Disruption and innovation take centrestage at ITB Asia 2018 conference

20 Jul 2018 2052 | World Travel News

The ITB Asia 2018 conference will take place at the Sands Expo and Convention Centre in Singapore’s Marina Bay Sands from October 17-19 with a focus on the major trends provoking disruption across the travel industry.

The opening keynote session on October 17 will be led by global leaders from Facebook, Microsoft and Trip.com. It will touch on the major technological changes driving disruption in the travel industry, such as the rise in global smartphone ownership, how organisations are evolving their business models to remain competitive and their vision for the future of the travel industry.

Global leaders will provide insights on the major trends driving change and transformation within the travel industry

The keynote addresses will be delivered by Nikhilesh Ponde, global head of travel strategy from Facebook; Shane O’Flaherty, global director of travel and transportation from Microsoft; and Xing Xiong, CEO from Trip.com.

Day two’s keynote will be a new intermediaries panel session with a focus on the future of travel distribution, given how OTAs, metasearch engines and new intermediaries are disrupting distribution.