Bench Events is organising a complete online conference to bring together industry leaders to discuss the unprecedented economic circumstances caused by the Covid-19 outbreak.

The event will address what the industry can do collectively to rebuild confidence.

The virtual conference will take place on April 7th from 10:00-16:00 BST and registration is free of charge for all participants.

However, an optional donation is requested to selected charities helping out those in the hospitality industry, suffering from the worst effects of the coronavirus.

Puneet Chhatwal, chief executive, Indian Hotels, said: “With Covid-19 sweeping across the globe, many companies in the hospitality industry are facing an unprecedented threat.

“As we will combat the pandemic much better united than divided, we all need to come together to share ideas.

“This meeting on the internet will set a great example of what we can do by thinking in a bold and imaginative way.”

Bench Events has lined up a stellar list of speakers, including: Paul Stoltz, the world’s leading expert and consultant on resilience and creator of the Adversity Quotient; Roger Bootle, the award-winning founder of Capital Economics; Najib Balala, cabinet secretary, ministry of tourism and wildlife, Kenya; Roger Dow, president of the United States Travel Association; and dozens of top executives from across the hospitality industry worldwide.

Topics on the agenda will cover the economics of coronavirus, how to survive the greatest adversity of our time, the nine essential leadership behaviours needed in a crisis, and the outlook to recovery.

Discussions will be moderated by the presenter of HARDtalk and conference chair, Stephen Sackur, and Anita Mendiratta, special advisor to the secretary general of the UNWTO.

State of the art video conferencing technology will be used to bring virtual main-stage panel sessions to an audience of up to 100,000 online participants.

The plenary debates will be complemented by more focussed roundtables, drilling into the detail of specific subjects.

People joining remotely will be able to ask questions and post comments in real time, using a live chat facility.

Jonathan Worsley, founder, Bench Events, concluded: “Devastating is the word most governments are using to describe the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on society and the economy.

“The sector that stands to suffer the most is travel and hospitality.

“Today, nothing is certain, except that our world will never be the same again. We need business leaders to come together to discuss the best strategies to cope with the immediate crisis and to plan how to capitalise on the recovery when it comes.

“That is what Hospitality Tomorrow will do.”

More Information

More information about the agenda, speakers and how to register can be found on the official website.