TRENDS - VIRTUOSO TRAVEL TECH SUMMIT GOES REGIONAL (United States)
As the programme for the 3rd Virtuoso Tech Summit has just been announced, let's dive into the first regional summit that concluded a successful Virtuoso Symposium in Dubai. |
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TRENDS - VIRTUOSO TRAVEL TECH SUMMIT GOES REGIONAL (United States)
As the programme for the 3rd Virtuoso Tech Summit has just been announced, let's dive into the first regional summit that concluded a successful Virtuoso Symposium in Dubai. |
Category: North America & West Indies / Carribean islands - United States - Industry economy
- Trends / Expert's advice - Tourism
Article written by Sonia Taourghi on 2024-07-11
 Matthew Upchurch, CEO of Virtuoso Travel opening the Travel Tech Summit in Dubai in May 2024
Photo credit © Sonia Taourghi / Journal des Palaces What's Virtuoso Travel Tech Summit?
The event is an opportunity to gather the audience for conversations around innovation and tech challenges, and provide unique insights on how the offline-online relationship creates endless possibilities for the travel industry.
Gilad Berenstein, an AI entrepreneur, venture capital investor and board member ofVirtuoso Travel, hosted and moderated the event, along with Sarah Schnierer, a tech influencer and product manager at Virtuoso Travel.
"The Virtuoso Travel Technology Summit concept came after years of observation that while there were many wonderful technology events in our industry, none were focused on the luxury sector and the travel agency, advisor, and manage travel segments of our industry," explains Gilad. "August 2022 was when we ran our first flagship summit in Las Vegas. We always envisioned bringing the summit on the road with us to highlight innovators from across the globe. We were thrilled to host the first regional tech summit in Dubai last month, to dive deep and learn from innovators in that region: their lessons for innovation and the incredible things they are building."
The event was organised around a regional spotlight, trends highlights, thought leadership conversations and a startup showcase. Here are some key takeaways.
Dubai, a technology hub
After an introduction by Matthew Upchurch, CEO of Virtuoso Travel, Gilad Berenstein took the stage to presentThemes & Trends to Watch in Travel Technology. Through a rational exuberance phenomenon, investments skyrocketed after COVID, leading to the rise of new luxury hospitality ventures, and startup funding with incredible ROI, sharing how AI took five days to reach one million users (Netflix took 1277 days). "Some global business would not have been possible before mobile phones, and the same is expected with AI."A fact that was to be proven in the later start-up showcase of the summit.
The Spotlight on Innovation in Dubai & UAE started withAida Al Busaidy, AVP Consumer Advocacy at Dubai Economy & Tourism. "The ruler of Dubai said the future belongs to those who can imagine it. Dubai was not built on oil and gas, so it had to diversify its activity early on. Today, we are comfortable being uncomfortable". As Dubai's "build it, and they will come approach" guided most of its expansion, it reported 17.5 million visitors in 2023 and is expected to smash that figure in 2024. With two-thirds of the global population within an eight-hour flight, an array of new visas to experience the city and the new airport plans recently unveiled, Dubai Economic Agenda D33 is at the forefront of any marketing effort, with primarily businesses and innovators welcomed with open arms.
Despite the corporate agenda, Mishal Kanoo, Co-Founder and Chairman of KAAF Investments, was keen on sharing a key aspect of his business philosophy. "I'm all for investing with a conscience. I don't want to make money by hurting people."
Clio Andriopoulos, Head of Innovation at Miral, a management company operating destinations and experiences in the regions, concluded the segment by affirming the attraction of sister city Abu Dhabi, and how the region is still catering to and extending its offer for leisure visitors.
Their passion for the region was to be seconded later by more speakers and leaders on stage.
Innovating for a new world
To kick off the innovation segment, Travis McElfresh, SVP, Digital and Consumer Products, presented the Virtuoso Innovation Spotlight to share his take on some current talking points regarding technology in hospitality. He notably confirmed "the power of first-party data, being the most direct and accurate data gathered with consent," and the integration complexity and data layer evolution being major challenges for the travel industry. In the quest for the ultimate personalised experiences and connected trips, his point resonates with the wider concerns around cybersecurity that have been leading the most recent tech ventures globally.
For a local view on local innovation, two investors, Bilal Baloch Partner at Shorooq Partners,and Jordan Bay, VP at Plug and Play Tech Center, shed light on what makes Dubai and the region such an attractive place for innovation. With 90% of people in the UAE being immigrants, and therefore a diversity of talents, the Middle East has the advantage of a network of locations that connect technology and innovation. The two tech leaders hailed the government's dynamism and favourable environment, previously mentioned by Aida Al Busaidy, but also emphasised the need for a proper business plan. "There might be a lot of liquid, but you need stakeholdership in the market. You need a serious thought and organic place in your business model for the region."
Echoing some of the earliest claims, Philippe Zuber, CEO of Kerzner International, branded Dubai and South Korea as the most innovative countries because of their risk-taking approach to innovation. During the Leading Innovator Fireside, he expanded on how "These are countries that are not afraid to make mistakes and learn from them. Also in Dubai, the ecosystem relieves stress and boosts creativity. There's a pride in being here."
Something that isn't heard much in technology, and that he was keen on defending, is the need to "protect creative people; give them a safe and protective space for creativity, for it to be properly guided, and taken to a higher and larger group."
His node offered the perfect segue to introduce the selected startups for the home-grown startups to shine.
Startups to watch and "AI in the Wild"
A big part of the summit was the Startup Showcase, featuring the following leaders, who all managed to make an impact on the audience in quick-witted presentations
Aamir Saleem, Eilago (Bahrain):an app that helps travellers save every time they travel.
Hanin Alsubaie, Ph.D., Darent (Saudi Arabia): a platform aiming at simplifying the holiday home rental process in Saudi Arabia.
Kristina Melsova, Atlaseek (Dubai): a platform connecting travellers to inspiring travel content creators.
Vijay Anand, Unravel (Haryana, India): an app inspiring travellers through curated creators' video.
Sultan Aswani, Spiders (Saudi Arabia): an app bringing e-bikes to Saudi Arabia.
Charaf El Mansou, DHARMA (Abu Dhabi): a platform that puts activities at the heart of the decision-making.
The summit ended with "AI in the Wild", a segment during which Courtney Scharf, Chief Client Officer at Trend Hunter, provided a live demo of how AI-generated product ideas, customisable reports and support can lead to travel trends and behaviour predictions.
To conclude the session, Janet Semenova, Co-founder of Boutique Travel Adviser, an award-winning Virtuoso travel agency, shared concrete applications of all those innovations, confirming that technology integration can offer more personalised services and smooth the booking experience.
The future of regional Summit
The summit provided a lot of food for thought, we'll make sure to follow all the startups featured and watch them grow in the upcoming years.
Gilad Berenstein couldn't be more thrilled about this first regional edition. "As Virtuoso Travel, we are fortunate that many of the top entrepreneurs and leaders in our industry have been excited to join us at our summits and to share the work they are doing as it related to the key innovation themes. While we are not ready to announce anything, yet we are very excited about the continued expansion of this initiative and of course are thrilled to host our third flagship summit this summer on August 10."
Let's see how this initiative grows and allows other regions to showcase themselves as hospitality innovation champions. In the meantime, Dubai confirmed itself, yet again, as a pioneering city for luxury customers. Until then, we'll catch up on the latest travel tech news during the 3rdTech Summit at Virtuoso Travel Week in Las Vegas from 10th to 16th August 2024.
 Gilad Berenstein leading the first segment of the Travel Tech Summit: "Themes & Trends to Watch in Travel Technology"
Photo credit © Sonia Taourghi / Journal des Palaces
 Aida Al Busaidy, AVP Consumer Advocacy at Dubai Economy & Tourism, and Sarah Schnierer, Product Manager at Virtuoso Travel, during the Travel Tech Summit
Photo credit © Sonia Taourghi / Journal des Palaces
 Mishal Kanoo, Co-Founder and Chairman of KAAF Investments, during the Travel Tech Summit
Photo credit © Sonia Taourghi / Journal des Palaces
 Clio Andriopoulos, Head of Innovation at Mira, during the Travel Tech Summit
Photo credit © Sonia Taourghi / Journal des Palaces
 Travis McElfresh, SVP, Digital and Consumer Products, presenting the Virtuoso Innovation Spotlight
Photo credit © Sonia Taourghi / Journal des Palaces
 Bilal Baloch, Partner at Shorooq Partners, and Jordan Bay, VP at Plug and Play Tech Center, during the Travel Tech Summit
Photo credit © Sonia Taourghi / Journal des Palaces
 Philippe Zuber, CEO of Kerzner International, during the Travel Tech Summit
Photo credit © Sonia Taourghi / Journal des Palaces
 Startup Showcase Participants during the Travel Tech Summit
Photo credit © Sonia Taourghi / Journal des Palaces
 Courtney Scharf, Chief Client Officer at Trend Hunter during the Travel Tech Summit
Photo credit © Sonia Taourghi / Journal des Palaces
 Janet Semenova, Co-founder of Boutique Travel Adviser, during the Travel Tech Summit
Photo credit © Sonia Taourghi / Journal des Palaces
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