Brand USA Sponsors World Routes Tourism Summit in Chicago

Senior figures from the travel and tourism industry are signing up to speak at this year’s World Routes Tourism Summit which, sponsored by Brand USA for the second year running, will take place alongside World Routes in Chicago, 20-23 September 2014.

Building on the success of last year’s event the programme is attracting some VIP speakers to take part in the panel sessions with confirmations received, so far, from the likes of Ricky Skerritt, Minister of Tourism and International Transport for St Kitts and Nevis, Peter Cerda, RVP the Americas for IATA and Alfredo Gonzalez, Senior Vice President, Global Market Development, for event sponsors, Brand USA.

“The aviation system is a critical part of the global economy and essential to connecting people and places. At Brand USA, our mission is to increase the number of people who make the USA their number one travel destination - the vast majority of whom arrive by air. Through our participation in Routes, we are able to network with the right players that will help us and our partners build capacity to meet the increasing demand of the world’s travellers,” said Christopher L. Thompson, president and CEO of Brand USA, the destination marketing organisation for the United States.

Occurring on Monday, 22 September, the World Routes Tourism Summit is open to all attending delegates at the 20th World Route Development Forum which will take place in Chicago, Illinois, USA co-hosted by the City of Chicago Department of Aviation and Choose Chicago, the city’s tourism organisation.

Mike Miller Head of Content and Industry Relations for Routes highlights the importance of this event, saying, “The travel and tourism industry is expected to grow 4.3% this year and now supports 266 million jobs worldwide. We look forward to discussing these benefits in Chicago with the top tourism officials from around the globe.”

The Tourism Summit is the forum where senior leaders and key stakeholders come together to participate in a number of discussions covering topics affecting the tourism industry today. Key sessions include Global Tourism which will essentially look at how established destinations are re-positioning or investing to ensure they continue to grow alongside new destinations that are offering different opportunities and types of holiday to travellers. The session will investigate the ways in which destinations can grow visitor numbers and make predictions over future potential travel types.

The Future Patterns of Travel session will examine the move from travel agent to online in many markets, and the rise of new booking agents for flights and hotels. This discussion will also look at how social media and search engines are entering into the market and discuss the role which they will play.

Other confirmed speakers at the Tourism Summit so far include James Beresford, CEO of VisitEngland, Amit Rikhy, Senior Vice President of ADC & HAS Airports Worldwide and Vernice Walkine, President & CEO of Nassau Airport Development Company and Regional Executive, The Americas, Vantage Airport Group.

The 20th anniversary World Routes event will be held at Chicago’s McCormick Place, one of the largest convention facilities in the Western Hemisphere.