OpenTravel Announces 2010 European Conference

The OpenTravel Alliance (OpenTravel), the travel industry’s leading distribution specification/standards development organization, will host its first destination-related event, scheduled for Wednesday 10 November 2010 in London titled The Evolution of Destination Distribution.

“Destinations and tourism providers, with their multiple stakeholders, compete for in-bound consumer attention in an increasingly crowded online world,” said Valyn Perini, executive director of OpenTravel.  “Consumers want knowledge and access, so DMOs and NTOs have had to evolve, moving from static brochure sites to interactive, real-time providers of information and inventory. It’s time for OpenTravel to explore that evolution, examining the roles of large and small suppliers, travel distributors and new distribution technology on inbound tourism, and the changing role of distributors and destinations.”

Sessions at the event include:

• State of the DMO/NTO Industry


• The Influence of Large Travel Suppliers on Inbound Tourism


• Trends in Destination Distribution


• The Role of the Tourism Board as Aggregator


• Empowering SMEs through Technology


• The Impact of Social Media on Customer Behaviour and Destination Distribution


• A facilitated Ideas Exchange for members of OpenTravel and TTI

Confirmed speakers include:

• Professor Dimitrios Buhalis, Bournemouth University, President IFITT


• Andrew Daines, Partnership Manager, VisitBritain


• Alex Bainbridge, Managing Director, TourCMS


• Pedro Colaco, CEO, GuestCentric


• Steven Wakeling, Global Head of Sales, WAYN


• Helena Egan, Sales Manager, Destination Marketing EMEA and Africa, TripAdvisor


• Cormac Whelan, CEO, Datalex


• Tim Wright, Commercial Director UK and Ireland, Travelport


• Peter Dennis, Chairman, Travel Technology Initiative

Event Details

• Date:  Wednesday 10 November 2010


• Time: 10:00am-6:00pm, immediately followed by drinks reception


• Location: The King’s Fund, 11-13 Cavendish Square, London, W1G 0AN


• Registration is open to members and non-members of OpenTravel


• Cost: US$89 for OpenTravel members, US$129 for all others


• Click here for online registration.

About the OpenTravel Alliance

The OpenTravel Alliance is passionate about solving the problems inherent with connecting multiple systems within the complex travel distribution arena.

OpenTravel's mission is to engineer specifications that make data transmission flow smoothly throughout travel, tourism and hospitality. OpenTravel creates, expands and drives adoption of open universal data specifications, including but not limited to the use of XML, for the electronic exchange of business information among all sectors of the travel industry. 

With a diversified membership representing influential names in all sectors of the travel industry, OpenTravel is comprised of representatives from airlines, car rental firms, hotels, cruise lines, leisure suppliers, service providers, tour operators, travel agencies, and trade associations. Thousands of OpenTravel message structures are in use, carrying tens of millions of messages between trading partners every day.

For more information, visit www.opentravel.org.