Tourism is currently one of the most affected sectors and UNWTO has revised its 2020 forecast for international arrivals and receipts. The coronavirus pandemic is putting up to 75 million jobs and $2.1 trillion in revenue in the global travel and tourism sector at risk, with travel likely to slump by a quarter this year and Asia being the most affected continent. The tourism industry accounts for 10% of the world’s GDP and jobs and the equivalent to a loss of three months of global travel in 2020 could lead to a corresponding reduction in jobs of between 12% and 14% globally. With this as a backdrop, we discuss the revival of the travel sector and the road ahead with global travel experts.

Click here to register for the webinar

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Internet and Mobile Association of India (IAMAI) is organising, Tourism & Travel Tech Conference 2019 on 06 March 2019 in New Delhi. The conference will chart the roadmap on how tech can be used to maximize the potential of this sector. The discussions are expected to set a series of recommendations on policies and innovative measures that India needs to implement to develop a competitive and sustainable tourism sector making it a major contributor to strategies aimed towards inclusive and sustainable growth.

The event is an ideal opportunity to meet & network with your existing and potential industry peers. Prominent names include leadership representation from MakeMyTrip, Yatra, Ixigo, Indigo Airlines.

For more details, please visit http://traveltech.iamai.in/.

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In picture, one of the happy customers of Ecohost

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Recognized as the region’s most extentive B2B event, ACE of M.I.C.E. Exhibition by Turkish Airlines(AME) is to celebrate it’s 5^th birthday on February 21-23, 2018 in Istanbul – the city where continents meet-with a new motto: “Everything You Need For Your Meetings & Events Organizastion Is At ACE of M.I.C.E. Exhibition!”. Thanks to the 100,000 US dollar worth global media coverage value with the support of AME’s 160 sponsors & partners, 220 national and international exhibitors -35 of them are new includes 6 new destinations will meet with 15.000+ professional visitors under one roof.

Hosted Buyer Application Record Has Been Broken

You can meet with 750+ MICE industry buyers from 40 countries on a perfectly functioning B2B online appointment system. Face-to-face interaction with high-level decision-makers and influencers of the industry will allow you to connect with new and existing customers. Thanks to 20 hard working buyer group coordinator, AME meticulously evaluates all hosted buyer applications. According to the AME hosted buyer policy, %70 of buyers are renewed every year and AME’2018 is ready to host 9.800 B2B appointment three days in a row.

TECH ZONE – Start-Up Pavilion for Brand New Firms

This year’s theme of  meeting and event technology provides the perfect backdrop for an event that will focus on future opportunities and examine technological growt, developments and trends, The “TECH DAY”, will address the challenges faced by our dynamic industry, and will explore the trends and shifts that impact us all.

The programme with two strong sub-themes of innovation and management, will include a variety of expert speakers, covering topics, ranging from the latest, technology and what impact it has on MICE to new ways to engage and influence audiances, both digitally and onsite. There will be practical and personal development sessions for every level of event professional and networking opportunities for all DMCs, PCOs and Convention Bureaus’ Industry members and in-house event managers to connect with each other.

There is an ever-changing business and economic landscape and today, more than ever, we have to think beyond tomorrow to stay competitive and shape our future in the meetings and event industry. Moreover, “TECH ZONE” has been established for technology service providers and start-up’s to promote their services, products and innovative competitiveness under the umbrella of our brand new technology pavillion. While the event and meeting industry are preparing for the year of 2018, you will have the opportunity to meet the professionals of the global MICE technology industry in the first quarter of the year.

Fascinating Sessions Under The Theme of “Creative Events”

Are you ready for inspiration? The most creative year for your events! There prepared a fantastic agenda lined up. Dedicated TECH DAY sessions, creative events and industry focused discussions will be the hallmark of  the Speakers’ Corner programme with key speaker’s located at Hall5 of Istanbul Congress Center-ICC . There will be 15 sessions  with 20 best speakers on their sector. World’s best speakers in lightening design, flower decoration and video mapping will be presenting their knowledge in a very creative way. Valerio Festi, the most famous show and feast designer in the world will share his knowledge.

Besides the two main subject, AME’18 Speakers programme is full of surprised content. The confirmed sessions are as following: Mat Johnson, forme NIKE GLOBAL Event Director, Live Experience Strategist & Owner of White Fox Consultancy ft. Mr. Bora Aksoylu, former Red Bull and NIKE Turkey Event Manager moderated by Mr. Arkin Celik. The topic is: with the expansive reach of information in this digital era attendants are not culturally limited to their country of origin alone. Today, events all over the world provide individuals as well as brands a global experience as a result of this paradigm shift. Mat Johnson is a master of transforming innovation and uniqueness from brand values to human experience by way of events he masterminded all around the world for NIKE and more. He identifies the solution to cross the ever blurry lines that separate countries or cities through ‘evolution that adapts fast’, ‘trusting in our own intuition’ in novel situations where there are no precedents, ‘confidence in your team as much as yourself while taking risks’ as well as having a ‘vision for the potential that the future holds’.

The Top Disruptive Technology Trends Transforming the Events and Tradeshow Industries  by Corbin Ball- world’s well known techonology speaker-, CMP, CSP, DES, Owner, Corbin Ball & Co. Technology will likely change events more in the next five years than it has in the past fifteen! This interactive and information-packed session will cover the major technology trends creating these changes and what you can do to prepare for them.

Learner Objectives: Understand the important technology trends including the internet of things, virtual/augmented reality,  location-based technology, wearable computing and more. Receive lots of links, apps, and ideas that you can put to use immediately. Learn steps to prepare for these changes to be able to work more efficiently and effectively.

Event Technology Trends by Dr. James Morgan, Event Tech Lab & University of Westminster. The event technology landscape is changing day by day, with exciting new products being offered to meetings and event planners. There are all sorts of options to choose from – but what is new and exciting? This multi-media session explores new logistics and production management technology for better work efficiency, technology to market and manage your events more successfully as well as technology to enhance attendee engagement with your clients’ content.

Tools To Add Value To Your Clients And Events Without Losing The Human Touch by John Martinez, CEO & Founder of Shocklogic. Looking to enhance the relationship with your clients and your attendees, and keep them engaged? Wondering what technology to use? Worried about money? There’s free stuff out there – so why not use it! This session will cover different apps and software solutions that will help you to achieve what you need, including Evernote, Trello, Dropbox, WeTransfer, Zoom, Whatsapp, Apple Wallet/Android Passbook, Toggl and Slack. Learn how to integrate these apps to streamline your processes, deliver great results, and achieve high ROI.

UNICEO Education Programme for Senior Corporate: Measurement – Use of Digital – Innovation – Security – Integration of New Generations. Daksh Sharma, Managing Director, TravHQ Media & Iffort / Skill Deveplopment Workshop, Leveraging Social Media for Travel-Trade/MICE Industry. Outline of Workshop: How to promote and position travel-agency via social media – Platforms/Tools etc.  ow to leverage content marketing to promote destinations. How we use travel-tech such as 360 degree videos, virtual reality etc. to promote destinations, hotels etc. How to actively engage with social media influencers.

Shekar Grover, Industry Best Practices for Green Meetings and Sustainability and Rajeev Kohli, SITE President.

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August & September are turning out to be exciting months for funding deals in the Indian travel startup arena.

$10 million funding for GoFro (September 2017)

Earlier in the month, Holiday marketplace GoFro had received $10 million in funding from Japanese major H.I.S. Co., Ltd., a travel agency with its HQ in Tokyo and India’s largest OTA MakeMyTrip. To read more, visit this link. The company plans to utilize these funds by building its tech platform, expansion to new geographies and growing its supply and agent network.

Multiple rounds of funding for Hotel aggregator OYO (September 2017)

Budget hotel startup OYO followed its initial $250-million funding round with an additional $10 million in funding from Chinese hotel management firm China Lodging Group. Learn more here. Earlier in September, OYO had raised $250 million from SoftBank Vision Fund including a new investor, Sunil Munjal-led Hero Enterprise. More on that here.

Treebo snaps up 226 crore (August 2017)

Right at the end of August 2017, budget hotel chain Treebo’s parent company Ruptub Solutions, had raised $34 million (about Rs 226 crore) in fresh round of funding. The Series C funding comes more than a year after Treebo had secured 112cr in Series B funding. Hong Kong-based hedge funds Ward Ferry Management and Karst Peak Capital have led the current round. More on Treebo funding here.

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The travel industry must be better prepared for economic and political disruption if it is to make the most of future economic growth, a new report from A.T. Kearney outlines.

Whilst the sharing economy, virtual reality and the Internet of Things are all improving the traveller experience, international geo-political, social and economic developments are disrupting and polarising the world as we know it, limiting the industry’s potential for future prosperity unless companies act now the report says.

Against this backdrop, A.T. Kearney highlights two key trends that are changing the travel industry landscape, and driving future success:

• Personalised travel experiences versus mass market. Technology enables the aggregation of consumer data and the use of Artificial Intelligence to learn about traveller behaviour. In addition, it may help to meet individual needs, instead of a more traditional one-sizefits-all approach.
• Seamless travel versus fragmentation. Truly seamless travel will require governmental cooperation and data sharing between businesses: from airports and airlines to destination services such as hotels, restaurants, and ground transportation.

Based on these two key trends, Amadeus and A.T. Kearney have identified four future-looking world scenarios that travel companies needs to prepare for today, if they are to maximise future growth and success tomorrow:

The Picasso scenario is built on a fragmented world marked by the rise of populism and by heightened security concerns. This has the effect of making more travel destinations off-limits. Even so, most parts of the world enjoy economic growth. Companies invest in innovation to reach more customers through mobile channels, and this interaction enables businesses to provide more sophisticated personalized offers.

The Dali scenario assumes that both social attitudes and economic prosperity create a more favourable environment towards sharing data. This brings about more relaxed privacy laws and lighter regulation, which allows for greater personalisation of travel. Living in the Dali scenario, travel becomes faster, cheaper, and safer. People benefit from less security controls at borders and have real-time information about unexpected events such as flight delays.

In the Bosch scenario, business costs rise across the industry as companies struggle to comply with a mosaic of different legal, tax, labour and data protection laws. We are confronting a fragmented world based on protectionism and distrust. Facing Bosch’s political environment, travellers seek comfort in trusted brands and book directly with well-known travel providers.

The Warhol scenario is characterised by seamless and not personalised travel that considers the implications of strong economic growth in Asia, giving rise to a large middle class with more disposable income for travel and leisure. Travellers would rather go for low cost, mass-market travel instead of having personalised options even in a world free of barriers.

“Technology has never held more promise for the travel industry”, says Alex Luzarraga, Vice President Corporate Strategy of Amadeus IT Group. “But the status quo is being turned on its head. There is widespread mistrust and populism. Things we used to take for granted, such as the right to travel across Europe without passports, for example, may be less likely in the future. It is important to evaluate and understand, in partnership with A.T. Kearney, those issues that will continue to confront and disrupt the industry in the coming five to seven years, so we can as an industry be better prepared to deal with those issues, and also stimulate economic growth and success as a result”.

“The report is based on the perspectives of a broad range of stakeholders from across the travel and technology worlds. It illustrates a broad view of the future, which allows companies to uncover their organisational blind spots. Moreover, the study tests existing plans against industry outlooks, and helps us understand ‘no regret’ moves and imperatives in company strategy. This paper will provide an interesting perspective to the businesses that wish to prosper in the travel industry in the coming years”, says Yelena Ageyeva-Furman, Principal, London, at A.T. Kearney.

Commissioned by Amadeus, the study was based on a series of industry workshops and interviews from across the technology and travel industries. To learn more about the research and to download the What if? Imagining the future of the travel industry report, please click here.

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Meet Hendric Tay. Hendric, might come across as a 28 year old average Singaporean, who loves to travel and talk about his journey on social media. But when you take a closer look, you will realise, he does something special every time he visits a new destination. By uniquely merging travel and dance.

Hendric Tay is an avid traveller, an occasional dancer and an aspiring entrepreneur. Like most of us he had a regular nine-to-five job. In September 2013, he left his boring sedentary lifestyle and embarked on a journey of exploration and self-discovery. As ‘Travel is an awesome teacher’, till date he has visited 40+ countries and exposed himself to multiple cultures.

Of course, giving up his socially-accepted lifestyle was not a simple deal. He had to save money for a long time and convince his family. After years of saving, he could accumulate a reasonable amount in his bank account just before setting on the journey. Being brought up in a typical Chinese family, convincing his loved ones initially was another obstacle. In his blog he claims: After a year and lots of communication, I think the important people in my life finally understands.

Before starting his around-the-world travel, he planned to explore different countries for only a year and settle down again. But, things turned fortunate for him soon. Now he’s not only travelling but working on his own travel startup.To his readers, he suggests that it is better to do something you love than regret later about it. He is passionate about travelling and exploring the world around him. He recognized it and just followed his inner voice. He guides us by saying that if, after carefully analyzing the situation, we feel that things might turn favourable for us, we should take the chance to do it. Taking chances is part of the game.

To give you a glimpse of his latest adventures, he frequently posts photos in social media platforms like Facebook and Instagram. Check out a few of them below:

In each Instagram photo, you will that he has combined his love for travel and dance distinctly. He likes to call it ‘piking’ and has got a webpage on his website full of Piking photos. We picked some really amazing Piking pictures from his Instagram:

#1. Piking at Fraser Island, Southern Queensland

Fraser Island, Southern Queensland. Missing the mobility my arm used to have. Heal soon dislocated shoulder! #thisisqueensland #fraserisland

A photo posted by Hendric Tay (@pohtecktoes) on May 24, 2015 at 8:07pm PDT

#2. Piking at Sao Beach, Vietnam

Piking with a hat on Sao Beach (Phu Quoc, Vietnam). Sun, sand, sea, palm trees… simply perfect. Taken by: @drewperspectives #unraveltravelsg #getrichwithtravel

A photo posted by Hendric Tay (@pohtecktoes) on Mar 11, 2015 at 8:13pm PDT

#3. Piking at Similan Islands, Thailand

Piking amongst crystal clear waters. (Similan Islands, Thailand) Note to self: wear sunglasses at the beach next time. #travel #bboy #thailandluxe

A photo posted by Hendric Tay (@pohtecktoes) on Feb 3, 2015 at 7:05pm PST

#4. Piking in Bagan, Myanmar

Piking in the ancient city of Bagan, Myanmar. Adding another picture to my series of breakdancing freezes around the world. #TravelMadeDifferent #Myanmar #SSBD #bboy Shot by: @cheriesyw

A photo posted by Hendric Tay (@pohtecktoes) on Dec 16, 2014 at 7:18pm PST

#5. Piking in Machu Picchu

Piking in Machu Picchu. #machupicchu #peru #bboy #inca #travel

A photo posted by Hendric Tay (@pohtecktoes) on Jul 4, 2014 at 9:29pm PDT

And then here is this exclusive image of him Piking in front of Taj Mahal

At Taj Mahal

You can watch this video by Amadeus IT Group to hear him talk about his adventures.

Over years, he has worked with multiple media brands like Skyscanner, Airbnb and Sony. Also, he has been awarded with ‘Singapore Blog Awards’ this year.

Hendric Tay isn’t the only one with a unique touch to his travel photos. Chris O’Neill’s got some jaw-dropping Facebook videos here and Murad Osmann posts some beautiful images on his Instagram. We are sure they’ll excite you to the core.

Would you be ready to go on a road less travelled like these travel-junkies did?

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Founded by Jean-Baptiste Rudelle, Franck le Ouay and Romain Niccoli in 2005, Criteo is a personalized retargeting company with over 1500 employees worldwide. It involves itself with internet retailers and helps them in displaying personalized online ads to the targeted consumers.

Image Source: Pixabay

Since last year, Criteo reviewed more than 1 billion bookings made by travel suppliers and online travel agencies that exist globally. Recently, they’ve published the travel flash report which highlights a few interesting facts. Here are some of them:

#1. Mobile is the biggest influencer in travel booking

It doesn’t spring a surprise that mobile has been the biggest influencer in travel booking. The share of mobile booking has almost doubled, increasing from 12% to 23% globally. Mobile adoption has grown but is not consistent. Japan leads in the share of bookings coming from mobile devices. Western countries, Latin America and European markets lag behind.

#2. Is there a link between the booking preferences and devices used for it?

The travel flash report states that mobile users prefer to book their flight tickets through tablets. For hotel bookings smart phones are preferred. 14% of the bookings take place through smart-phones and 10% through tablets. It has also been mentioned that in case of urgency, people tend to book through smartphone for discounts and exclusive offers.

#3. Travellers have a preference of when and how they book the tickets

The share of smartphone bookings is higher during the weekends. During weekdays, smartphone bookings are more in the mornings but they decrease as the day progresses. For simple booking, smartphones are often preferred but when it comes to comparing prices, the same group of people chose desktops. This might be possible since desktops have a bigger screen. So, it’s convenient to compare prices then.

#4. The longer the stay, the bigger the screen!

This might be a surprise for many! The travel flash report states that when bookings have to be made for shorter stays, travellers tend to use smartphones. ‘Smartphones in particular account for just 10 percent of the bookings for stays of a week or more, but they account for 18 percent of one-night stays.’ Tablets constitute 10% of the one-night stay bookings.

#5. Travel Season = Mobile Season

Most of the people travel to their favourite destinations during springs and summers. In these seasons, mobile adoption increases and their usage too. Especially, from January to June in most of the regions except in the Southern Hemisphere.

#6. Hotel OTAs v/s Hotel Suppliers

OTAs lead the bookings made via smartphones in comparison to hotel suppliers. The disparity b/w the two is quite wide and OTAs account for almost thrice the bookings made by hotel suppliers themselves.

For the complete travel flash report, click here.

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Listening to music while travelling can be a messy affair! If you have earphone cords, they will quickly get entangled and wireless earphones are either out of our budget or make us compromise on the sound quality.

To help you out with this age-old problem, especially while you are on the go, the HELIX Wearable Cuff with Stereo Bluetooth Headphones comes to your rescue. The design is versatile and will suit you in any outfit- anywhere and everywhere.

Design:

Its loop design helps HELIX to fit on your wrist appropriately. One side of the loop has three magnets which will attract the other side to balance the cuff to your wrist size. Within seconds, you can wear it and unravel it later. The cuff is quite thin below the wrist so that you can rest your arm comfortably. It is a beautiful device for music-lovers.  The design and the length of the earbuds is perfect that’ll fit easily on your wrist and ears. The center of the cuff has a light which will show whether the Bluetooth connectivity is off or on. Also, if your device is ready to use.

Just like the Apple watch, the cuff is made of fluoroelastomer. Anodized aluminum has been used to develop the cuff compartment, control unit, and headphones. It’s available in many colors and editions like the simple black and white colors, classic edition, gold edition etc. with 18K plated gold embellishments.

Compatibility:

HELIX is compatible with most of the wearable and mobile devices with the expected play time for up to 3 hours and standby time for nearly up to 200 hours. This is will prove to be one of the most useful feature for a holidaymaker.

Chargeability:

Surprisingly, the device takes less than an hour to charge. So there’s no stopping you while you are about to head to your next destination! The designers of this gadget have worked in firms like Nokia and Nest.

According to a report, Mika Nenonen, the Chief Designer of Helix Cuff, had stated “Fundamentally, the marriage of fashion and functional design to create a storage element for headphones simply didn’t exist.” Thus, they attempted to create a wearable which neither jeopardized the sound quality nor the latest fashion trends.

Helix Wearable Cuff is a trendsetting device as it perfectly brings a wearable technology combined with fashion and function in a stunning way. It’s available at an exclusive pre-order price of $99 on KickStarter. The product has been designed by San Francisco based firm Ashley Chloe who have a special penchant for engineering fashionable digital accessories.

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GoDaddy, the world’s largest technology provider of small firms, will help the renowned adventure company, The Great Indian Adventure (GIA) create a professional online identity at www.thegreatindianadventure.com.

Through the expertise of GoDaddy, GIA aims to achieve new global customers and enhance their business. This arrangement and the brand value of GoDaddy will generate more credibility and trust in the minds of the people.

(Image: Travel by aigle_dore/ CC BY-2.0)

Founded in 2008 by Pranav Chandra, The Great Indian Adventure is a one-stop shop for travelholics. While it creates enjoyable and flexible Indian travel experiences, its customized approach and preciseness has made it highly popular among travellers.

According to news reports, Chandra stated that “By taking GIA online, I wanted to create a unique platform to provide the Insider’s India experience (without the hassle) on a platter to travel seekers around the world”.

The association between GoDaddy and GIA has already proven advantageous for the latter. There has been a marked rise in customer queries coming from the US, Australia, Canada and South Africa. On the other hand, the Vice President and Managing Director of GoDaddy India & Australia showed his appreciation for the new venture. This is not the first initiative by GoDaddy in this space. It has offered many opportunities to the Indian firms through local language campaigns in the recent past.

While GoDaddy is associating itself with the local Indian firms, it undoubtedly adds value to its portfolio. Besides, the more campaigns the brand runs, it earns more success stories.

GoDaddy is a web-hosting company headquartered in Scottsdale, USA. It has offices in Washington, Iowa, Australia, Brazil, India etc.

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