Day 1

8:00 - 9:00amRegistration

9:00 - 10:45amSession 1

The Ctrip experience

Ctrip have long been the pioneer and leader of China´s online travel market place. As the Chinese market matures, Ctrip have not only managed to stay ahead of the competition, but have experienced massive growth in the process.

Let our Ctrip expert share with you what they consider to be the key decisions in their journey to online success. Hear what led to their 66% profit growth in 2007, and how they see the Chinese landscape evolving over the coming 10 years.

• Tang Lan, VP of Marketing, Ctrip

Profiting from the Chinese boom period

China is the worlds most exciting travel market place. The business and growth potential is incomparable to any other nation in history. The number of Chinese internet users has overtaken the US, and is expected to reach 280 million users by the end of 2008 at a staggering 200,000 new internet subscribers per day.

With the growth of the Chinese middle class, the new emphasis on a ‘Holiday Economy’ and the ambitious plans of bringing 82% of China´s population to within 90 minutes of an airport, Chinese travel is a mouth watering land of opportunity.

As the internet savvy youth of today become the cash rich young adults of tomorrow, the real financial benefits of an online presence will be realised.

• Sink or swim - what types of companies will prosper in a more liberal Chinese business environment?
• What is the typical profile of a new Chinese internet user? How do they purchase travel products online?
• What lessons can be learnt from successful Western companies following an internet penetration boom?
• Forecasting the future - how long will the current boom last, and what can we expect the Chinese travel market to look like by 2010 and beyond?

• William Dong, President & CEO, Best Western China
• Chen Chao Zhuang, Co-Founder and CTO, Qunar.com
• Sandeep Bahl, General Manager China, Northwest Airlines

Coffee Break

11:30 - 1:00pmSession 2

Managing revenue and Sales in the face of hotel room oversupply

Olympic fever has brought an unprecedented level of hotel investment into China. Remarkably some of this competition is from chains that until now have never invested outside their own national base, adding to the heightening oversupply of rooms. Shanghai felt the affect of this in 2007, experiencing a 3% drop in average occupancy.

As the post Olympic boom eventually subsides, the onus will fall on both the Revenue Management and Sales teams so solve the problem of ‘how to manage revenue in an oversupplied market’. Will Total Revenue Management become mainstream, in favour of classic management of room revenues?

• Zhiping Li, Vice President, Hanting Inns and Hotels Group
• Wilfred Fan, Vice President, Agoda
• William Chua, VP Revenue Management & Distribution, Meritus Hotels & Resorts

Lunch Break

2:00 - 3:45Session 3

Capitalising on the Olympic Buzz

What can history teach the travel industry in the aftermath of this Olympic year?

Since the Olympics have cast global eyes on China, the window of opportunity to cash-in on the inbound visitor boom is now! Consider these past host country statistics:

• Pre-Olympic Barcelona saw only 1.7 million tourists annually, compared with more than 5.5 million today
• Australia hosted an extra 1.6 million visitors in the year following the Sydney Olympic games, accounting for over $6 billion in new spending.
• Greece´s visitor arrivals rose by 13 percent after the 2004 games, and allowed the city to re-brand itself as an activity hot spot.

Financial spin-offs for the travel industry from the Beijing Olympics will be immense. Ensure you are positioned to exploit this, and that the type of products and services you offer appeal to the diverse and lucrative new markets set to flood China. Hear the key distribution channels - both on and offline - that will optimise your ability to generate continued post-Olympic revenue.

• Harry Tan, President & CEO, Days Inn China
• Roy Graff, Director of Business Development, Sportsworld

Corporate travel - Travel Management Companies as a distribution channel

Travel Management Companies have firmly established themsleves as a viable means by which to distribute travel products across China. Chinese corporate clients are realising the value of travel bookings using TMC´s.

Discover the optimised corporate programs TMC´s can provide and ensure your company is positioned to capitalise on new corporate travel markets.

• What new opportunities and markets can the TMC´s provide?
• Evaluate how cost effective this distribution channel is
• What added value can TMC´s provide local suppliers by handling their corporate travel bookings?

• Tim Ramage, General Manager, Greater China, Carlson Wagonlit China
• Sunny Sun , VP Development, Greater China, Guoman Hotels

Coffee Break

4:15 - 5:45pmSession 4

The growing opportunity of eCommerce with secure online payment portals

Online payment solutions have long been a restriction to the growth of cost effective online travel distribution. Without the necessary securities in place your business runs the risk of harming its own reputation, and the confidence of your customers. New solutions to this problem are becoming more readily available, and the change in consumer behaviour is quickly creating a greater need for these solutions to be implemented.

• Many major online players find that customers use their site as a research tool primarily, and still prefer manual offline payments. Will automated payments be led by an industry push or a radical change in consumer behaviour?
• International credit card payments - What kind of new sales opportunities will be missed if your site does not have facilities to accommodate international credit card payments?
• How are fragmented hotel payment portals hindering their ability to grow online booking numbers?
• What new start-ups have experienced success in attracting consumers to book using online portals? What have they done differently from the established players?
• Agents feeling the squeeze - how must agents adapt to remain relevant in the online environment, as consumers slowly move toward online payments?

• Yang Lei, CEO, Bill to Bill
• Peter Gordon, VP, Commercial Payment Solutions, MasterCard Worldwide

5:45 - 7:15pmEnd of Day 1 - Networking Party

Day 2

8:30 - 9:30amRegistration

9:30 - 11:15amSession 1

The eLong story - The 4G´s strategy to revitalize eLong

Recently, eLong (52% owned by global giant Expedia) has seen its brand integrity and growth momentum being regained.

Hear how a dramatic shift towards customer satisfaction, the launch of a fresh new user friendly website, the integration of Expedia global resource and the promotion of corporate responsibility, has reversed the fortunes of eLong.

• Guangfu Cui, CEO, eLong

Developing new and profitable distribution channels

As a nation China´s distribution landscape is considerably more fragmented than other nations, even by Asian standards. Identifying lucrative new distribution channels are key to the prolonged growth and success of all travel businesses in this time of heightened demand for Chinese travel.

• Hotels have dominated the share of Online Travel Agency revenues, which grew from RMB 142 million in 2002 to RMB 4 billion last year. What promising prospects does the emergence of OTAs now hold for airlines and package tours?
• Identify your distribution channels that are underperforming
• Ensure the level of profiting from supplier and agent relationships is reciprocal
• What new technologies are impacting the way that agencies and suppliers have classically interacted?
• The corporate sector - how can you establish firm ties with this hugely lucrative market segment?
• How must the traditional agency role evolve to accommodate the continued shift towards online bookings?
• The Chinese market is maturing - what new distribution channels can we expect to see as a result?

• Meng Yu, Executive Vice President, Jinjiang Inns Co.
• George Cao, President, Go10000
• Zinan Liu, Director of Sales & Account Management, HRG
• Zhibo Jin, Vice President, Green Tree Inns Hotel Management Group

Coffee Break

11:45 - 1:15pmSession 2

Integrated sales and marketing strategies

Online sales and marketing is the most cost effective and targeted means to selling travel products. However in China a large portion of a marketing spend still needs to be offline to be comprehensive. Aligning offline strategies with your online is essential for brand consistency and the success of an all encompassing marketing strategy.

• Achieving the best possible marketing mix - which channels will target your customers most profitably?
• Chinese consumers are the world´s biggest users of social networks. What new marketing possibilities does this create?
• Supplier website bookings grew by RMB 442 million in 2002, to 18.2 billion in 2007. Hear what types of services (and assurances) you must provide Chinese customers with, to cash-in on this lucrative channel
• As with the US 10 years ago, domestic air travel is fuelling online adoption. What flow on affects can we expect to start seeing for China´s other travel sectors?
• Search engine optimisation, email marketing, rich media, Web 2.0... What forms of marketing will entice the unique Chinese customer to purchase travel online?
• Hear the benefits of operating centralized marketing and distribution teams

• Aliana Ho, SVP Destination Marketing, Venetian Macau
• Jimmy Jia, Vertical Head of Travel, Google China
• Michael Chen, Vice President - Marketing, Jinling Hotels & Resorts
• Frank Zheng, Managing Director, Luxurious Travel Club

Lunch Break

2:30 - 4:00Session 3

Optimising your Agency-Supplier distribution relationships

Distribution and sales partnerships between agencies and suppliers have provided the basis for Chinese travel business. Times are changing, and the impacts of this will be felt by agencies nationwide as online bookings are expected to swell from 5% to 12% of total bookings by 2012. History suggests that the relevance of agencies suffers greatly when online bookings become mainstream, hear what this will mean for the Chinese industry.

• “Offline sales through agencies works fine for me. Why would I want to change?”
• What new facilities and non-traditional travel products should agencies offer to maintain their relevance to the consumer?
• What will the possibility of increased GDS competition mean for traditional agencies?
• To avoid damaging agency to supplier relationships, many suppliers are restricting their online marketing activities. Is there a way for agencies and suppliers to leverage off one another in an online world?
• Discover the cost benefits of driving consumers directly to your online booking engine. What content must your website contain for consumers to make a purchase?

• Xue Qiang, Vice President eCommerce, Travelsky
• Christina Siaw, CEO, Macau.com
• Ted Zhang, CEO, DerbySoft

4.00pm End of Conference