With the inaugural ITB China event round the corner, programme and speaker details for the key conference component have been released, covering themes of ‘destination’, ‘online travel & travel tech’ and ‘corporate travel & MICE’.
The keynote speech will be delivered on May 10 by Ctrip CEO Jane Jie Sun, who with PhocusWright founder Philip Wolf will discuss how the Chinese OTA giant will focus on globalisation as a core strategy in the next few years.
Leading industry figures such as Rungang Zhang, vice-president of the China Tourism Association and Eduardo Santander, executive director of the European Travel Commission, will then present papers on destinations.
The second day will be dedicated to online travel and travel technology, with a panel discussion looking at how travel companies can cater to the increasingly diverse and personal needs of travellers.
This will be moderated by Joseph Wang, chief commercial officer, TravelDaily and feature panellists Steven Pang, managing director of Greater China Skyscanner; Ning Ma, general manager of marketing department, Yangtze River Airlines; and Qianyuan Yin, general manager, Zhejiang New Century Manju Hotel Management.
Cindy Tan, vice president of display, Asia-Pacific, TripAdvisor will discuss opportunities in China’s inbound and outbound travel and share insights on the search trends and behaviours of global and Chinese travellers.
The third day is dedicated to corporate travel and MICE. Kejian Wu, deputy general manager CWT China, will speak on the business-travel challenges posed by China. A panel discussion on the transformation of the MICE industry will be moderated by Lenny Jia, founder and chief editor, China BT MICE.
Speakers will include Crystal Zhang, president, UCC; Kitty Huang, vice president – customer loyalty and revenue generation, Greater China, Wyndham Hotel Group; Dong Wei, COO, Shouqi Car Rental; and Lei Li, founder, Youli Hotel GSA.
ITB China will take place from May 10 to 12 at the Shanghai World Expo Exhibition and Convention Center. TTG will be the official show daily during the three-day show.
