Why Travel DAZE really is the TED of the travel industry

Around 300 of the industry’s brightest minds came together yesterday at Sydney’s Belvoir St Theatre for a dynamic exchange of ideas amid significant shifts in the travel landscape.

With a forward-thinking program of topics and speakers, the day-long event saw the notion of “disruption” take centre stage, with representatives from hotels, airlines, agencies and beyond sharing their experience, expertise and expectations.

Topics bounced from social media to the rise of the digital influencer, from the survival of the bricks and mortar travel agents to the prospects for online, from the changing needs of the consumer to the new roles we all must play. Experts in their fields gave invaluable advice on how to whether the changes and emerge stronger than ever.

Event director Daisy Melwani said the day had exceeded her expectations, thanks to the high calibre of both speakers and attendees.

“The talks were engaging, thought-provoking and gave rise to some lively debate in the break-out sessions,” she said.

“We were so pleased to see so many inter-state travellers make the journey to attend, which also made for some great networking opportunities.”

The program was kept on track with the help of a friendly gorilla with a penchant for time-keeping – another forward-thinking ploy to keep things fun yet efficient.

Sponsors included Amadeus, Travel Counsellors, Excite Holidays, Fiji Airways, Social Playground, SCRM Hub and ADARA, with the event supported by AFTA’s ATAS.

Don’t worry if you couldn’t make it along, we’ll be sharing some of the insights dished up at the event over the course of the week so stay tuned.

Meanwhile, check out some of the amazing coverage the event generated in the national press:

Capgemini Consulting’s Didier Bonnet says generation Y employees won’t fix your company’s digital woes

Social media photo opportunities are a key driver of travel destination choice

Check out some pictures from the event:

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Email the Travel Weekly team at traveldesk@travelweekly.com.au

Latest comments

Peter Hook says:
November 30, -0001 at 12:00 am
Look, I’m an old dog and I was exposed to lots of new tricks…great event and fantastic venue. I still think the “disruptors” get too much Robin Hood-kudos. As was said many times, Airbnb is a US$25 billion business, Uber even greater, so why shouldn’t they have to operate according to the same rules that other commercial operators do? Airbnb is less about granny sharing her back room a few nights a month for pocket money and more about commercial businesses operating multiple properties in breach of building, strata, council and government regulations. Do we need serious injuries or deaths to make people wake up to this? I hope not, because that has already happened in the US. And on the subject of death, in this case travel agents, I remember back to 1975 when FM radio started in Australia and people predicted the death of AM radio. Today, AM radio commands over 50% of Sydney’s audience…maybe the RIP notice was a little premature, just as much as RIP notices for many travel related businesses might be a little too hasty.
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Meg Coffey says:
November 30, -0001 at 12:00 am
Absolutely fantastic event! So glad I was able to come along!!
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Daisy says:
November 30, -0001 at 12:00 am
Thank you so much for your comments Meg, really pleased to hear. Stay tuned for DAZE 2016…
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