WTM London, an influential travel event, organised by RX, is framing this year’s Technology Summit around the critical role that technology can play supporting sellers and suppliers during the current period of disruption and emerging new challenges.
The summit takes place
on Wednesday 5 November on the Purple Stage, starting at 10.45am. Over three
hours, attendees will hear from a global line-up of carefully selected
technology experts, from C-suite executives to entrepreneurs via lawyers,
investors and researchers.
The agenda supports
WTM London’s decision to align all stages and sessions under the unifying theme
of Reimagining Travel in a Changing World. Twelve different sessions
have been curated by Timothy O’Neil-Dunne, WTM’s technology advisor and an
established industry commentator and observer. He was a founding management
team member at Expedia in the 1990s, and he is currently a Principal at T2Impact
Ltd, a global consulting and venture firm laser-focussed on aviation, travel
and tourism.
WTM London’s official
Technology Partner, Holafly, will feature CEO Pablo Gómez Fernandez-Quintanilla
in a dynamic 20-minute conversation with Timothy, titled ‘Connected Futures:
Tech, Data and the Power of eSIMs.’ The session will take place
on Wednesday, 5th November at 13:50 on the Purple Stage. One of
the highlights is a debate around whether artificial intelligence (AI), despite
the hype, is travel’s enemy. He will be joined on stage by Stephen Joyce from
Prospect Group and Christian Watts from Magpie Travel.
AI is likely to be
referenced across the sessions, directly and indirectly. Rhys Griffiths and
Farina Azam, partners at travel law specialists Fox Williams, will outline the
legal and regulatory implications of widespread AI adoption for travel
businesses.
Meanwhile, Andreas Nau
from Ennea Capital Partners and Min Liu from Cambon Partners will share their
frontline experience of how the investment community is responding to the new
reality of AI-driven disruption.
There is also a
session drilling down into how AI is redefining the role of travel agents,
featuring James Lever from DataArt and Gulce Rozenveld from Oojo.com.
Similarly, AI is driving a sea-change in trip planning and inspiration, with
video content becoming increasingly important in the traveller’s
decision-making process. Sally Bunnell from NaviSavi will explain more.
Data is an important
area of discussion in the age of AI. Dave Goodger from Tourism Economics will
explain how travel companies can combine travel-specific insights with economic
indicators to make smarter decisions. Elsewhere, Thomas Dillon from A3M and
James Spalding from Trip.com Group will discuss how to balance the traveller
demand for hyper-personalization with regulatory requirements over data privacy
and security.
Payments remain an
area of interest and innovation, and this year’s summit includes a session
looking at how technology-driven payment innovations are helping travel to
thrive. James Lemon from Stripe, Will Plummer from Trust My Group, Livia Vite
from actuary.aero and Qais Amori from Almosafer will offer different
perspectives on the overall payment landscape, looking at business-to-business
as well as business-to-consumer.
Airlines are starting
to have a stronger presence at WTM London in general and at the Technology
Summit in particular. Filip Filipov from OAG will provide a five-minute
snapshot into the most critical airline and flight data trends before Amanda Campbell
from T2RL and Nadine Wood, formerly of Qantas, analyse the evolution of
low-cost carriers and highlight the lessons that legacy carriers can learn.
Finally, away from
software, Roman Townsend from Belvera Partners will demonstrate the latest
advances in artificial and virtual reality.
Timothy O-Neil Dunne
explained: “Attendees will hear from an eclectic mix of experts, all of whom
have strong and sometimes differing opinions on the topics dominating today’s
travel technology conversations.
“We’re taking a broad approach to AI, but I’ve structured the summit so that
data, payments, airlines and more also get a look in. Then we finish with the
key question of now: is AI good or bad for travel? Make sure you join us
on the Purple Stage at 10:45 on Wednesday 5th November to be part of
a frank and future-focused conversation.”
