All sessions will be chaired by either Don Birch or Ray Bigger.

Day 1 KEYNOTE

The Changing Travel Landscape in Asia

How has the online travel game changed and how you can proactively respond to ride the wave of economic recovery? Hear 4 keynote perspectives from differnt sectors of the Asian Online Travel Industry.

• Analyze the current state of travel and tourism in the APAC region
• How the industry landscape changed over the past year and what lessons can we learn?
• Gain valuable insight into the new trends, key issues and challenges that will shape the industry in 2010 and beyond
• What technologies and opportunities can you capitalise on to drive your business forward?
• Is accurate forecasting possible in the fragmented and turbulent Asian travel sector?

John Koldowski - Director, Strategic Intelligence Centre, PATA
Robert Bailey - President & CEO, Abacus International
William Bao Bean – Senior Analyst, Softbank Venture Capital
Azran Osman-Rani – CEO, Air Asia X

Interactive Opinion poll: What is the current reality of travel and tourism in Asia?

Optimise Your Distribution Strategy – Trim the Fat From Your Multi-Channel Mix

Evaluate which distribution channels are the most cost-effective and successful in driving sales without limiting your reach.

The Supplier Perspective

• The way in which consumers research, plan and book travel is changing, how should travel suppliers respond to meet changing consumer behaviours?
• Direct channels vs. 3rd party distribution – With Supply far outstripping demand, how important is it for suppliers to exploit new distribution channels to offset lost revenue?
• Which channels have the highest yield and how do direct marketing costs compare with Agency/GDS fees?
• Does the win-win relationship exist? Hear examples from the industry.
• Will offline channels soon be a thing of the past?

Maria Taylor - VP Distribution Asia Pacific, Accor Hospitality
Joe Lim - Regional Director Hospitality & Car Rental APAC, Travelport

Profitable Partnerships and Effective Distribution Channels

The Distributor Perspective

• How has the power dynamic changed between OTAs, GDSs and Suppliers?
• In an increasingly competitive space, what are the most effective channels to drive bookings and capture market share?
• What strategic course are GDSs setting to remain competitive and meet the changing expectations of suppliers and intermediaries?
• What does the future of online travel distribution hold?

Martin Symes – CEO, Wego
Cyril Ranque - VP Asia Pacific, Partner Services Group, Expedia
Wilfred Fan – Vice President Marketing, Agoda
Grant Colquhoun - Direcetor of Hotels APAC, Travelocity

Harder Working Marketing - Maximize ROI on a Limited Budget

Increasingly, each advertising dollar you spend must bring in proven, measurable results. Cut the dead wood from your marketing spend and capitalize on innovative and low-cost techniques to boost your marketing power. Our Expert speakers will show you what works and what doesn’t in today’s complex and dynamic online space.

• Which digital marketing strategies are proving most effective in reaching the largest target audience and boosting sales?
• Conquer linguistic and cultural barriers – Harmonize multiple marketing campaigns for maximum impact. Which combination of campaigns and channels will cut through the clutter and yield the greatest transactional ROI?
• Balance Search vs. the power of the brand. Hear examples of sophisticated brand marketing – what yields the highest booking rate and which is more cost-effective across Asia? A no-nonsense analysis of the acquisition costs involved in direct and 3rd party distribution.
• Re-evaluate SEO and SEM – How is search advertising changing and what are the new weapons in digital marketing?
• Compare metrics of direct site traffic with paid search traffic. Which casts the widest net?

Steve Sherlock – Managing Director, Oodles.com
Barbara Pezzi – Brand Manager Swissotel at Fairmont Raffles Hotel Brand
Kenny Lim – General Manager Singapore, Club Med Asia
Expert Questioner will be Meraj Huda - Pricicple Consultant, Forumline

Ancillary Revenue: Innovation and Collaboration in the New Travel Landscape

Ancillary revenue is a vital strategy for travel suppliers who have been suffering declining demand and revenue loss from their core product. This session will explore how to use ancillary services to boost profitability, gain market share and enter new markets.

• What are the barriers and risks involved?
• Increase your total value proposition to combat seasonal demand and win-over customers old and new
• Diversify strategy to achieve a sustainable competitive advantage over rivals
• Learn how to align ancillary services with your brand position. What are the best ancillary options for you?
• Collaboration Vs. Acquisition – What yields the greatest return?
• Explore how to capitalize on the explosion of gambling and golfing tourism in Asia

Vikas Gulati - CEO, Sprice

Ho Hoong Mao - Director of Airline Distribution Division, Abacus International

Fraud & E-commerce Challenges in Asia Pacific

Whilst many Asian countries remain largely ‘look online, book offline’ cultures, the benefits of online payment systems to customer and supplier are undeniably compelling. Learn how to navigate the online payment minefield to make huge savings on transactional costs and dramatically increase your customer base.

• Understand the business case for adopting online payment systems
• Overcome the barriers of online business. Learn the differences between languages, currencies and regions.
• What is the right payment system for your company and customers?
• Learn how to reduce losses and protect your customers from fraud

Gerald Gan - VP Business Development APAC, Global Collect Ltd

Networking drinks in the exhibition area

Future Trends and Technology in Travel – Planting the Seeds for Profit.

The progression of technology and innovation in the travel industry continues at a quickening pace and Asian countries are closing the gap on their western counterparts. The dizzying pace has the power to undermine existing revenue models or create exciting and highly lucrative new opportunities for those in the know. Learn from the best to save you time and make you money.

• Prepare you travel business for the future. Cut through the hype and identify the technologies that will add real value and reap the largest rewards.
• What will be “the next big thing”? Know where (and where not!) to invest to ensure ROI is real, abundant and measureable
• The way your customer interacts with the web is changing. How can you continue to reach and influence travelers in a dynamic, user led online environment?
• Travel 3.0?...How will developments in the semantic web enable more complex and sophisticated trip planning for online travelers?

Sajith Sivanandan - Head of Travel, Retail and Automotive Google South East Asia

Tim Hughes - VP Orbitz, Hotelclub.com and founder of the BOOT

Mark Inkster, General Manager, Microsoft Online Services Asia

Morris Sim, Co Founder, Circos Brand Karma

Gearing Digital Strategies for Profit

Optimize websites for maximum engagement, conversion and sales - 2010 has seen the birth of a new generation of price conscious, demanding and increasingly web savvy travel consumers. With vast amounts of content to educate their travel decisions, at the click of a mouse travelers become as informed as travel agents. This raises new challenges and huge opportunities for marketers and distributers who must keep up with consumer demands or lose out in the ultra competitive online arena.

• Customers vs. Optimization – should your website content be tailored towards optimizing your site or enhancing a customers experience?
• Learn how the functionality, design and integration of rich content are vital considerations which can make your travel website stand out from the crowd and increase bookings.
• Using rich media, video and geo content to create a compelling user experience and maximize website stickiness. What will yield greatest ROI?
• What are the most important metrics to measure?
• Tailoring website content – How to enhance the user experience and convert lookers into bookers
• Maximize your web presence and brand visibility by distributing content to popular channels.

Fritz Demopoulus – CEO and Co-Founder Qunar.com

Sameer Poonja - VP Online Distribution & E-Commerce Kiwi Collection

Janice Chan - Director Online Distribution & Marketing Starwood Hotels & Resorts

Harness the Power of Social media and User Generated Content

User-generated content is becoming increasingly popular as a means for consumers in Asia to share and recommend their travel experiences online. UGC is replacing the role of the trusted travel agent and consumers are much more trusting and influenced by the opinions of fellow travellers. The virtually unlimited size of the online audience means that it has never been more important for companies to proactively respond to this phenomenon.

• The golden rules of successful social media campaigns in travel – Where to invest and why?
• Save time and resources and maximize the impact of social media initiatives by developing clear KPI’s and a focussed strategy.
• How to take advantage of the social search revolution. Does Twitter matter?
• Understand the power of social media and UGC for greater consumer engagement, brand loyalty and CRM.
• Transform potentially damaging negative feedback into a lucrative strategic sales and marketing tool.
• Get your employees on your side as brand evangelists.
• Monetize social media - Justify a business case for your social initiatives by demonstrating the tangible benefits and ROI.

Sharat Dhall - General Manager Tripadvisor India
Joe Nguyen - VP Southeast Asia ComScore Inc
Bruce Poon Tip - CEO, Gap Adventures
Vennessa Paech – Community Manager Worldwide Lonely Planet

Mobile Technology in Travel

The Convergence of mobile technology and social media holds untold potential for future growth as suppliers can market their brand and product to huge audiences by bringing the marketplace to their customers. Smartphones are becoming more ubiquitous than broadband internet in some Asian countries, meaning that consumers will be able to respond to marketing communications sent to their mobiles and research, plan, book and blog their travel experiences anytime, anywhere. This will surely redefine the travel distribution space over the next few years, but is the timing right?

• Reverse the sales process, reduce operating costs, offer enhanced services to travelers and drive incremental sales whilst your customers are on the go.
• How far behind is Asia in the mobile technology race?
• Mobile technology in action. M-commerce, location based mobile services (LBS) and mobile advertising - How can the industry cash-in?
• Innovative mobile revenue models for travel.

Brett Henry - Vice President Marketing, Abacus International

Dhruv Shringi - Co Founder & CEO, Yatra Online

EyeforTravel Networking, Talk Back and Round up Session.
After an information-packed conference, here is your opportunity to voice your opinions, give feedback and suggestions for next year and network with the industry. An excellent and popular debriefing session that adds real value to round off two days of advanced learning and networking.