If you were born before 1970 and work in tourism, you probably have heard of Skål International, the oldest professional organization for Tourism professionals. More than 13,000 members are organised in about 350 Skål Clubs in 103 countries. If you are still a spring chicken below the age of 50, however, that might not be the case. Skål is still working successfully as an old boys network, but to judge from the homepage of their website, which still celebrates Visit Nepal Year 2020 as main international partner three months after it sadly had to be cancelled, online communication is not among the priorities of the association.

In recent years, Travel Massive, based in New York and Berlin, built – according to their own information – the world’s largest community for travel industry professionals with currently around 60,000 members in almost 300 cities. They combine online and offline (in virus-free times) events and rather target the younger demographics.

An approach neither based on nostalgia nor on party is represented by another global communication and networking platform for travel professionals. BUZZ.travel is working on becoming the biggest active online destination for travel professionals – both for companies and individuals. The organisers believe that a disruption in the travel industry is needed to make life easier for travel professionals.

At the end of this week, they will start the BUZZ.travel Digital Travel Expo, a five-day online event bringing keynote speakers, interviews and presentations together with one-to-one meeting opportunities and virtual booths. This expo is not the online cousin of a cancelled offline fair but had been planned as such already before CoViD-19 struck.

From June 29 thru July 3, great names like Tom Jenkins, Doug Lansky, Fiona Jeffery, and Dr. Walter Mzembi as well as old friends as David Ermen and Mikko Turtiainen and many more will all share their insights into the current situation and the way towards a hopefully brighter future.

Your humble editor will also have the honour to join the group of keynote speakers: On June 29 from 10:15 – 11:15 h (NY time) / 16:15 – 17:15 h (Berlin time) / 22:15 – 23:15 h (Beijing time) the topic will be Welcoming the New Chinese Outbound Tourists. Guest Relationships with Chinese visitors in the 2020s. On July 2, from 09:30 – 10:30 h (NY time) / 15:30 – 16:30 h (Berlin time) / 21:30 – 22:15 h (Beijing time) some practical tips to attract Chinese visitors for destinations on and off the Beaten Track will also be presented by me.

Participation is free, please join the Online Expo and visit the virtual booth of COTRI. There you will find a lot of information as well as a ready-to-download video interview with Dr. Rudy Snippe, a world-known expert in combining strategic innovation with organizational behaviour and founder of the Stocastic.World Institute. He will share in an interview with COTRI the methods of turning a crisis into an opportunity.

More information on: https://buzz.travel/digital-travel-expo/

As always, best wishes for all our readers from Prof. Dr. Wolfgang Georg Arlt and the COTRI WEEKLY team, stay healthy!

Archive >>