OpenTravel Alliance Finalizes Agenda for 2010 European Conference

Includes Leading Tourist Offices, Suppliers, Technologists

October 27, 2010– Boxborough, MA, USA – The OpenTravel Alliance, the travel industry’s leading distribution specification/standards development organization, has finalized the agenda for its event in London on November 10 2010, titled the “Evolution of Destination Distribution.”

“The destination industry must fully embrace eTourism – consumers and stakeholders are demanding it,” said keynote speaker Dimitrios Buhalis, IFITT President and Professor of Tourism at Bournemouth University. “Online providers of tourism products and services are proliferating globally, and destination and tourist organizations that take advantage of the emerging technologies and know how improve their competitiveness. This conference is timely, with a compelling set of speakers and topics to engage any player in the destination and etourism industry who needs to understand electronic distribution of tourism information and inventory.”

Speakers from across Europe include:

• Nick Hall, European Travel Commission/VisitEurope.com


• Andrew Daines, VisitBritain


• Hans Petter Aalmo, VisitNorway.com


• Gianni Cataldo, Datalex


• John Donnelly, JDA


• Laughlin Rigby, Travelshake


• Siri Wormnes, tellUs


• Richard Veal, new mind


• Alex Bainbridge, TourCMS


• Pedro Colaco, GuestCentric


• Fifi Pottier, WAYN


• Helena Egan, TripAdvisor

Immediately following the conference will be a drinks reception co-located with the Travel Technology Initiative/TTI with an ideas exchange moderated by Kevin May, editor of Tnooz. The conference is supported by the International Federation for Information Technology for Travel and Tourism (IFITT).

Click here to see the full conference agenda.


Event: OpenTravel Alliance 2010 European Conference

Date:
Wednesday November 10, 2010

Location:
The Kings Fund
13-15 Cavendish Square
London, W1G 0AN

Time: 10:00am-6:00pm, drinks reception immediately following

Cost:
OpenTravel Members – US$89
TTI, IFITT, ETOA, AITO – US$89
Non-Members – US$129
Drinks Reception/Ideas Exchange ONLY – US$35

About the OpenTravel Alliance

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. For more information, visit www.opentravel.org.