Senior decision makers from Europe’s, and indeed the world’s leading travel companies are preparing to meet at E-commerce for Travel Europe 2001, to be held from 2-4 April at the Palais des Congrès in Paris.
Despite the noticeable downturn in the American e-commerce market, European internet travel is booming,with a recent PhoCusWright report predicting that the European online travel market will more than triple in size from an estimated US$2.9 billion worth of gross bookings in 2000 to more than US$10.9 billion in 2002.
The event, now going into its fifth successful year, is generating a considerable amount of interest and the organisers, EyeforTravel, are predicting another sell-out with 400+ delegates expected.
Already over 150 attendees are signed up to hear industry specialists from companies such as British Airways, Lufthansa, Expedia, Priceline, ebookers.com, Starwood Hotels and Resorts, Ryanair, Lastminute.com, Sabre, Freeserve, Virgin, Amadeus and Gartner.
Conference proceedings begin on April 2, with opening keynote addresses from Simon Breakwell, International Managing Director, Expedia; Howard Millar, CFO, Ryanair and Volker Huber, VP Direct Online Sales, Lufthansa. The conference then splits into three vertical tracks focusing on The Marketing, The Technology and The Business, where a combination of hard-hitting case studies and interactive debates will tackle the key issues affecting the online travel industry.
Day 2 begins with three more keynote presentations from industry leaders Pat Gaffey, Head of eCommerce, British Airways; Dinesh Dhamija, CEO, ebookers.com; and Brian Pratt, VP eBuiness, Starwood Hotels and Resorts, after which the conference splits again. There will be particular focus on m-commerce in a unique horizontal stream flowing across the three tracks.
Running alongside the conference over both days, the free dedicated exhibition will allow delegates to meet with travel technology specialists and consultants to wise up on the latest developments, do business and form new partnerships.
On Wednesday 4 April, the event continues with a series of interactive workshops focusing on specific technology solutions, including M-Travel hosted by Siemens Mobile Travel Solutions, and Website Management hosted by Planetware.
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