More than 5,000 hospitality industry professionals have joined Hospitality Tomorrow, a free online summit, taking place today.

The event will examine the impact of the Covid-19 crisis on the hospitality industry.

The event features an impressive array of speakers, all giving their time free of charge to participate.

Highlights on the agenda include:

• Paul Stoltz, chief executive of Peak Learning and author of Adversity Quotient, discussing how we survive and craft our response in this moment of truth. He will also be interviewed by HARDtalk presenter, Stephen Sackur.
• Roger Bootle, chairman of Capital Economics, assessing the economic impact of Covid-19.
• Amr AlMadani, chief executive, royal commission for AlUla, and Puneet Chhatwal, chief executive, Indian Hotels Company, considering how to sustain growth through adversity.
• A top team from HAMA Global, representing over a million hotel rooms, sharing their experiences of the crisis from an asset management perspective.
• Minister Najib Balala, cabinet secretary, ministry of tourism and wildlife, Kenya, and Roger Dow, chief executive, United States Travel Association, exploring with Anita Mendiratta, special advisor to the secretary general, UNWTO, the creation of global coalitions readying for recovery.
• Olivier Jager, chief executive, ForwardKeys and Robin Rossmann, managing director, STR, talking to Nick van Marken, managing director, van Marken Limited, about spotting the green shoots of recovery.
• Andrew Sangster, owner, hotel analyst, evaluating the post-virus investment landscape with Desmond Taljaard, managing director, hotels, L&R, and Paul Slattery, director, Otus & Co.

In addition, there are breakout sessions featuring many more top executives, covering the prospects for adventure travel, crisis management tips from around the world, the post-corona age, the role of hospitality in community resilience and how to capitalise on the downtime.

Other popular conference activities will also be replicated online, including speed networking, which will give participants a series of three-minute one-on one-video calls with other delegates.

There will also be an on-line exhibition, where it will be possible to browse through virtual exhibition booths and engage in a live video conversation with a representative of the exhibitor.

Jonathan Worsley, founder of organiser Bench Events, said: “In difficult times, people have a burning desire to come together to figure out how to address the situation.

“As that is not possible in person, in just a couple of weeks, we have created the opportunity in cyberspace.

“I am excited to see thousands of industry leaders from around the world signing up to attend.”

Hospitality Tomorrow

Hospitality Tomorrow is organised by the global event organiser Bench Events, which has a long track record of delivering multiple premium hotel investment conferences and forums across Europe, the Middle East, Africa, Asia and Latin America.

Market leading annual conferences include the Arabian Hotel Investment Conference in Dubai, now in its 14th year, the Global Restaurant Investment Forum, the Saudi Arabia Hospitality Investment Conference and the Latin American Hotel & Tourism Investment Conferences.

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

Registration is free of charge, although an optional charity donation is requested.