUSTRY: A MACRO PERSPECTIVE | |
| 9:15 - 10:00 | A quick look at the key statistics on the world tourism industry is enough to become aware of its impact, relevance and development. This panel will seek to dig deeper into these numbers, where they come from and where the industry is heading while also bearing in mind economic indicators and drivers of growth and change such as technology, globalization and new demographics.
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| THE NEXT STEPS IN TOURISM DIGITIZATION | |
| 10:00 - 11:00 | The Internet has dramatically changed the way we travel. It allows us to quickly access a huge amount of information of potential places we’d like to visit and then instantly book flights and accommodations to that specific destination after comparing tens and even hundreds of options. But that’s not all. The Internet and mobile technologies in particular have changed the way we interact with our surroundings once we reach our destination and even how we share our experiences. Finally, the internet has been the catalyst for the Sharing Economy, which particularly affects tourism through accommodation, transport, travel and dining. This becomes a particularly pressing issue both for competitveness of existing businesses and for governments who need to regulate new models to guarantee their sustainability within the social ecosystem. With ever-increasing internet access and high-earning Millennials and Digital Natives entering the workforce and booking multiple trips per year, the effects of the Internet on tourism will only increment exponentially.
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| 11:00 - 11:30 | Coffee Break |
| RE-INVENTING HOTELS: NEW HOSPITALITY MODELS | |
| 11:30 - 12:30 | The hotel industry’s approach of adapting to new customer segments involves catering to a new kind of demand that includes the search for unique experiences, the craving for authenticity and especially the desire to mingle and share a space with like-minded people. The opportunity to serve these needs has given rise to multiple hospitality concepts that offer value beyond traditional hospitality. The visionary founders of some of the most prominent and successful hospitality concepts in Europe will join the panel members to explore their own key innovations and what made them successful. They’ll share their predictions about the biggest opportunities of the future and how to tackle them, as well as key challenges in their own careers and the ones that lie ahead.
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| HEALTHCARE, HOSPITALITY & DESIGN | |
| 12:30 – 13:45 | Though we usually tend to think of tourism as mainly leisure travel and business trips, health is becoming a key driver of travel. More and more people choose destinations to obtain specific medical treatments. There are many reasons for this. This type of travel was traditionally done from less-developed countries to leading medical centers in highly developed countries, but there is currently a trend to travel in search of cheaper treatments and less regulated treatments that have the potential to cure odd or new diseases. With Cornell University as special guest, this panel explores how health is becoming a growing force behind travel and what that means for the tourism industry.
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| 13:45 – 15:15 | Lunch |
| TECHNOLOGY AND ANALYTICS IN HOSPITALITY | |
| 15.15 – 16.30 | Technology, that is, information technology powered by data and analytics, has the potential to disrupt the hospitality industry as much as it’s disrupting many other verticals. The hospitality experts on this panel, curated by the prestigious Cornell University School of Hotel Administration, will explore the key innovations, opportunities and challenges ahead, and will chart a roadmap to ensure the industry uses these technological opportunities to create maximum potential value.
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| 16.30 – 17.00 | Coffee Break |
| BARCELONA: TOURISM EPICENTER AND UNIQUE IDIOSYNCRASIES | |
| 17:00 – 18:00 | The closing panel will focus on the competitiveness of the city of Barcelona as one of the world’s top tourism destinations. The panel will explore how the above trends are specifically affecting the city of Barcelona, as well as the key developments and challenges the city faces as a fast-growing tourism destination that is already one of the biggest attractions in the world.
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| Closing Remarks | |
| 18:00 – 18:15 |
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| 18:15 – 19:00 | Networking Cocktail |