Sydney gears up for travel’s heavyweights

Sydney gears up for travel’s heavyweights

Sydney welcomes the Tourism and Travel Summit to its sunny harbour on August 18 and 19 this year.

The landmark event for the Australian tourism industry, the summit will feature keynotes from some of the world’s heavyweight tourism and travel companies, to be held at Luna Park in Sydney.

Headlining the event will be big cheese Lonely Planet’s global chief executive officer Daniel Houghton. He will be offering insights on his reinvention of an iconic brands and forecasting what is next for travel as an industry and as an idea.

Brand USA’s chief communications officer Anne Madison is another big name, presenting on the challenge of creating and executing the US’s first national tourism marketing campaign, and which tricks made it triumphant.

Virgin Galactic, the world’s first commercial spaceline, is also getting involved, sending its commercial director Stephen Attenborough down under to discuss the commercial viability of space tourism and what it means for terrestrial tourism operators.

A veteran of the Australian aviation industry, Etihad’s senior VP of marketing Shane O’Hare will discuss the current state of the international aviation and how Etihad manages to maintain an enviable brand position.

And in from the disruptive end of travel, Airbnb’s country manager Sam McDonagh will be presenting on what the effect Airbnb’s rapid expansion will have on the regional hospitality market.

The event will also feature senior leadership from Virgin Australia, Helloworld, Carnival, the Australian Trade Commission, Pan Pacific Hotel Group, Travelzoo Australia, Fink Group, Contiki Australia and the Gold Coast 2018 Commonwealth Games Corporation.

The event is gearing up to be an informed and engaging discussion of how to realise the extraordinary potential of this vital sector.

More information, including a full list of speakers and online registration, is available at tourismandtravel.com.au or contact Connect Events on 02 8004 8590.

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