WIT-Web In Travel, Asia's leading travel distribution, marketing and technology conference, announced a new partnership with PhoCusWright Inc., the travel industry research authority on how travelers, suppliers and intermediaries connect, to formulate WIT 2008.

The programme —themed “Ideas. Execution. Action”—will delve into the transformation taking place in each segment of the travel industry—aviation, hospitality, travel retailing, corporate travel management, online travel agencies and destination marketing—and share case studies from leading companies.

The fourth annual event will take place October 21-22, 2008, in conjunction with the first ITB Asia, which is set for Singapore on October 22-24, 2008.

“WIT will work closely with PhoCusWright to deliver the best event to date,” said WIT producer Yeoh Siew Hoon. “With PhoCusWright's unparalleled expertise and knowledge in travel, tourism and hospitality, and ITB's trajectory to becoming Asia's largest travel exhibition, this year's event is guaranteed to be a true winner.”

“Since its founding in 1994, PhoCusWright has tracked, analyzed and opined on the myriad ways travelers, suppliers and intermediaries connect around the world,” commented PhoCusWright CEO Philip Wolf. “We are excited to bring these ideas to the forefront in Asia through this important partnership.”

“In developing the Asian travel market we are delighted to be working side by side with one of the world's leading providers of conventions and consultancy services for the travel technology sector,” said Messe Berlin Singapore Director Dr Martin Buck.

“Against the background of our joint success at the ITB Berlin, the collaboration with PhoCuswright provides a guarantee that Asian trade visitors in Singapore can expect to find the very latest industry topics presented in a highly professional and relevant manner. This is a very attractive asset to the conference programme, providing our customers with several good reasons for participating. No trade visitors should miss this combined event by these two successful and extremely competent conference organisers, WIT and PhoCusWright,” he said.

Speakers lined up

With four months to go, WIT 2008 has lined up a formidable list of speakers, including:

• Adrian Cheok, inventor of “Human Pacman” and professor who runs the Mixed Reality Lab at National University of Singapore, and who will appear as a WIT Guest Speaker at the ITB Asia Convention
• KP Ho, executive chairman, Banyan Tree Holdings
• Jim Donnelly, Pursuit Group Charlotte; co-founder, igougo
• Gordon Locke, vice president, airline marketing and strategy, Sabre Airline Solutions/Sabre Travel Network
• David Brett, president, Amadeus Asia Pacific
• Robert Bailey, president & CEO, Abacus International

New programming in place

New to the programme this year is “The Start-Up Pitch.” Entries from start-up companies are being collected prior to WIT, where three finalists will have the opportunity to make a five-minute pitch to a panel of investor judges. This panel will be led by William Liu, chairman, Stream Global, a business advisory and management consultancy firm focusing on Infocomm Technology SMEs in the Asia Pacific region.

The winner will be determined by audience voting and be awarded a Professional Development Program (PDP) scholarship worth US$2,000 from the Cornell-Nanyang Institute of Hospitality Management (CNI), as well as the opportunity to take their winning idea to the next level with the investor judges. A call for entries will be issued shortly.

Sponsors returning

Returning WIT sponsors include Amadeus Asia, Abacus International, Visa International, WORLDHOTELS, Pegasus Solutions and IFH Asia Pacific. New sponsors include Geek Terminal and CNN International.

WIT and ITB Asia are supported by the Singapore Tourism Board (STB).