Phocus-sing on innovation
The upcoming Phocuswright India will include a fast-paced pitch event called Travel Innovation Summit— partner workshops featuring some of the best known travel brands.
Digital Travel Summit APAC scheduled to kick off from April 12-14, 2016, in Singapore, will host over 70 VPs and directors from eCommerce and the digital industry from APAC’s leading airlines, hotels and online travel agents (OTAs). The Singapore, the Philippines, Japan, Korea, ANZ and the Middle East.
"The Summit focuses on how one can personalise customer engagements, leverage data analytics, capitalise on mobile and optimise your eCommerce platforms. We
Exclusive to this year's edition, attendees will be able to download an App that contains all information about the conference, he informs. "Users will also be able to connect with other users via the App. Also, as mobile and multi device is a hot topic in the digital travel industry, one of the days will be especially dedicated to discussing this particular topic."
Bhanushali adds that the Summit will address various strategies that are instrumental for success in the industry such as understanding how revenue can be doubled with the same amount of traffic, overcoming challenges like payment, language and connectivity barriers. Commenting on the Indian digital world, Bhanushali feels that the market is facing exponential growth and will continue to do so. He says, "With the eCommerce industry achieving an 88 per cent growth in India in 2013, I believe it is safe to say that digital travel in India will also continue to show growth in the next few years."
The first Phocuswright conference in the APAC region takes place from April 21-22 in Gurgaon and celebrates the Asia Pacific's market diversity, illustrates its propelling technology, and highlights the blurred lines between devices, channels and services.
Excited about the venture, Tony D’Astolfo, Managing Director, Phocuswright shares, "While we’ve had a strong presence in the region for many years, bringing our unique conference to a new audience is very exciting for us. We’re targeting between 250-300 delegates, but we can accommodate more if necessary."
Giving a preview of the upcoming event, Astolfo informs that it comprises three distinct parts. He says, "We start with the Travel Innovation Summit, a fast-paced pitch event that features 10 innovators from across the APAC region presenting to the Phocuswright Dragons, a panel of judges from the travel, investment and entrepreneur communities. The innovators vie for the Best in Show award as voted by the Dragons, or the People’s Choice, as voted by attendees. The second element of the conferences is our partner Workshops. These sessions feature some of travel's best-known brands sharing practical advice as they take it from theory to practice. Then we move to Center Stage, where we assemble senior executives from the world’s
He also feels that India is one of the biggest and fastestgrowing travel markets in the world, so the future is bright and filled with opportunity. "However, with opportunity comes challenges as well, and navigating in a growth market can be difficult. How are Indian consumers searching, shopping and buying travel? Will they follow the more established regions and move more of their buying online? How will smartphone and mobile Apps impact the market? Which companies will win, which might not? Our job at Phocuswright is to track the trends that are driving the industry to help our customers figure it all out, and the Indian market is one we will be tracking closely this year," he states.