Senior speakers from the aviation and tourism industry are signing up in force to participate in the Conference Programme at this year’s World Routes event.
The World Routes Strategy Summit, sponsored by Oman Airports Management Company, will see keynote addresses from Scott Kirby, President of American Airlines, Jim Compton, Vice Chairman of United Airlines, James Hogan, CEO of Etihad Airways and Josh Marks, CEO of masFlight.
Occurring on Sunday 21st and Monday 22nd September, the World Routes Strategy Summit is open to all attending delegates and will open the 20th World Route Development Forum which will take place in Chicago, Illinois, USA co-hosted by the City of Chicago Department of Aviation (CDA) and Choose Chicago, the city’s tourism organisation.
The Strategy Summit is the only forum where senior leaders and key stakeholders from aviation, tourism authorities and governments come together to participate in discussions that will set the commercial and political agenda for the industry. The event will bring these industry thought leaders under one roof to participate in a number of discussions covering topics affecting the industry today such as route development, infrastructure, airport processing and security, sustainability and how new aircraft will alter route planning.
Attendees will hear a welcome address fromRosemarie Andolino, Commissioner, Chicago Department of Aviation and a presentation on 100 years of civil aviation from Thomas Windmuller, SVP - Airports, Passenger & Cargo Services, IATA. In addition, further confirmed speakers at the event include Sir Tim Clark, President & CEO of Emirates, who will be interviewed one-to-one at the Summit; Vitaly Savelyev, CEO of Aeroflot; Tewolde Gebremariam, CEO of Ethiopian Airlines; ; Angela Gittens, Director General of ACI World; Antonio Miguel Marques CEO Sao Paulo – Guarulhos and Dr Sani Sener, CEO / Executive Board Member, TAV AIRPORTS HOLDING.
“World Routes is a must-attend event for the industry and the Strategy Summit is the only forum where senior leaders and key stakeholders from aviation, tourism authorities and governments come together to participate in discussions that will set the commercial and political agenda for the industry,” says Michael Miller, Head of Content & Industry Relations for Routes. “The great speakers and themes of the conference programmes reflect that.”
Building on the success of last year’s event the World Routes Tourism Summit programme is also attracting some very senior speakers to take part in the panel sessions with confirmations received, so far, from the likes of Ricky Skerritt, Minister of Tourism and International Transport for St Kitts and Nevis, Peter Cerda, RVP The Americas for IATA and Alfredo Gonzalez, Senior Vice President, Global Market Development, for event sponsors, Brand USA.
“The aviation system is a critical part of the global economy and essential to connecting people and places. At Brand USA, our mission is to increase the number of people who make the USA their number one travel destination—the vast majority of whom arrive by air. Through our participation in Routes, we are able to network with the right players that will help us and our partners build capacity to meet the increasing demand of the world’s travellers,” said Christopher L. Thompson, president and CEO of Brand USA, the destination marketing organisation for the United States.
Taking place on Monday 22nd September, the World Routes Tourism Summit is the forum where senior leaders and key stakeholders come together to participate in a number of discussions covering topics affecting the tourism industry today. Key sessions include Global Tourism which will essentially look at how established destinations are re-positioning or investing to ensure they continue to grow alongside new destinations that are offering different opportunities and types of holiday to travellers. The session will investigate the ways in which destinations can grow visitor numbers and make predictions over future potential travel types.
The Future Patterns of Travel session will examine the move from travel agent to online in many markets, and the rise of new booking agents for flights and hotels. This discussion will also look at how social media and search engines are entering into the market and discuss the role which they will play.
Other confirmed speakers at the Tourism Summit so far include James Beresford, CEO of VisitEngland, Amit Rikhy, Senior Vice President of ADC & HAS Airports Worldwide, Carlos Alonso, President, Tenerife Tourism (MB), Angelos Loiziou CEO Visit Cyprus, Vernice Walkine, President & CEO of Nassau Airport Development Company and Regional Executive, The Americas, Vantage Airport Group and Don Welsh, President & CEO of Choose Chicago who will give the welcome address.
For more information about the World Routes 2014 Conference Programme and to register for the event click here.
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