2017 Conference Speakers

Atikah Amalina
Vice President - The Codette Project

Passionate about giving voice and agency to women, and living a mindful and purposeful life, Atikah seeks to inspire others to live focusing on purpose, authenticity, and giving back to society. Through her blog www.thetudungtraveller.com and Instagram account, she writes the story of the human spirit, her solo travels, and social advocacy, particularly from her lens as a Malay/Muslim woman. As the Vice-President of The Codette Project, she supports young minority women interested in tech. In addition to that, she teaches English and Literature in a secondary school.

Ike Anand
Vice President, Strategy and Business Development - Expedia group

Ike Anand serves as Vice President of Strategy and Business Development for Expedia group and is responsible for Brand Expedia Group’s global strategy. In this role, Anand creates and implements global strategies for Expedia’s Lodging, Air, Rail, Car and Packages businesses, and is responsible for exploring new business development opportunities for these products. He is also responsible for Analytics to support and optimize the business. His team manages relationships with various technology partners that enable and support the travel business. His experienced team also supports the supply partners, helping them reach and understand the buying patterns of the millions of consumers who shop for travel on Expedia booking sites across the globe.

Anand joined Expedia in 2006 to support its Air product reporting and analysis practices. He subsequently assumed responsibility for Transport Analytics which he led for 4 years. Before Expedia, Anand spent a few years at Sabre Holdings in various positions in Strategy, Pricing and Analytics.

Anand holds a Bachelors Degree in Economics from Delhi University, and an MBA from the Southern Methodist University.

Glenn Andrews
Managing Director, Asia - SiteMinder

Glenn has thrived in the digital industry for 15 years with cross-functional experience in travel, search, display and online distribution solution management. His extensive knowledge and professional background has seen him hold executive positions with international blue chip companies such as iSentia, Doubleclick and Yahoo!7 in Australia, before joining SiteMinder in early 2012 as the Sales and Marketing Director for APAC.

With significant experience introducing start-up business models into new markets, Glenn was subsequently tasked with the exciting opportunity to further expand SiteMinder’s global footprint. Relocating to Thailand, Glenn launched the regional office in Bangkok and since his appointment has been integral in bringing onboard over 2,500 hotels in South-East Asia.

Glenn’s success managing more than 34 staff is a direct result of his passion for providing quality leadership. His ability to mentor and support employees through best practice business principles has helped him to create high-performing teams, execute growth strategies and profit objectives. Glenn’s ethical business practices have cemented his position both within the company and in the view of his clients.

In his downtime, he enjoys playing tennis, golf, surfing, listening to music and – most recently – learning new languages! He is also an avid bonsai grower, having amassed a collection over the past 35 years.

Fazal Bahardeen
CEO and Founder - CrescentRating

Fazal Bahardeen is an Entrepreneur in the Muslim Lifestyle & Travel Space. He founded CrescentRating in 2008, along with the world’s first rating system to rate travel & tourism services for their Muslim friendliness. Currently, he overlooks three leading brands in the Halal travel segment; CrescentRating, HalalTrip and Muslim Travel, Warehouse. Prior to this, he held senior management roles at Alcatel-Lucent, based in Europe & Asia.

Nisha Barkathunnisha
Founder & principal consultant - Elevated Consultancy and Training

Nisha is the founder and principal consultant of Elevated Consultancy and Training. She is a management consultant, tourism/hospitality practitioner, corporate trainer and academic with more than 25 years extensive experience. Nisha provides strategic management/ marketing consultation and involved in human capacity building in emerging destinations. Nisha has been a keynote speaker, panellist, presenter and guest lecturer at conferences, exhibitions and in academic institutions. She is currently pursuing her PhD in the area of tourism. 

Fabian Bartnick
Vice President of Asia Pacific & International Business - LodgIQ

Fabian is the Vice President of Asia Pacific & International Business Development overlooking all aspects and operations within the region as well as the commercial part of LodgIQ. Fabian’s career covers all sides within hospitality including property, regional and corporate level roles as well as consulting and technology vendor roles across 4 continents and 25 countries. Fabian has helped built and apply price optimization, visual analytics and total revenue management tools across the globe and successfully turned around revenue performance in many companies by providing strategic consulting services as well developing powerful revenue analytics solutions that empower the business to maximize its revenue potential. Fabian has been on the Board of Directors for HSMAI South East Asa and currently sits on the HSMAI Advisory Board.

Buhdy Bok
President - Carnival Asia

As the President of Carnival Asia, Mr. Buhdy Bok’s major responsibility is to expand the Carnival Corporation’s growth and scale in Asia, supporting the company’s global development initiatives. Buhdy stations in Singapore, where the company’s Carnival Asia Headquarters.

Buhdy joined Costa in May 2011 as Vice President China. From January 2012, his role was extended to cover the rest of Asia Pacific region and he also received several promotions before being named President Costa Group Asia in October 2015. Under his leadership Costa grew the Asian business exponentially and developed Chinas as the number one source market for Costa Cruises.

Before coming to Costa, Buhdy spent 15 years in a distinguished career at Singapore Airlines, where he worked in a number of positions both at the company’s head office in Singapore and abroad. This included responsibilities for the Eastern China’s Shanghai and Jiangsu markets. More recently, he managed the airline’s Italy business whilst based in Milan.

Buhdy obtained his Master of Business Administration from Duke University (Fuqua School of Business) in the United States. He also holds an accountancy degree from Nanyang Technological University in Singapore and a law degree from University of London

Thomas Bömkes
Managing Director - Diversity Tourism GmbH

Thomas Bömkes, Managing Director of Diversity Tourism GmbH in Munich, Germany. A consulting and marketing agency, specialized in the development of strategies for destinations and other tourism suppliers in different tourism segments worldwide. Since 2012, the agency is also the LGBT consultant partner for ITB Berlin, ITB Asia and the ITB Academy. The company also operates the online travel portal TomOnTour.com. After graduating at Munich’s University with a Masters degree in economics in 1996, Bömkes worked as a marketing consultant since then in different positions. He has also been a member of the board of directors of the International Gay & Lesbian Travel Association (IGLTA) from 1999 – 2009.

Damien Brosnan
Programme Manager - The Code

Damien manages The Code’s global secretariat, based in Bangkok and with members across the globe. He works with local NGOs, UN agencies and the private sector to raise awareness and promote action on child protection in travel and tourism. He has worked with The Code since 2015, following roles with Care/UNICEF working on emergency relief.

Chris Cammann
Chief Digital Officer - Hybrid News

After graduating from the University of the West of England, with a BA Hons in Business & IT, Chris joined Hargreaves Lansdown working on Technical Projects. Implementing his digital knowledge and learning from the senior team, Chris worked on data, security, marketing and digital advertising projects.   Chris joined Hybrid News in 2013 and has been pivotal in the development of our web assets. Overseeing the redesign of our websites, the creation of our own in-house analytics tool ‘Campaign Hub’ and driving the advertising strategy across social media channels, taking our readership to over 6 million people per month. 

Kristy Castleton
CEO - SmarTag Calyx Asia

Kristy Castleton is the CEO of SmarTag Calyx Asia, founder and MD of brand experience agency Rebel & Soul and MD of Quintessentially Singapore. Kristy’s vision is to drive consumer experience technology to be the new frontier of marketing in Asia. She blends her passion for neuroscience and technology to create immersive and seamless temporary and permanent user experiences for rights holders, venues, brands and agencies.

Kristy developed a soon to be patented process called INVOLVE which she launched on Richard Branson’s Necker Island. The neuroscience based process ensures that each user experience, no matter how small or large, is memorable. The process has been tested and proven in the live event space with clients such as Heineken, HSBC, Chanel and Dentsu. It’s ground-breaking neuroscience based technology application like this that placed Kristy as one of only two founders in the prestigious Campaign Asia Women to Watch list 2016.

Felix Chan
Vice President of Sales Asia - Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings

Felix Chan began his role as the Vice President of Sales Asia for Norwegian Cruise Line when he joined the company in November 2015. Soon thereafter in October 2016, Felix was promoted to Vice President of Sales Asia for Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings (NCLH)- encompassing Norwegian Cruise Line, Oceania Cruises and Regent Seven Seas Cruises. He is responsible for sales and operations of all 3 brands in Asia.

Prior to joining Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings, Felix was the Travel Trade Sales Director for Hong Kong Disneyland Resort. Before that, he was in the MICE industry and held multiple management positions within the Hong Kong Trade Development Council, including Manager of Sales at Exhibitions, Director of Tokyo and Osaka Branch Offices, as well as Regional Director of Northern China based in Beijing.

Felix graduated from the University of Hong Kong and Peking University in Beijing.

Sharon Chen
Corporate Director of Revenue Management - Montigo Resorts Pte Ltd

Sharon is a Revenue strategist who partners with company Executives to formulating winning Revenue and Distribution strategies in the most effective and efficient manner. After spending nearly a decade working in Revenue Management with international hotel  chains and boutique life style hotels, Sharon knows what truly drives Revenue Growth, Distribution and channel efficiency. Sharon has landed her first Revenue management career with Intercontinental Hotel Group, subsequently with Ascott Group, Four Seasons Hotels and Resorts and now she is Corporate Director of Revenue Management for Montigo Resorts Pte Ltd. Her portfolio includes both Business hotel and luxury resorts in APAC region. Sharon is a Certified Revenue Management Executive by Hotel Sales and Marketing Association International (HSMAI) in the United States, she obtained her Master degree from University of Nevada, Las Vegas with a stunning Scholarship from Singapore Workforce Development Agency.

Limin Cheng
Director of Revenue and Distribution Management, Marina Bay Sands 

With more than 10 years’ experience and an unwavering passion for the hospitality industry, Limin is thankful to be in a career that marries the thrills of revenue management with the dynamism of a mega-hotel/integrated resort.

Having been a blessed beneficiary of wonderful mentors throughout her career, she is most interested in nurturing and mentoring revenue and distribution professionals of the future. 

Robin Chiang
Senior Country Manager, APAC - Kayak

Robin is the Senior Country Manager, APAC, at KAYAK where he oversees the growth and business strategy across Greater China, Southeast Asia and Australasia regions.

Prior to KAYAK, Robin was senior corporate finance professional, having been appointed as Partner and Managing Director in a number of leading private equity and venture capital funds in Asia. He started his career as a management consultant at Boston Consulting and investment banker at Morgan Stanley.

Robin holds a Bachelor of Electrical Engineering and Bachelor of Laws from the University of Melbourne. He also holds an MBA from the University of Chicago Booth School of Business. He is a qualified lawyer in Australia.

Nigel Wong Chun Teim
Honourary Secretary General - MATTA

A trained software engineer specializing in business systems development, software development methodologies and network security. Got involved in the travel industry while working in Australia developing one of the most popular and active online adventure travel sites promoting self-drive and outback excursions.

Returned to Kuala Lumpur in 2009 and formed an agency to promote eco-tourism and adventure travel in the digital space. Current projects include producing video content and new marketing solutions for the travel space.

Became a Member of the Executive Council of MATTA (Malaysian Association of Tour and Travel Agents) in 2013 serving initially as the VP for Research & Technology and, in the last two years, as the associations Honorary Secretary General.

Has a passion to see the travel industry especially in the ASEAN region grow especially through the smart adoption of technology, through liberalisation and development of skilled human capital.

Benjamin Coleman
Manager, Global Security and Travel - DistributionNOW

Benjamin Coleman is a security risk professional with nearly 15 years of experience in both the public and private sectors. As the Manager, Global Security and Travel for DistributionNOW, he is responsible for both the Global Security and Corporate Travel Departments.
Benjamin develops and implements processes and procedures designed to measure and mitigate security risks. He is the founder of the Coleman Contingency, a security consulting firm that assists clients with the development, implementation and maintenance of Crisis Management, Global Security and Travel Risk Management programs.
Mr. Coleman is a leader in the security and travel risk industries and has been acknowledged for his exceptional performance in process improvements, change management and facilitation of multiple projects while ensuring compliance.
Benjamin earned a Bachelor of Science in Criminal Justice from Florida A&M University, a Master of Security Management from the University of Houston-Downtown and is a proud member of the Omega Psi Phi Fraternity, Inc.

James Craven
Managing Director - Hybrid News

 James has 20 years working in the media running businesses based in Sydney, Beijing, Bangalore and New York.  He was previously the CEO of a web publishing and events group, growing revenues from £7M – £20M during his four years in charge.  James started Hybrid News in 2009 because of his passion for news, geopolitics and digital media and the gaps he saw in regional reporting.    

Sarah Dart
Director of Sales, APAC - Chrome River

Sarah is the Director of Sales, APAC for Chrome River. Based in Sydney, Australia, Sarah is responsible for driving B2B sales growth and managing Chrome River’s growing client base across the Asia Pacific region. She helps clients transform the way they manage their business spend by leveraging mobile technologies and data to drive success through visibility and accountability.

Sarah has more than 12 years of experience in sales leadership and operations across technology and corporate travel industries, and joined Chrome River to open the APAC office in response to the growing demand in the region. Prior to Chrome River, Sarah worked with a UK technology company helping leading businesses improve operational efficiencies using mobile apps, enterprise and SaaS workflow technologies. She also managed corporate clients and business operations for a Sydney-based TMC.

Sarah has a Bachelor of Business from the University of Technology Sydney. 

Francesco De Marchis
Chief Technology Officer – JacTravel

Francesco joined JacTravel in 2016 as Chief Technology Officer, assuming overall responsibility for the Technology Division and leading a team of over 50 IT professionals across a number of locations worldwide. Here he is driving an innovative technology roadmap to further enhance JacTravel’s position in the travel and hospitality arena. Francesco is a highly-qualified IT professional and has worked for many years in the travel industry, heading up the technology departments for some of the leading names including Orbitz, Travelport and Low Cost Travel. Francesco has a degree in Electrical Engineers and Computer Science from University of Rome. Francesco lives in North London with his wife and 2 sons.

Gil Don
CEO and Co-founder - Splitit

More than 25 years’ experience in management, business development, sales and marketing in various industries. Mostly dealt in international business with numerous customers worldwide, from merchants to large scale corporations. He have extensive experience with developing e-commerce and e-business enterprises, management, finance, sales methodologies, marketing digital and conventional.

Jackie Douglas
President - HSMAI Asia Pacific

Since 2014, Jackie has been transforming HSMAI Asia Pacific into a sustainable industry association helping the Hospitality industry to learn and grow alongside continuous disruption. Jackie is an experienced non-executive Director and a business strategist with over 15 years’ experience creating and improving digital products and face-to-face sales and service procedures to improve customer experience in the travel and hospitality industries.

Jackie is passionate about creating the best quality customer experience on consumer and mobile sites, in contact centres, and apps. She is highly experienced in leading multi-channel product strategy, website development, online distribution, channel management, customer experience definition and development, mobile strategy development, social media, launching existing online products in new markets, business process automation, system implementation and program/ project management.
In 2016, Jackie created a digital strategy roadmap for Mantra Hotels group and sat on the Executive Team at Mantra advising them through a major restructure and focus on modernising their digital platforms.

Huilian Duan
VP Sales & Marketing - Maritim Hotels APAC

Huilian Duan is the VP Sales & Marketing for Maritim Hotels APAC, the largest ownermanaged hotel group in Germany. Huilian directs all marketing and sales strategies, overseeing consumer and field marketing activities, and advertising & public relations in APAC region. Huilian also oversees critical user experience improvements to the brand booking channels, and strengthens the strategic partnership with all major global distribution players in the region.

Huilian is an active member and leader for ACTE and HSMAI. She served as the Asia Council for ACTE Asia from 2014 to 2017, and also serve HSMAI Greater China region as the President since 2016.  

Scott Duane
Senior Director – APAC - eNett International

Scott has extensive experience in business development, commercial and strategic roles across number of industries. Scott is an internationally experienced sales executive acknowledged for developing new and existing regions with innovative sales strategies.

Having worked in the travel industry for the past 5 years, Scott is now regarded as an industry expert in the travel payment space with broader experience and knowledge of travel industry bodies, industry automation solutions and online sales systems. During his time at eNett he has worked closely with leading travel companies in the region to simply the complexities of their payments with more efficient and streamlined payment solutions.

Enrique Esguerra 
General Manager - Esgala Travel & Tours

• ASEAN MASTER TRAINER/ASSESSOR
• AUTHOR/REVIEWER – TESDA (Technical Education
• and Skills Development Authority) TR-TS/TO/GUIDING
• ACCREDITED PROFESSIONAL TOUR GUIDE – DOT PHILIPPINES Since 1996
• LECTURER / TRAINOR / SPEAKER

Faeez Fadhlillah
CEO and Co-founder, Tripfez

Faeez Fadhlillah is the CEO and Co-founder of Tripfez & Salam Standard, an innovative , state of the art travel portal dedicated to the rise of global Muslim travelers.

Named as one of Forty Individuals Who Shaped Southeast Asian E-Commerce By EcommerceIQ,
Faeez is also an avid speaker at many international travel conferences and seminars and previously chairs the R&D committee of the Malaysian Association of Tour & Travel Agents (MATTA). Faeez was elected as Vice President of MATTA, Malaysia’s largest travel association for the term 2015 -2017 and currently serves as the Deputy Honorary Secretary General for the term 2017-2019 as well as the executive board of the Pacific Asia Travel Association (PATA).

Faeez was named 30 under 30 by Forbes magazine in 2016, 40 Under 40 by Prestige, Top 10 Young Entrepeneur Rising by Top 10, People To Watch 2016 by TTG as well as the Most Innovative Young Leaders Award 2016 by UCSI.

Heading the brand of Tripfez and Salam Standard, Faeez advocates the concept of localizing the travel experience through information enabling travellers to make an informed decision. He has been featured in major publication including BBC, CNBC, Forbes, TTG, etc.

Faeez works very closely with various Destination Marketing Organization (DMO) as well as travel stakeholders including hotels to promote the concept of localization of travel an inclusive travel experience. Faeez graduated from the University of Sydney with first class honors from the School of Engineering.

Jafles Fernandes Pacheco 
Global Category Leader Travel & Professional Services - Oerlikon

Douglas Gan
Founder and CEO - Vanitee

Douglas Gan 颜義东 is the co-founder and chief executive officer of Vanitee, and additionally serves as a co-founder and director of iFashion Group. He is also an angel investor investing in startups in Southeast Asia.

Between 1997 and 2016, he founded 5 companies which are all sold to MNCs.

His accolades include being named as SCS Young Professional of The Year, Top 25 Outstanding Alumni Award in Technopreneurship at the Ngee Ann Poly’s 50th Anniversary

Gabriel Garcia
Senior Director, Head of Marketing and Channel Strategy APAC – Expedia

As part of the Asia management team, he is responsible for defining Expedia’s marketing channel strategy and identifying growth opportunities for Brand Expedia in the region. Prior to this role, Gabriel was Senior Director of Strategy and Business Development.

Prior to joining Expedia, Gabriel spent six years at Newscorp in Australia holding several roles, including Product and Strategy Director, Director of Strategy and National Sales Director for Newscorp’s joint venture with Monster.com. Prior to this, he was Managing Director of the Latin American subsidiary of Monitoring Systems Technology, a leading European technology provider for the outdoor media industry.

Originally from Mexico City, Gabriel holds an MBA from Macquarie Graduate School of Management, specialising in Business Strategy; a Bachelor in Business Administration from ITAM University in Mexico City and studies at Hogeschool Voor Economische Studies (University of Amsterdam).

Mikhail Goh
CEO and Co-founder - Have Halal Will Travel

Mikhail is the CEO and co-founder of Have Halal, Will Travel (HHWT), a travel and lifestyle portal with a monthly global reach of 8.6 million Muslims in Southeast Asia and beyond. 

Headquartered in Singapore, HHWT is redefining the Muslim market with highly shareable travel and lifestyle content. HHWT offers innovative advertising and advisory solutions for governments and leading brands to tap into the multi-billion dollar Islamic economy. HHWT’s in-house creative and technology teams work closely with clients such as the Korean Tourism Board, Qatar Airways and Nestle to craft compelling stories curated for the Muslim audience. Have Halal, Will Travel (HHWT) is probably the largest travel & lifestyle portal for Muslims in Southeast Asia.

Mikhail is a specialist in the area of digital marketing and search engine marketing. His background in marketing coupled with his deep understanding of the Muslim segment gives him a unique perspective of the industry. Have Halal, Will Travel is Mikhail’s third venture. His vision is for HHWT to foster peace and understanding between Muslims and non-Muslims through travel.

Rajeev Goswami
Co Founder & CEO / Member , Industry Advisory Council - WW Stay/ GBTA Foundation

Rajeev is a Cofounder and CEO of WWStay. WWStay is a Corporate Global Accommodation Provider with a focus on Extended Stay and Project Travel. WWstay works with Serviced Apartment  and Hotels in more than 170 countries. 

Earlier in his professional career , Rajeev spent more than 20 years in the corporate world in technology field.  He was CEO of Computer Associates JV in India and General Manager in IBM India. His  own experiences as global corporate traveller led him to start WWstay 5 years ago. 

Rajeev is involved with GBTA in USA for last 4 years. He is very passionate about the emerging segment of Extended Stay and Serviced Apartment/Corporate Housing.  WWStay has been supporting GBTA foundation for the past 3 years  and has sponsored 2 research studies in the area of extended stay. Rajeev is part of Industry Advisory Council of GBTA Foundation and a member of the India Advisory Board of GBTA.

Vadim Grabarchuk
President - BTA Ukraine

In tourism industry since 1995. In business travel and MICE industry since 2001. Founder an industry professional organization Business Travel Association of Ukraine (BTA Ukraine), initiator and co-founder of a city marketing body Kyiv City Convention and Visitors bureau. Owner of a company tour operator France Groupe Tourisme. A board member of a public council for tourism at Tourism Committee in Parliament of Ukraine.  An expert for South East Asian market for widen a cooperation with Eastern European market.

Graeme Ham
Vice President Talent & Culture – Malaysia, Indonesia and Singapore - AccorHotels

Previously, AccorHotels’ Director of Human Resources for the New Zealand, French Polynesia, and Fiji region, a position he held for 15 years.  Graeme’s Regional HR management experience includes 12 years with Southern Pacific Hotel Corporation (now IHG), where he spent 2  years in Australia, 6 years in South East Asia and 4 years in New Zealand.

Transferred back to South East Asia in mid-2014 and in his current role for AccorHotels, Graeme leads Talent & Culture initiatives in 3 countries – Malaysia, Indonesia and Singapore where there are currently over 140 hotels, over 18,000 employees and more hotels to open during 2017.

Graeme is passionate about developing Talent for the future of AccorHotels and the hospitality industry “there is nothing more gratifying than seeing that intern years later as an industry leader” 

Diego Herrera
Co-Founder, CEO - Zebra Design SD

Since 2006 Diego and his team have been creating engaging Sales & Marketing products for the Hospitality Industry, featuring MICE sector leading software Virtual Planner®, VPlite®, and VPViewer™ — Interactive 3D Meeting Planning solutions that combine the use of state-of-the-art 3D graphics with cutting-edge VR/AR technology, improving event venue booking experience. Diego is responsible for the business and product development of the company.

Diego developed his entrepreneurial skills from a young age founding his first company Crepes4Kids (kids party food company) when he was 15, his first experience in hospitality came years later when he worked as a sales executive in RCI. His studies include Advertising, 3D animation for featured films, and multimedia.

Paul Hewett
Client Service Director – In Marketing We Trust

As an experience digital and data strategist, Paul has been earning a pay cheque from data-driven digital marketing since 2004, working with leading global travel brands, delivering business growth, winning awards, and leading expert industry groups.

As a strategist, Paul combines insights from research and analysis with creativity and technology to optimise business performance. Typically, this process involves working with leaders across a business to explore, define and deploy digital solutions which will underpin business success, and ultimately, lead to an increase in bottom-line performance.

Paul’s commercial experience began at age 28 with the MBO of a data and research business employing more than 120 people in the UK. His experience as an executive and non-executive company director has provided a strong set of business leadership skills which have been leveraged in his role at In Marketing We Trust, resulting in a YoY growth of >160%.

Paul has worked with clients including Airbus, Expedia, Ebookers, ClubMed, Visit Wales, Gumtree, Coca-Cola, l’oreal, BBC, Macmillan Cancer, Save the Children, Britishland Company, Tesco, Aldi, Lidl, Confused.com, Money.co.uk and many more.

Andrew Hinshelwood
Vice President, Client Solutions APAC & EMEA  - Lonely Planet

Andrew Hinshelwood is Vice President, Client Solutions for APAC & EMEA at Lonely Planet – one of the world’s leading and most influential multi-media travel companies. He leads Lonely Planet’s Client Solutions team across the Asia-Pacific, Europe & Middle Eastern markets.

Lonely Planet’s Client Solutions team works with partners on a range of unique sponsorship opportunities, helping them reach passionate travellers by integrating them within the Lonely Planet experience across a portfolio of digital, video, print and social channels.

Previously Andrew has worked in media sales roles in Australia, Japan & the United Kingdom, including at Sky Media and Microsoft. 

Lonely Planet is a leading travel media company and the world’s number one travel guidebook brand, providing both inspiring and trustworthy information for every kind of traveller since 1973. Over the past four decades, we’ve printed over 145 million guidebooks and grown a dedicated, passionate global community of travellers. You’ll also find our content on lonelyplanet.com, mobile, video and in 14 languages, 12 international magazines, armchair and lifestyle books, ebooks, and more. Visit us at lonelyplanet.com and follow us on Facebook (facebook.com/lonelyplanet), Twitter (@lonelyplanet), Instagram (Instagram.com/lonelyplanet) and Snapchat (@lonelyplanet).

Annette Horschmann
Founder - Tabo Cottages

After finishing law studies in 1992, Annette fell in love with Lake Toba in Indonesia. Together with her local husband, she founded Tabo Cottages in 1994. Her continous effort to clean up Lake Toba and the surrounding environment led to a high media exposure and created awareness as a living example for the locals.

As the chairwoman of the Hotel and Restaurant Association, she is working on a clean environment and organic farming projects, and continously develop information for tourists and promotion for Lake Toba. She is currently involved in the Geopark development of the Geopark Caldera Toba, in the creative economy division, empowering locals through business opportunities within tourism.

 Mamoun Hmedan
Managing Director - Wego

Mamoun Hmedan joined Wego in 2013 as Manager, Media Sales for MENA, playing a pivotal role in establishing Wego’s media business, while launching Wego’s Private Advertising Marketplace. Promoted to General Manager, Wego MENA in April 2014, Hmedan continued to scale the media business while developing key commercial partnerships. In 2015, Hmedan’s assumed the position of Managing Director, Wego MENA and India, and leads a growing commercial team from Wego’s Dubai headquarters, now the largest travel marketplace in the region.

Jeannette Ho
Vice President, Raffles Brand & Strategic Relationships -AccorHotels Luxury Division

Jeannette Ho is the Vice President, Raffles Brand & Strategic Relationships for AccorHotels Luxury Division, and will lead the Global Brand Strategy for Raffles Hotels & Resorts, and play an active role as brand ambassador with our owners, development teams, luxury media and luxury sales. Under Strategic Relationships, Jeannette is responsible for building collaborative partnerships with other luxury hospitality companies, such as Banyan Tree. Jeannette joined Raffles in 2005, and has held leading roles in Brand Marketing, Customer Analytics, Distribution and Revenue Management with Raffles and FRHI. As VP Marketing for Raffles, she played an instrumental role in the transformational openings of Raffles Dubai, Raffles Beijing during the 2008 Olympics and Raffles Le Royal Monceau in Paris. Previously, she held various key senior positions across commercial areas in product development, revenue management, distribution, digital marketing and CRM, in international companies such as Singapore Airlines, Banyan Tree and Starwood Hotels & Resorts. Jeannette holds a 1st class honors degree from the London School of Economics, University of London, and was awarded both the British High Commission’s Award and the prestigious Singapore Airlines Scholarship. Over the years, Jeannette has co-authored several papers on revenue management with leading services and revenue management professors from Cornell University and National University of Singapore. And is an active speaker at hospitality and pricing conferences, and guest lecturer at various universities in Singapore.

Sean Howell
Founder & Chairman – Hornet Gay Social Network

Sean Howell is the Founder and Chairman of Hornet, one of the largest gay social networking apps in the world with more than 24 million members worldwide—known for its ongoing Know Your Status HIV campaign.  Sean has been a fellow of the World Affairs Council, a trustee on their board, and served as the President of the Young Professionals International Network.  He graduated from Pacific Lutheran University with a degree in economics and later worked in East Africa and China.   Howell has been an international speaker on mobile technology, the future of advertising, LGBT issues and his opinions on technology and LGBT issues have appeared in print in places like the NYT.  Sean is an active member of Startout, the leading LGBT technology non profit, is a mentor to other LGBT startup founders, and served on various non profit boards and committees like PFLAG, UNAIDS, E-CDC,   Https://hornetapp.com

Michal Hubschmann
CEO and Founder  - Vdroom

Michal Hubschmann is an Israeli entrepreneur who was an professional athlete all her life. Her biggest achievement was winning an European championship in long jump. After her sport career and serving the Israeli army, she studied hotel management and worked in several significant hotels in Tel-aviv and London. She founded her first company, Easytobook.com – an online booking reservation system, in 2004 in the Netherland. Michal sold this first company in 2011 to one of the largest travel companies in the world- BCD Travel. At that time, the company had 80 employees and a turnover of EUR 100 mil.

After 2 years full of challenges and research and development, she set up her second company in August 2014, called RelevancyData.com, based in the Netherland, where she was selected for a startup accelerator program – Starupbootcamp.org. Her experience within the entrepreneurial world encouraged her to strive to inspire more women to actively take part in the startup environment.
In 2015, Michal successfully presented RelevancyData in several pitching contests such as MIP-TV in France, TechCrunch – Disrupt in USA, Polar Bear pitching in Finland and Festival of Media Global in Italy.

Michal Is one of the International Circle of Influencers at Start up Delta. Start Up Delta is a governmental initiative to support the Dutch government to improve the start up ecosystem .
Mission Statement Special Envoy Neelie Kroes for StartupDelta: Europe’s best connected and largest ecosystem

Fran Hughes
Director - International Tourism Partnership

Fran Hughes is Director of the International Tourism Partnership (ITP). ITP is a global industry organisation, bringing together the most powerful hotel companies in an alliance focused on a single ambition: to lead the industry through example with clear and quantifiable commitments to improved sustainability. ITP believes that the hotel industry can be a force for good and make a positive contribution to the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals and to the COP21 climate agreements and that bigger impacts can be achieved faster through the industry working together at scale. ITP’s collaborative work focuses around four critical goals on carbon, water, youth employment and human rights.

ITP works with its members to drive continual improvement through promoting and sharing best practice through its online magazine www.greenhotelier.org, offering a range of practical products and programmes, such as the Hotel Carbon Measurement Initiative (HCMI) – developed in partnership with the World Travel & Tourism Council; and setting the agenda on sustainability through collaborative working groups and issues management. ITP’s award-winning youth employability programme, the Youth Career Initiative has helped over 4,000 disadvantaged young people start careers in the hotel industry. Fran has over 25 years’ experience in the tourism industry and holds a Master’s in Environmental Strategy.

Stewart Hunter
Director of Audience Strategy and Development - Sojern

Stewart Hunter oversees Sojern’s data strategy, acquisition, and partnerships across Asia Pacific as Director of Audience Strategy and Development. Prior to joining Sojern, Stewart was helping brands take advantage of another rapidly growing area of digital – mobile. As Regional VP at Somo he led the Asian business for one of the world’s fastest-growing mobile marketing solutions companies, helping travel brands such as Expedia take advantage of the opportunity.

Shiho Ikeuchi 
Director Overseas Marketing  - Hotel Granvia Kyoto 

Ms. Shiho Ikeuchi, Director of Overseas Marketing at the Hotel Granvia Kyoto, Japan, has over 20 years of professional experience in the hospitality industry, with an extensive and diverse management background in hotel and restaurant operations, sales, and marketing. Over the past few years, Ms. Ikeuchi has been aggressively involved in the development of LGBT tourism in Japan, and steadfastly works to increase the number of national IGLTA (International Gay & Lesbian Travel Association) members. 

In coordination with her team at the Hotel Granvia Kyoto, Ms. Ikeuchi was instrumental in creating the ‘Same-Sex Wedding Package’ in March 2014. At present, same-sex marriage is not legally recognized in Japan, and the number of wedding venues that accept ceremonial same-sex couples is very limited. As the direct result of Ms. Ikeuchi’s keen insight and continuous efforts, Hotel Granvia Kyoto was the very first hotel in Japan to officially announce the acceptance of same-sex weddings – a true feather in the cap of the hotel that has been highlighted by numerous international and domestic media outlets. This exclusive three-night package offers LGBT couples from around the world a rare opportunity to experience an authentic traditional Japanese wedding, and it  attracts not only international travelers but also domestic couples in Japan. 

In her role as the Director of Overseas Marketing, Ms. Ikeuchi’s unwavering focus towards attracting and satisfying the special needs of LGBT travelers, as well as her tireless efforts towards organizing the involvement of local communities and governments – are talents that are truly deserving of exceptional applause. 

Muhammed Iqbal bin Rahman
Student- National University of Singapore

Ender Jiang
Founder - Hiverlab

A futuristic storyteller, techno-philosopher, and life explorer, Ender has always been exploring how to create unique storytelling experiences via cutting-edge technologies. During his extensive career in the creative industry, Ender has made short films about urban lifestyle, social challenges, and concepts of future cities. Using various technologies such as augmented reality (AR), virtual reality (VR), Holographic, and mapping projection, he has developed his philosophy behind each technical solution, so as to create meaningful interactions through his professional work and personal experimental projects. Ender is the founder of ifcity.org., an independent project aiming at sharing visions of change-makers from various industries and cultivating collaborative evolution of the cities, and more recently, Hiverlab, a local start-up he founded which focuses on VR storytelling experiences.

Hunter Johnson
Director – Sabre Global Consulting Asia-Pacific

Hunter Johnson is the Director of Sabre Global Consulting Asia-Pacific, the professional services offering of choice for leading travel companies looking to take their business performance to the next level.

Hunter believes independent assessments performed by subject matter experts with knowledge of industry benchmarks and best practices are an invaluable management resource. These assessments drive strategic recommendations that improve financial performance through operational cost savings and incremental revenue opportunities. His breadth of experience includes advising senior leaders from over 25 different countries.

Hunter holds a Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Texas and began his career as a consultant at Deloitte Consulting and IBM Global Business Services.

Stephanie Jones
Director & Head of Client Management ASEAN – American Express Global Business Travel (GBT)

For over 25 years Stephanie Jones has managed to use her passion for people and travel to carve a successful career across the travel, tourism and hospitality industries.  Based in Asia for the past 11 years she has led teams across countries, cultures and languages; developing talent all whilst driving improvements in process and customer service. 

Currently the Director & Head of Client Management ASEAN for American Express Global Business Travel (GBT), Stephanie is ultimately responsible for ensuring clients understand and receive value and results.

Prior to this role she led the American Express Travel & Lifestyle Services business and was responsible for enhancing the premium experience, achieved through the implementation of a Centurion Relationship Manager model; whilst leading a 24/7 operation and team of over 60 travel and lifestyle professionals.

From her days studying at The Hotel School Sydney to developing and running events, to starting and selling a successful destination management company, to her current position at GBT, Stephanie has always focused on the importance of delivering value and the very best customer experience.

In line with her passion for travel, Stephanie likes to get off the beaten track with her husband whether it be scaling Mt Kilimanjaro; trekking with the gorillas in Rwanda; visiting the hill tribes of Lao; or scuba diving in Raja Ampat, off the coast of Papua.

Lester Kang
Founding Partner  - MetroResidences

Lester Kang is the Founding Partner and Head of Japan for MetroResidences, a curated online platform that lists rental apartments. Small and large corporate clients can make bookings on the platform. The corporate serviced apartments on the platform do not have the serviced apartment mark-up, and this makes long term business stays more affordable. In a span of 3 years, MetroResidences has grown to over 450 apartments island-wide and works with over 1,000 corporates clients. MetroResidences is backed by 500 Startups, and has also received a Series A funding in April 2017 from Rakuten Inc, for expansion plans into Tokyo, Japan. Prior to launching MetroResidences, Lester co-founded PandaBed.com in 2012, a pan Asian home-sharing platform with over 20,000 listing.

Lester spent 5 years working at DBS Bank as the Assistant Vice President where he did business planning & strategy for Regional Wealth Management Group. He was also the Product Manager for Premium and Travel Credit Card Segment where he launched DBS Altitude Card.

Lester started his career as a brand marketing executive with Heineken and Tiger Beer where he spearheaded multi-million advertisement campaigns and championed programmes such as the Heineken Green Room.

With the ever-increasing numbers of business travels made around the world, especially to vibrant cities around Asia, MetroResidences aims to capture this opportunity and enter into markets in the future.

Chetan Kapoor
Research Analyst – Asia Pacific - Phocuswright

Lead analyst for PhoCusWright research in the Asia Pacific region, with an in-depth understanding of global travel trends, technology and innovation.

Author of several reports including PhoCusWright’s Asia Pacific Online Travel Overview Fourth and Fifth Edition (2011 and 2012, respectively), Online Travel Traffic reports on Australia and Japan (2011), Indian Online Travel Overview Third Edition (2010) and quarterly updates of publicly-listed OTAs.

Will Kataria
Director, Sales APAC - Cvent

As Director of Sales, Will Kataria oversees Cvent’s APAC sales of the flagship event management solutions division and the mobile app solutions division. To this end, Will travels across the globe and is often called upon to speak at conferences regarding technology trends in the meetings industry. Will works closely with the global leadership team and helps shape the strategy and direction for APAC market in terms of product roadmap, marketing initiatives, operational efficiencies and global expansion.

Will started with Cvent in 2006 and worked through the ranks. He was one of the top producing sales reps and helped in dramatically expanding Cvent’s footprint in Middle East, Africa, UK, Europe and south each ASIA region. With over 11 years of Industry experience, Will has successfully onboarded 100s of customers and helped implement Event platform solutions.

Will holds a Bachelors Degree in Commerce from Delhi University and an Executive MBA from IIM Kozhikode. 

Bernard Kee
Regional Manager - STR

Bernard Kee leads STR’s South East Asia region primarily focused on hospitality-related development, providing partners with regional perspective to make informed planning decisions. He has a wealth of experience in developing businesses, building robust strategic partner relationships. Bernard started his career in banking before moving to tourism sector and has been in airlines, hotels and online travel businesses for over 13 years. He specialises in online travel marketing and distribution, helping industry partners grow their revenue.  Much of his travel career was with Orbitz Worldwide Corporation. Bernard holds post-graduate diploma marketing and a degree in media management & communications with University of South Australia. He is based in the Singapore regional office for Asia Pacific. On free days, Bernard loves whipping up delicacies tasted on his travels in his home kitchen and he’ll work off the excess by racing in triathlons.

Tsuyoshi Kikune
MICE Sales Manager - Fukuoka Convention & Visitors Bureau

Tsuyoshi Kikune is responsible for leading and planning international MICE promotion activities at the Fukuoka Convention & Visitors Bureau – Japan. He has been engaged in MICE and toursim industries for the last 3 years.  

Prior to this position, he worked a as business development manager at the Fraunhofer research institute and the Investment Promotion Centre in Osaka, facilitating business development for foreign enterprises in the Japanese market. He is also experienced and well educated in sales, marketing, international business coordination and public services throughout his careers.   

Aliza Kim
TV & Social Media Personality

Aliza Kim is a Thai-American whose warm and bubbly personality has gained her attention in multiple countries worldwide.  A small town girl with very humble beginnings is now making waves online and also offline.

Aliza holds a Double Bachelors Degree from Boston College, USA, in Economics and Sociology, and a Masters in Business Administration from Denver University, USA, in International Business Marketing.  In addition to this she holds a Diploma in Islamic Studies from AREES University and is a Certified TEFL and Business English Instructor from the Worldwide Language Institute.

After a few years in the corporate world, Aliza was catapulted into the media where she was an international model, actress and TV host.  In 2013 she became a Muslim revert, retired from modeling and acting, and started on a new career path as an Inspirational Islamic Speaker.  She maintains her media presence as well accepted Public Figure, and TV & Social Media Personality.

While she does speak at live events and still makes TV appearances, Aliza’s main dawah activities focus on video and image based content delivered through social media.  Aliza offers entertaining yet highly informative content to her viewers while sharing her life with her community.  She strives to create an online community of friends who learn together and live together in a safe space where there is tolerance, acceptance and respect. 

Saki Kobayashi
Co-Founder and COO - LCO-Creation

Saki Kobayashi is the Co-Founder & COO of LCO-Creation, a Singapore-based travel tech startup and the creator of “TravelDoor” – one of the leading travel apps that contains offline city guides for over 50 cities around the world. Utilising this technology, the company provides a white label “TravelDoor for Business” product to B2B clients including tourism boards, airlines, publishers, and financial service institutions. In June 2016, LCO was selected as one of the top 4 startups at Web In Travel North Asia & Japan, a global travel conference.

Having lived in multiple countries, Saki is passionate about traveling and making a global impact through entrepreneurship. Prior to co-founding LCO, she helped with overseas expansion at NTT Communications. Before joining NTT, she was in charge of global partnership development at Granma Inc., a BOP startup, and founded a water and sanitation organisation for villages in Cambodia.

Saki holds a bachelor’s degree in International Liberal Studies from Waseda University.

Rajeev Kohli
CIS/ Joint Managing Director – Creative Travel, President 2016 – 2017 - SITE

A 2nd generation entrepreneur with over 20 years of industry experience, Rajeev manages Creative with his brother and he focuses on marketing and strategy initiatives for the agency.  He has a passion for travel and showing India to the world.

Dor Krubiner
Co-Founder and CEO - Hotelmize

Dor Krubiner is the Co-Founder and CEO of Hotelmize, a travel technology company who provide a data-driven profit optimization solution for hotel distributors that increase their revenues by 30-40%.

Dor is an experienced entrepreneur, successful in developing business from the idea stage to execution and holds an MBA & BA in Business and Finance.

Before founding Hotelmize, Dor served as an asset manager in the financial industry in one of Israel top 5 financial institutions where he managed $1b for provident funds and institutional clients for a few years. 

Dor brings a new innovative approach to the hotel booking industry which is based on his experience as an asset manager in the capital market. 

Sylvia Lee
Head of Marketing - The Pavilions Hotels and Resorts 

Sylvia joined the newly formed hospitality brand The Pavilions Hotels & Resorts in 2016 as Head of Global Sales and Marketing. In her role at this dynamic newly formed hospitality brand, she is responsible for building a nimble brand in the growing area of experiential focused luxury travel.

Step into one of The Pavilions and experience luxury and immersive locales like no other. Each Pavilions Hotel is a sophisticated, private haven to relax or play. Sylvia’s global team focuses on managing digital focused customer journeys and building upon best practices to grow their portfolio.

Prior to working at The Pavilions, she led digital marketing and ecommerce for Sands China Limited/Venetian Macao, Galaxy Macau, held various senior product marketing positions at SF Bay Area start-ups including Travelocity and Netscape/AOL (yes, pre-Google days), and is a graduate of Thunderbird School of Global Management and the University of Illinois Champaign-Urbana.

Klaus Lengefeld
Sector Leader Tourism & Employment,  Tunisia - GIZ German International Cooperation Agency

Klaus Lengefeld is Sector Leader Tourism&Employment for the Open Regional Fund for employment creation of GIZ in Tunisia. GIZ is a government-owned limited company for sustainable development, implementing projects with 17,000 staff in more than 130 countries. Klaus has both a very practical background – he is a truck mechanic – and an academic background in education and sustainable development from the universities of Frankfurt and Berlin. In 1982 Klaus started his career in promoting sustainable development and appropriate technologies for German and international development agencies. After training in tourism development at prestigious Universities such as St. Gallen/Switzerland, he began his tourism career in 1997 as advisor for sustainable tourism for GIZ in Central America, helping to create the regional brand and re-position this former crisis region.

After his return to GIZ Head Office, Klaus started unique initiatives to bridge the gap between development cooperation and mainstream tourism with focus on the hospitality industry. He was the first to take a closer look into the socio-economic interaction of hotels, All-Inclusive and luxury resorts with local economies in destinations from the Caribbean to South-East Asia. His current priority is to help positioning Travel&Tourism as a major driver of employment creation and a climate-friendly and Inclusive Green Economy. Amongst his partners are global tourism players from the hotel and tour operator sector and development banks such as the International Finance Corporation IFC and DEG.

Klaus is representing GIZ in the Pacific Asia Travel Association PATA Board of Directors and has served as Chair of PATA’s Sustainability Committee. He has been a keynote speaker or presenter at numerous tourism and hospitality events around the world, and served as jury member for prestigious sustainable tourism awards, such as the HICAP Sustainable Hotels Award. On the academic side, Klaus is visiting professor teaching sustainable tourism at Heilbronn University, Germany. He is guest lecturer and advisor for the International Sustainable Tourism Initiative of Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

Benjamin Lephilibert
Founder
LightBlue Environmental Consulting

Benjamin is the founder of LightBlue Environmental Consulting, a regional auditing, capacity building and consulting firm supporting organisations willing to improve profitability and minimize their social and environmental footprint. He worked across Asia with various prestigious partners from the private sector (Hilton, Accor, ClubMed), governmental agencies (TCEB) as well as from International Organizations (UNILO, EU, WWF).

Benjamin has been a pioneer on the topic of Food Waste Prevention. With his team he has developed The PLEDGE on Food Waste, one of the most comprehensive standard to date, integrating implementation of a food waste monitoring system, online data tracking, behavioral change and revision of SOPs at critical food waste generation points.

Benjamin is as well an international guest speaker, guest lecturer, a judge for International Sustainability Awards and an active member of several sustainable tourism working groups (GSTC).

Full profile can be viewed here.

Charlie Li 
CEO – TravelDaily

Mr. Charlie Li is the founding investor of TravelDaily.cn, China′s leading online publisher and event organizer focusing on distribution, marketing and technology developments in the travel and tourism industry. Prior to his role leading TravelDaily.cn, Mr. Charlie Li was the General Manager of E-Commerce Co., Ltd., China Southern Airlines for more than three years. 

Mr. Charlie Li has over 20 years of experience in China′s airline and online travel industry. Prior to joining China Southern Airlines, he worked for eLong as the Senior Director of the Air Partner Service Group where he led product development and maintained key supplier relationship with major Chinese and international airlines. Mr. Charlie Li holds a BA degree from Shandong University, China and an Aviation MBA from Concordia University, Montreal, Canada.

Sheryl Lim
Founder - Travel Wander

Sheryl Lim, a travel specialist having 19 years of working experience in the tourism industry. A travel enthusiast, Sheryl is extremely adaptable and is equally comfortable exploring the outdoors or discovering the city. No treks are too difficult for her to scale as long as she puts her mind to it.

She admits to loving her work in the travel industry passionately, and hopes to extend her expertise to inspire more people to this dynamic, demanding yet hyper fun industry. Sheryl also believes in lifelong learning and is a certified ACTA trainer in the tourism industry, always willing to share her knowledge and experience with interested learners.

She founded Travel Wander in 2016 to fulfill an aspiration. She hopes to inspire more people to step out of their comfort zone and kick start their own “adventure” vacation, go on specially selected, curated itineraries and activities to suit their preferences and lifestyles. She has desire to provide authentic local experiences yet at the same time minimising the negative social and environmental impacts that travel brings about. She hopes to bring economic benefits to the host communities, and preserve the cultural and natural resources of the destinations visited.

Sheryl also believes that as long as we live, we are learning something new every single day. In Sheryl’s words: “There is no such thing as the right time; and never say never because you never know. The outdoors can be as fashionable and as chic, believe in us and you will be transformed!”

Victor Lim
Regional Meetings & Travel Manager - IKEA

I am responsible for driving the meeting and travel strategy and policy, manage demand, sourcing directions, key stakeholder relations and matrix manage a network of meeting & travel resources in the Asia Pacific region. I am also globally responsible for performance and reporting of the meeting and travel program, and oversee the demand and operational aspects of the global hotel category.

Troy Liu
Founder & CEO - Mileslife

Troy is a renowned loyalty program expert and he has served as a consultant and performed training for multiple international hotel chains and airlines. On top of that, in the past 16 years, he has traveled to more than 100 countries through earning and using miles and points.

Troy wanted to share the power of miles and points with the greater public, and he founded the innovative mileage earning mobile app, Mileslife, in China in 2015. Troy describes the app as the miles earning machine in your pocket – providing users with a seamless way to combine people’s favourite loyalty programs with lifestyle spending and travel scenario.

Liu Xi Louis
CEO - FOMO Pay

Mr. Liu Xi, Louis is the founding member and CEO of FOMO Pay Private Ltd, the first Chinese payment aggregator in South East Asia based in Singapore to provide one-stop online / offline Chinese payment modes (like WeChat Pay, Baidu Wallet, China UnionPay) for local merchants to facilitate payment collection from China market and Chinese tourists. It saves time & space for merchants to connect to all mobile Chinese payment modes at one time with FOMO Pay, and brings more convenience to consumers and tourists. FOMO is also the first authorized WeChat Pay, Baidu Wallet, and China Union Pay partner in South East Asia, and awarded as Top 100 company by Red Herring, selected as Top 100 Asia Company by E27 in June 2016, and Top 8 DBS FinTech Startup in Jul 2016.
FOMO Pay’s clientele includes telecom (StarHub), publication press (SPH), hotel(MBS), tourist attractions(Singapore Flyer), F&B(TWG), retail (Lacoste) etc. It aims to use their expertise on mobile payment to contribute to Smart Nation and unified POS project by MAS.

Sounh Manivong
Director General  - Tourism Marketing Department, Ministry of Information, Culture and Tourism

• 1989-1991 Director of International trade, Inter-construction Company
• 1991-1999 Director of Statistic, Planning and Marketing Division, Lao National Tourism Administration 
• 1997-2000 National Project Conditional, GMS Tourism Development Study.
• 2003-2005 Member of the Project Team for Laos Tourism Strategy 2006-2020 
• 1999-2005 Acting Director General, Planning and Cooperation Department, Lao National Tourism Administration
• 2003-2008 National Director, GMS Tourism Development Project (ADB)
• 2005-2011 Director General Planning and Cooperation Department, Lao National Tourism Administration
• 2015-2019 National Director, Tourism Infrastructure for Inclusive Growth Project (ADB) 
• 2011-Now Director General Tourism Marketing Department, Ministry of Information, Culture and Tourism.

Kathleen McGuire Urquhart
Head of Talent, APAC - Skyscanner

Kathleen is Skyscanner’s Head of Talent for APAC.  In her role, she is responsible for managing and spearheading all aspects of human resources, training and leadership development across Asia Pacific, with offices in Singapore, Beijing, Shenzhen and Japan. Kathleen is based in the regional headquarters in Singapore, and has been with Skyscanner since January 2015.

In addition to being the Head of Talent, APAC for Skyscanner, Kathleen is a professionally trained executive coach. She has more than 20 years of senior management and operational experience in Hospitality and Retail, including running a multi-million dollar business with a team of more than 400. Prior to her role at Skyscanner, she was the General Manager at The American Club Singapore and the Director at Kathleen Urquhart & Partners, where she worked with individuals from diverse backgrounds including multinationals, regional SMEs, government and non-profit sectors as well as entrepreneurs.

Kathleen holds a Bachelors of Business Administration from the Eisenburg School of Management at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst. She is also a graduate of the Newfield Network coach-training program, is an accredited member of the International Coaching Federation (ICF) and is certified to facilitate MBTI.

Sanjay Mehta 
Trainer/Consultant - Enible Pte Ltd

Sanjay Mehta is a trainer, facilitator and coach with almost 20 years of career experience mostly in the IT industry, leading businesses and teams locally, regionally in Asia and in USA. His years in the IT field saw him work for Microsoft where he remained from 2000 to 2009 and was involved in various senior technical, business and managerial roles. Areas of expertise include Business Management and Operations, Readiness Management including Training Development and Delivery, Program and Project Management, Change Management, Customer and Call Centre Support, Account Management, Consulting, Technical Sales and Systems Management.

He has a wide profile of training and coaching experience in areas such as Leadership, Management, Innovation, Change, Projects, Process and Technology. He is fascinated with the world of Neuroscience and Positive Psychology and its applications to optimizing brain performance and enhancing learning to increase human performance and be more responsive and resilient to change. He was awarded the Top 10 Trainers 2016 at the Singapore Institute of Management (SIM). He also was selected to join SPRING Singapore’s SkillsFuture Mentor Program this year.

Sanjay is a Certified Associate of Emergenetics and conducts coaching and workshops using Emergenetics, focussing on Change, Innovation, Leadership, Communications and Teambuilding among others. He is also an Accredited Administrator of the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) and The Workplace Big 5 Profile and conducts assessments and workshops in this area. He similarly incorporates these into his coaching and training sessions as well.

He is also a Certified Coach with a Certificate of Coaching Skills from Results Coaching Systems now known as the Neuroleadership Institute (NLI). His coaching focus is on executives, entrepreneurs and people making changes or transitions in work or life. He completed a Certificate Program in Neuroleadership this year with distinction focussing on the Neuroscience of Change.

He has worked with various partners to deliver quality programs and solutions to companies and institutions from various sectors like Public Sector, Telco, Banking, Insurance, Engineering, Healthcare, Logistics, IT, Education and others. Examples include Microsoft, HP, SAP, StarHub, Singtel, DHL, IDA, Ceva Logistics, Visa, UOB, Citibank, AIA, Prudential, SMU, NCS, Singhealth, Evonik, AIC, NUHS, Changi General, SGH, MCYS, SPF, MOH, Wincor Nixdorf, T-Systems, Advantest, ASML, Daimler, Sennheiser, Sony, URA among others. His partners include Singapore Institute of Management, ODE Consulting, Kaplan Professional, McGhee Productivity Solutions, Minaya Solutions, EMG International, Emergenetics Asia, 5hue, The Learning Paradigm, Qua Aliter Associates, Trost Learning and KOSH Consulting. He holds a Bachelor’s Degree with a Double Major in Computer Science and Economics and a Minor in Mathematics from Indiana University, Bloomington, Indiana, USA. His primary focus was on Information Systems Management and International Economics. He completed his secondary school education in Raffles Institution and Raffles Junior College and was involved in various leadership roles in the Students Council, Social Services Group and Red Cross Society.

Heli Mende
Director, Head of Global Sales Promotion - Visit Finland

Heli Mende is the head of global sales promotion at Finpro´s Visit Finland unit. She is responsible for leading and planning Visit Finland´s btob activities globally.

Prior to this position she has worked as Stopover Finland program director planning the new concept and as senior advisor and senior consultant at Finpro advising and consulting Finnish companies in internationalization. She also has gained extensive experience in her previous positions within travel industry in sales, marketing and general management in airline, hotel and travel agency businesses.

Sharon Meng
Singapore Country Manager- Mobike

Sharon Meng is the Singapore Country Manager of Mobike. She spearheads Mobike’s business growth and expansion plans in Singapore, the first international city outside of China. 

About Mobike: Mobike is the world’s first and largest smart bike-sharing company that recently launched the service in Singapore.  Using specially designed bikes equipped with GPS and proprietary smart-lock technology, Mobike enables users to find a bike near them and unlock it easily. The company officially launched its service in Shanghai in April 2016 and has since expanded to 130 cities globally. 

Kenji Mirassou
Director Global Sales, APAC - Egencia

Kenji is in charge of the APAC Business Development Team at Egencia, the corporate travel arm of Expedia. In his current role, Kenji oversees Egencia’s APAC sales to multinational accounts. Kenji is a savvy globetrotter with a strong passion for all things digital who enjoys working at the intersection of travel and technology.

Kenji combines 19 years of business development experience in Asia built through diverse roles in the travel, digital and mobile industries. Prior to joining Egencia, Kenji worked for Razorfish, an interactive agency of the Publicis Groupe and for Alcatel-Lucent. 

Kenji holds a Master’s degree in Business Management from I.S.G Paris. He currently resides in Singapore with his wife, his 5-year old son and his 2-year old twins.

Caitrin Moh
Senior MICE Manager - Korea Tourism Organisation

As a Senior MICE Manager, my roles are in two folds:

Regional Responsibilities:

To identify opportunities for Korea MICE’s product and market development within existing and new channels, both local and regional MICE Planners, Professional Conference or Exhibition Organizers, corporate clients and trader suppliers. 

Local Responsibilities:

Be responsible for a wide spectrum of brand management for Korea MICE Bureau, that including PR, advertising and marketing functions, in developing Korea as an ideal MICE destination. 

Recent successes:

KTO Singapore won a few groups that include AIA Hong Kong Dragon Meeting 2014, Prudential Assurance Singapore Quality Club Elite Group 2016 and Herbalife Extravagenza 2016.

Previous experiences:

Spent 10 years in travel industry, 8 years in FMCG and Media industry, involved in business developments, channel growth and 360 media events.

Simon Morley
Chief Operating Officer – Lub d Co. Ltd 

A successful hospitality leader with over 27 years of industry experience. Currently VP – Asset Management with Narai Hotel group, & COO for the Lubd Hostel Group.

Simon’s hotel industry experience spans 8 countries, from USA, Australia, South East Asia & Middle East, managing award winning Hostels, Hotels & Resorts. Simon has held senior operational executive positions, General Manager rolls, and Regional Corporate position.

At Narai Hotel Group, Simon has played a pivotal role in negotiating new management & brand agreements for the Paris Hotel asset, and is a Board Director as well. As COO of Lubd, Simon is supports the expansion of the group, as well as managing all aspects of the operation & corporate team. Lubd has two properties in Bangkok & one in Phuket. Lubd Phuket was also recently voted on the best new Hostel in the world. In August 2017, Siem Reap, Cambodia opened, and in December the Makati, Philippines. 2018 new Lubd openings expected in South East Asia with an iconic beachfront property in Koh Samui, Thailand.

Andrew Morrison
Strategic Partnerships - GLP Films

Andrew hunts for compelling stories in travel that must be told. His life-long global experiences coupled with his passion for research and trend forecasting allow him to establish the framework for GLP Films’ successful content marketing campaigns. If Andrew isn’t at a trade show talking to clients about storytelling and marketing strategies perhaps you’ll find him scuba diving in a remote atoll or singing karaoke at your local pub.

José Murta
Global Head of Hospitality – trivago

José Murta is the Global Head of Hospitality at trivago, a leading global hotel metasearch that serves millions of visitors every month.

José is leading the team of industry experts who are strengthening the connections between trivago and the travel industry. His goal is to establish trivago as the number one marketing channel for hoteliers, to empower them to boost their ranking on trivago and drive bookings directly to their hotel websites.

Before taking on his current role, José was a Country Manager at trivago and a key contributor to the company´s rapid growth. He was responsible for managing and developing platforms within the European, Middle Eastern, and African markets. Additionally, he developed the market launch strategies for four new platforms, managed key sales, and handled negotiations with partners.

Enabling hoteliers to expand their opportunities online is a challenge that pivots on José’s keen interest in the start-up scene, his passion for travel, and his experience in business development. 

Rajat Nagpal
Vice President, Global Supply & Data Aggregation Strategy & APAC Sales - Mystifly

As the Vice President, APAC Sales & Global Supply and Data Strategy for Mystifly, Rajat is responsible for managing the Sales for Mystifly Suite of Products, Commercial Conversations with Partners & Customers, Supply Relationships and Data Strategy for global growth. Rajat is a dynamic and data-oriented leader and brings more than 20 years of travel industry experience. He joined Mystifly from Expedia where he led APAC Commercial Sales & Strategy Operations. During his 8 years at Expedia, he launched the brand in 14 countries, participated in a couple of M&A within the region and managed entire Air operations. Prior to Expedia, Rajat has worked with MakeMyTrip for 6 years and was the head of Global Corporate Sales, managing the complete P&L of the Business Travel. Rajat got his start in travel with JustFares and a boutique inbound tour operator based in New Delhi, India.

Rajat graduated from Delhi University with a bachelor’s degree in Economics & Business Management and has completed his Post Graduation in Sales from National Institute of Sales. Rajat has also done various Management Development Programs from ISB, IIM-B, and SMU among others. When not working, Rajat enjoys spending time with family, shopping, traveling and mentoring startups. Rajat also runs his social venture “Thread Shelter”, a global community to help households donate their used goods, clothes, shoes etc. to the people in need in developing and underdeveloped economies.

Mallika Naguran
Publisher - Gaia Discovery

Mallika Naguran is an experienced practitioner in publishing, public relations and sustainability advisory, working for top brands in both the public and private sector. In 2008, she founded Gaia Discovery (www.gaiadiscovery.com), an online publication on sustainable living and responsible tourism with global readership. Mallika has an MSc Environmental Management from the National University of Singapore and participates in various conservation activities.

Girish Nair
Founder, Executive Director  - TravelSpends

Girish Nair has over 20 years of professional experience in the sectors spanning Media, Information Technology and Aviation with a focus on business development, brand management, and strategy. He is a business leader with relentless drive for innovation, carried out through a highly collaborative mind-set. His strengths emerge from his ability to focus on long-term strategic ideas and industry predictions. The last fifteen years of this overall experience was spent in the Aviation Industry specializing in airline and airport business; driving dynamic growth, aligning business turnarounds, launching new global ventures and building focused sales & marketing organization.

His last professional assignment was with Go Airlines as their Chief Commercial Officer. He also held the position of Assistant Vice President, Head of Airline Marketing and Aviation Contracts, with Bangalore International Airport Limited and Sr. General Manager – International Projects with Jet Airways India Limited where he worked for long 10 years managing different roles in the commercial team. His last assignment was heading Africa operations based out of South Africa, Johannesburg. His core responsibility was aviation business development and formulating aero marketing strategy.

In his career Girish has worked very closely with the Ministry of Civil Aviation and the state departments in various core groups led by the Govt. for the growth of aviation industry in India. He was a core member of the group which worked on the “Hub Development Policy” for Indian airports and also contributed from the policy development perspective in the areas of air cargo / MRO and Ground Handling business.
Currently he is working on a start-up idea as the founder of “TravelSpends” in the domain of corporate travel management and aviation technology. The company specializes in Analytics, Audit, Technology and Consulting for enterprise business with core focus on corporate travel & entertainment fucntion.

Claire Ollivier
Senior Director, APAC - Advito

As senior director, Claire leads Advito’s development in the Asia Pacific region. As she grows the APAC business, she continues to focus on minimizing clients’ travel spend and maximizing their travel program value, pushing beyond the boundaries of traditional sourcing and program management.

In her previous role as a senior managing consultant, Claire co-lead the development of Advito’s hotel practice, with a focus on innovation, product development and excellence in delivery. Claire also developed hotel programs for global clients by overseeing project teams, managing the full procurement and sophisticated RFP processes, and providing ongoing program reporting. She first joined Advito as a senior consultant.

Prior to Advito, Claire served as an advisory services consultant for American Express Business Travel where she led regional and global hotel programs for CAC 40 corporations. Claire has also served as a key account manager for InterContinental Paris Le Grandad and she began her career in sales with Starwood Hotels in Paris.

Susan Maria Ong
MICE Director, Asia Pacific - Japan National Tourism Organisation

Susan has over 30 years of cross-sector industry experience in hospitality, airline and travel agencies, working around the world including Singapore, Japan and the UAE.

She joined JNTO Singapore when it was established in 2006 and currently serves as the Regional Director for MICE in Asia Pacific.

Prior to her current stint, she had led the planning and promotion of the Japan leisure market lending her expertise to the tourism recovery and crisis management during the 2011 major earthquake in Northern Japan.

Jens Oreel
CEO - Octotrip

By the age of 14, Jens already managed several gaming websites and organized LAN-party’s for hundreds of people in Belgium and the Netherlands. At the age of 19 he won the title of Young European Entrepreneur Of The Year. After his first startup at the age of 20, Jens traveled around the world and wanted to combine his travel passion with his passion for entrepreneurship. He saw an extremely competitive landscape and decided to partner with everyone instead of competing. In 2015, Jens and his Co-Founder Jappe landed in Singapore and founded octotrip.com focusing on the millennial business traveller.

Arif Patel
Vice President, Sales, Marketing, Distribution & Loyalty (India Region) - AccorHotels 

Arif Patel leads all Sales, Marketing and Distribution for AccorHotels in India and provides marketing leadership for its ten brands operating across a fast growing network in the country. His areas of responsibility include Sales & Marketing oversight for all current and upcoming hotels (pre-openings) given AccorHotels’ growing development pipeline, revenue & distribution management, owner relationships and loyalty management with LeClub AccorHotels, the industry’s leading and award winning guest loyalty programme.

Arif brings to AccorHotels, close to two and a half decades of rich hospitality experience with leading brands that include Oberoi Hotels & Resorts, with significant pre-opening experience and across various operational roles. Before AccorHotels, Arif was the Regional Director of Sales & Marketing, South Asia for Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide. As a proven industry leader, Arif brings strong experience in sales, revenue, digital & social media and in branding & strategic partnerships.

A frequent speaker at hospitality and sales & marketing conferences, Arif is passionate about mentoring future industry leaders, learning & development for the industry at large, developing best practices and working to promote the industry at a policy and regulatory level.

James Pelham
Founder and Chief Taster - Singabites Food Tour 

James is the founder and chief taster of Singabites food tours. In 2013 James resigned from his job in the financial markets and took some time off travelling around South America. During this time James found himself trying food tours, cooking classes and market visits every week and so decided to set up a food tour business on his return to Singapore. James believes that the best way to discover any destination is through its stomach.

Arie Prasetyo,
President Director - Lake Toba Tourism Authority

Arie Prasetyuo, Maud, IAI graduated from Faculty of Architecture, Institute Technology of Bandung (ITB) in 2003 and spent 8 years in Singapore and Hong Kong. He lead the position as Senior Urban Designer in HOK Planning Group: an American world class multi-disciplinary Urban Design and Master planning firm who covers feature development projects in south-east asia and around the world.

In 2010 at age of 30, he have been promoted as Associate-Senior Urban Designer: a very remarkable achievement who generally be awarded to HOK’s staffs after the age of 40.

Between 2008-2008, he took his Master of Arts in Urban Design (MAUD) degree from National University of Singapore (NUS)

In 2010, he decided to return to Indonesia and work for one national-leading Property Developer. His position as Chief Planner makes sure all planning concepts including facilities, infrastructures, and the economics are planned in line with the strategic vision of the project. He also assisting some organizations such as Green Building Council Indonesia (GBCI), and also several corporates on their development master plan.

Mid 2016, he joined PT. Indonesia Tourism Development Corporation (ITDC) as a Division Head for Planning and Information Management. He help to accelerate the development of Mandalika Projects.

December 2016, he joined Executing Board of Lake Toba Tourism Authority as President Director.

Karolien Priem
Regional Strategic Buyer Travel Asia, Oceania, Africa - Nestlé Group

Experienced Strategic Buyer with a demonstrated history of working in the Travel industry. Strong operations professional skilled in Negotiation, Business Travel, Hotel Management, International Business, and Business Travel Industry.

Amri Priyadi
Project Coordinator - International Trade Centre (ITC)

Amri Priyadi is the Project Coordinator for the Economic Empowerment of Women in the Indian Ocean Rim Association (IORA) Countries project in Indonesia. Under the SheTrades initiative, his works include facilitating women-owned/-led micro, small and medium-sized enterprises in capacity-building activities and international business-to-business events, in order to open access to international markets for women entrepreneurs. In his role, he also works closely with government institutions and trade support organizations, developing activities to support women empowerment and trade.

Amri has an extensive experience working in international organizations, in the sector of social development and public information. He holds an MA in Development Studies from the Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies in Geneva, and a BSc in International Relations from University of Indonesia.

Jenna Qian
Head of Destination Marketing - Ctrip

Jenna Qian is the Head of Destination Marketing for Ctrip, helping promote travel destinations around the globe to increase their awareness and number of visitors. Before her current role, she was CEO of Qunar’s Travel Guides Business, and Head of Communications and Investor Relations for Qunar from 2011 to 2015.

Prior to joining Qunar, Jenna had worked for a number of leading global communications consultancies such as Hill & Knowlton, Fleishman Hillard in both New York and Beijing. Earlier in her career, Jenna worked as an investment banking analyst in JP Morgan and management consultant in Booz Allen Hamilton.

Jenna holds a master’s degree in Library and Information Science from Rutgers University and a Certificate in Public Relations from New York University. 

Hossein Rahnama
CEO and Founder - Flybits

Hossein Rahnama is a recognized figure in ubiquitous computing and is the founder and chief executive officer of Flybits, a context-as-a-service company with offices in Toronto, London and the Bay Area. His research explores artificial intelligence, mobile human-computer interaction, and the effective design of contextual services. This year, Hossein was recognized as one of Canada’s Top 40 Under 40. In 2012, he was recognized by the MIT Technology Review as one of the world’s top innovators under the age of 35. Hossein has 30 publications and 10 patents in ubiquitous computing and serves on the board of Canadian Science Publishing (CSP). Hossein is also an assistant professor at the RTA School of Media and a visiting scholar at the Human Dynamics group at MIT Media Lab in Cambridge, MA. He has a PhD in Computer Science from Ryerson University.

Eric Ricaurte
CEO & Founder - Greenview

Eric is the founder of Greenview, an international consultancy helping travel and tourism catalyze innovation and best practice through strategy, programs, data management, and reporting. Greenview advises several hotel companies and lodging REITs, in addition to citywide event organizers, cruise lines, DMOs, and industry organizations including the WTTC and UNWTO. With 20 years of hands-on experience, Eric is a frequent speaker, convener, and researcher on the topic of sustainability. Eric earned a B.S. from the Cornell University School of Hotel Administration and a M.S. in Tourism & Travel Management from New York University. Eric’s notable industry work includes serving as technical consultant for the Hotel Carbon Measurement Initiative, and launching the Cornell Hotel Sustainability Benchmarking index, Green Venue Report, Green Lodging Trends Report, and Hotel Owners for Tomorrow. Eric is a member of the UFI Committee on Sustainable Development and the International Standards Working Group of the GSTC. He has held a research fellowship at the Cornell University Center for Hospitality Research been an adjunct instructor at the New York University Tisch Center for Hospitality and Tourism.

Jaime Roseburgh
Market Leader Singapore and ASEAN - American Express Meetings and Events

Jaime currently holds the position of Market Leader Singapore and ASEAN with American Express Meetings and Events, part of Global Business Travel. With over 20 years experience in organizing Events globally she has been based in HK, London and presently Singapore. She has held positions with Informa, Deutsche Asset Management and more recently as Vice President, Corporate Meetings and Events at J.P. Morgan. Her experience includes a wide ranging portfolio from boutique hospitality focused events and incentive trips through to large-scale conference and exhibition production.

Rajan Sakya
CEO - KGH Group of Hotels, Resorts & Travel

MEMBERSHIPS & BOARD OF DIRECTOR :
Board Member Nepal Tourism Board – 2008
Executive Member Hotel Association of Nepal, Nepal – 2002 to 2012
2nd Vice President Thamel Tourism Development Board 2004 – 2014
Expert Resource Member APO, Asian Productivity Organization, Japan
Member PATA, Pacific Area Travel Agents
Member NATA, Nepal Association of Travel Agents
Life Member Nepal Heritage Society
Life Member Nepal Cancer Society

2016/2017 International Seminar and Speeches:
South Asian Hotelier Conference, New Delhi – Panelist and Speaker
Education Agenda On Tourism, Kathmandu – Panelist and Speaker
Graduation Ceremony, National College, – Motivational Speaker
Debate Nepal Network, Kathmandu – Motivational Speaker
CEO Unplugged, Kathmandu – Panelist and Speaker
Entrepreneurs Forum, Kathmandu – Chief Guest and Speaker
Nepal Forum and Platform, Denmark – Chief Guest and Speaker 

Frederic Saunier
Head of Corporate IT APAC - Amadeus IT Group

Margarita Seah
Management Associate - The Food Bank Singapore

Eran Shust
CEO, Splitty Travel

Eran Shust, CEO of Splitty Travel, a technology platform that is radically changing the way hotel inventory is managed and how consumers book accommodations, is a high-tech veteran with 17+ years’ experience and an unlimited passion for technology and the travel industry. Eran’s fervor for seeking out creative ways that technology can be used to revolutionize the status quo, combined with his experiences in consumer marketing and revenue management strategies, have always drawn him to the entrepreneurial world. Prior to Splitty Travel, Eran held positions at startups that include MagicTripper ,Celtego, Juryka and Soft&Web, as well as at Microsoft and Comverse. For the past 8 years, Eran has also served as a professor at The College of Management Academic Studies. He holds a B.Sc. degree (Computer Science) and an MBA.

Yiping Shu 
CMO  - Meituan Platform

Mr. Yiping Shu is CMO of Meituan Platform. He used to work in Mars China since 2006, leading whole marketing for all the billion brands in China and becoming the youngest marketing head of Mars China. Mr. Yiping Shu joined Meituan in 2015 and was responsible for marketing of Meituan Take-out Delivery Business, helping Meituan to achieve average 10 million bookings per day and become the top player in the market. Yiping is appointed as CMO of MeituanDianping since early 2017, taking charge of marketing for core business such as Meituan, Meituan Travel and Meituan Take-out Delivery .

Christina Siaw
CEO - Singapore Cruises Centre Pte Ltd

Christina Siaw is a travel and tourism veteran with more than 30 years of experience having established an impressive track record with growing some of Asia’s top brands like Cathay Pacific, Zuji Enterprises and macau.com. Since taking the reins as CEO of Singapore Cruise Centre  in early 2011, Ms Siaw has led her team to implement several new initiatives to promote Singapore as a cruise  hub.  These  initiatives include setting up Cruise 360, a collaboration with best-in-class service providers to cruise ships, the leadership and official launch of  ACTA  (Asia Cruise Terminal Association), a regional alliance to develop the region as a world-class cruise playground and a partnership with a leading educational institution to develop Singapore’s first academic programme to train manpower to meet the industry needs.

Guldeep Singh Sahni
President - OTOAI

Guldeep Singh Sahni is the President of Outbound Tour Operators Association of India(OTOAI) and Managing Director of Weldon Tours & Travels Pvt. Ltd., an outbound IATA accredited travel agency in New Delhi.
Graduating in BSc from Hindu College, Delhi University, he began his career with his family business (Weldon Inks) till 1988. Later on, he started his own travel firm Weldon Tours & Travels Pvt. Ltd. Guldeep has been in the travel industry for over 24 years. He held various positions of the Trade Association from 1984 till 1990.

Passionate about the outbound travel industry always, Guldeep took the initiative, along with a group of like-minded and concerned individuals, to form the Outbound Tour Operators Association – OTOAI, in December 2011; the focus being towards having the only platform in India for purely outbound operators and getting industry status for them, besides promoting integrity, professionalism and trust between the members.

Guldeep has worked tirelessly for this throughout as President of OTOAI. They say the journey is more important than the destination and for Guldeep and OTOAI it has been one challenging ride! In the short span of five years, OTOAI has strenuously worked on the above blueprint and today, thanks to the immense efforts of President Guldeep Singh Sahni is a force to be reckoned with. While there is no licensing or permissions required to set up and Outbound Tour company in India, OTOAI has a strict criteria one has to meet to become an active member.

Guldeep has regularly won industry recognition and awards and is a frequent speaker at industry forums like ETOA, OTM, IITT, SATTE, Vkonect, PLG Travel Show, Sizchuan Tourism, Yunnan Tourism, Rwanda Tourism, Thai Tourism, Visit Britain, Visit Scotland, Hilton Hotels, Starwood Hotels, and is highly looked up to for his experience and upstanding reputation in the Indian travel industry.

Rudolf Sommer
Vice President - UNICEO

University studies of economics and business administration at the Bundeswehr University in Munich and several projects in market research for the automotive and health care sector affected the decision to focus on so called 3D-brand communication.

Representing EnBW he was until 2017 responsible to establish sales platforms and connecting medium sized companies and NGO´s as a main supporting pillar of the German economic system.

International renowned awards like the if-Design Award, dp3d, die goldene Flamme, EVA in silver or a nomination for the German Design Award are a confirmation for his successful new way for 3D-brand communication in a no-interest market-segment for electricity and energy services.

Lectureship as honorary professor at different universities and private academies (DHBW, Ravensburg, Con Energy, Essen, IST, Duesseldorf) or appearances as speaker or contributor as expert around topics such as brand development and brand experiences for commodity markets are supplements around his core- business.

Since 2017, Rudolf Sommer is Vice President Germany of the Corporate Live-Com Network UNICEO (United Networks of International Corporate Event Organizers) www.uniceo.org . Worldwide over 1500 Brands and Companies are united in this NGO to define an absolutely unique network of knowledge sharing and transfer platforms for live-com specialists and decision leaders.

His latest publications are focused on the impact of trends and worldwide social-economic conversion and movements on the live-communication markets and occurring opportunities and changes for the market actors.

Jessie States, CMM
Manager of professional development - Meeting Professionals International

Jessie States, CMM, is the manager of professional development for Meeting Professionals International, where she delivers education in support of MPI’s global live event portfolio. She designs the interactive 1:1 and one-on-few experiences at MPI’s live events, showcasing unique learning experiences and personalized education, and she facilitates and designs sessions that help people engage. She works with MPI partners and sponsors to create industry-leading case studies and educational courses, sharing best practices from companies across the globe. She also works with the professional development team to create certificate programs for meeting professionals, specifically in the areas of determining business value, designing engaging experiences and creating a sense of place at meetings and events. Jessie has been a part of the meeting and event community since 2006, when she joined MPI as a storyteller for The Meeting Professional magazine. She has written hundreds of articles and blogs on meetings and events; penned the International Association of Venue Managers’ Business Barometer and the Cruise Line Industry Association’s Travel Agent Cruise Industry Outlook Report; and served as primary editor for MPI’s research initiatives on strategic meetings management, meeting design, corporate social responsibility, business value of meetings and virtual and hybrid events. Jessie earned her bachelor’s degree in journalism from the University of North Texas in 2001, and she has won several honors for her writing from the Texas Press Association, the Society of Business Publication Editors and APEX.

Gaurav Sundaram
Own & Manage – Business Travel Intelligence, Regional Director – India - ProKonsul /GBTA -Global Business Travel Association’s

ProKonsul optimizes the business travel lifecycle for its clients through advisory & consulting solutions. It delivers domain expertise in managed business travel & technology in India/Asia. Its practice is structured around three verticals 


The Buyer Practice - Consulting & advisory engagements with enterprise travel buyers
The Industry Practice - Strategic advisory to business travel industry partners
The Knowledge Practice – Developing & delivering quality education and training programs 

ProKonsul represents the Global Business Travel Association in India . (www.gbta.org) 

In addition , Prokonsul offers global VAT reclaim solutions in Asia through its collaboration with Taxback International, Ireland.(www.taxbackinternational.com).

ProKonsul offers highly specialised business travel audits including BSP IATA Audits / Financial TMC audits & Un-utilized E Ticket Reclaim audits.

I advise a range of multinational corporations and industry forums with subject matter expertise on the Indian & Asian Managed Business Travel Industry. 

In my previous life , have had 24 years of leadership experience and success in the Business Travel, Travel Technology and Management Consulting domains.

Actively engaged in industry education, advisory forums & mentorship. Recognized as one of the leading experts & commentators on the Indian and Asian Business Travel & Technology industry.

Andy Tan
Vice President, Sales, Asia Pacific – Hotelbeds 

Andy Tan is the Vice President, Sales for Hotelbeds Asia Pacific. He is responsible for the revenue generation through strategic customer acquisition and partnerships and also supporting Hotelbeds ambitious growth targets in this region.

Andy has an impressive and progressive track record in the hospitality industry having held several  senior leadership roles at a regional and global level, most notably as Vice President of Sales for Pan Pacific Hotels Group and Regional Director, Global Sales & Lead Prospecting Centre for Starwood Hotels & Resorts.

Andy is currently pursing his MBA in International Hospitality & Service Industries Management with Glion, Institute of Higher Education. He is multi-lingual and speaks English, Mandarin, Thai and several Chinese dialects.

Anthony Tan
APAC Lead, Retail Adhoc – GfK

• Anthony Tan has been involved in various aspects of market research in Asia Pacific over the last 13 years, amassing an abundance experience within industries covering medical devices, optics, lightings, fashion, travel and automotive.
• At GfK, he has undertaken many key responsibilities, including heading the project team for leading companies like Goodyear Asia-pacific and Johnson & Johnson APAC. His expertise has also lent him the credibility to be frequently invited to speak at major international industry events and most recently at ITB Asia 2015, Vietnam Tourism Exposition 2015 and Dutch Chamber of Commerce – “Breakfast Talk”
• Anthony is an attentive listener and observer with the keen ability to identify business issues and propose constructive recommendations. He holds a degree in Business from Iowa, USA and a master in international economy and trade from Flinders University, South Australia.r of International Economy from Flinders, Australia.

He takes a keen interest in traveling and exciting developments in the travel industry. Whenever time permits, he enjoys island hopping within the Asia Pacific region together with his family

Eugene Tan
General Manager - Corporate Travel Management

Joining CTM Singapore in May 2016, Eugene Tan is responsible for the overall management of the Singapore operation. He started his career in 1999 as Support Account Manager in a software house providing training and onsite support for the company’s suite of Payroll and Accounting software packages. Eugene foray into travel, first started with Abacus International Pte Ltd. Since then, he has accumulated more than 15 years of experience in the travel and GDS industry, operating in various divisions across the Abacus organization from training, online solutions, product marketing to sales. Prior to joining CTM Singapore, he was with BCD Travel Asia Pacific managing the regional operations across 18 markets in the APAC region. He is a graduate from Monash University, Melbourne with a Bachelor of Business degree major in Banking and Finance.

Gino Tan
Area General Manager – Singapore
General Manager - Pan Pacific Singapore

Gino has close to 25 years of experience managing luxury hotels in Singapore, the United Kingdom and China. He has been the General Manager of the iconic Pan Pacific Singapore since 2015, and assumed the role of Area General Manager for Singapore— Pan Pacific Hotels Group’s largest operating market— in 2016, where he now oversees five hotels.
 
Prior to joining Pan Pacific Hotels Group, Gino was the General Manager of Millennium Hotel London Mayfair in the United Kingdom and General Manager of Grand Millennium Beijing and New World Hotel in Dalian, China. He has a strong foundation in Sales & Marketing, having spent 15 years in senior roles with Omni Marco Polo Hotel and Raffles Hotels & Resorts in Singapore and Beijing.

Joewin Tan
CEO - Huone Singapore

Joewin Tan graduated from the Australian National University with Bachelor of Commerce (Finance) with High Distinction in 2009. Since graduation, Joewin has worked in the banking and management consulting sectors before founding Linear Dots Production, an award-winning boutique event agency. Joewin most recently partnered Söderlund International to bring HUONE, a unique event and meeting space concept, to Singapore. Under the leadership of Joewin, Huone Singapore achieved $1 million turnover in a span of 5 months. At the age of 30, Joewin’s strong business acumen has won her multiple entrepreneurial awards where she was subsequently invited to judge at business plan competitions and speak on the topics of entrepreneurship and leadership.

Amit Taneja
Chief Revenue Officer  - Cleartrip 

Amit is responsible for anchoring business performance across all products, channels and markets at Cleartrip. He sets the direction and strategy for Cleartrip’s Air, Accommodation and local business.
Prior to Cleartrip, Amit was the Founder and Managing Director of Desiya; India’s first online hotel consolidator. Previously, he has also worked with Expedia in their European lodging business. Amit has over 16 years of experience in online travel.

Jan Tanner
Director - Earth Wanderer

An avid traveller from a very young age, my career took me from the world of luxury watch making industry to manage the business travel account of one of Switzerland major watch manufacturing group. After a long time spent in the UK, working for a major British airline, allowing me to spend more and more time in Africa. A work experience in New Zealand was the decisive experience that made me pack my bags and finally settled in Uganda. After the management of a eco conscious luxury lodge near Bwindi Impenetrable Forest and my personal involvement in many community based projects, I decided to bring my knowledge to the tour operating industry and started Earth Wanderer. From our headquarters in lovely Kampala, we take care of visitors to Uganda and Rwanda and offers East Africans the opportunity to visit the world in a different way.

Farriek Tawfik
Director, Southeast Asia - Princess Cruises

Farriek Tawfik is the Director of Southeast Asia for the Princess Cruises brand. In his role, he leads the brand’s commercial operations, and sales and marketing activities across the region.

Tawfik is based at the new Carnival Asia office in Singapore which is established by Carnival Corporation & plc, the world’s largest cruise operator. He also oversees regional sales and marketing for the Cunard Line brand.

Most recently, Tawfik headed the cruise business unit of Pacific Arena Pte Ltd where he has overseen the sales and marketing activities for Princess Cruises and Cunard Lines in Singapore and Malaysia since 1994. Prior to that, he served as general manager for Suci Travel & Tours in Kuala Lumpur, and also held managerial roles for Paradise Travel and Tours, and Burswood Travel and Tours.

Terence Teo
Group Managing Director - Anewtech Systems Pte Ltd

Council member and Vice President with the Singapore Industrial Automation Association since 2013. Represented SIAA as a management committee members for IOT Asia conference and Exhibition since 2015 to current.

Terence had in the past presented IOT solutions for cellular and mobile in a Regional Industrial Networking conference organised by Singapore Polytechnic. Terence had attended the IOT solution day as speakers for IOT showcase in transport and mobile application in the Digi International IOT wave conference in China for 2013 and 2014 sharing experience for IOT use case with different groups of participants from Europe, US and Asia Pacific. Had presented as speakers for smart retail application with intelligent digital signage and customers survey solutions. Represented Qihan to speak on the application of social robots for Multi-Platform Systems in EDB service robot visit program.

More than 30 years’ experience in the Industrial Automation and M2M projects. Work as a Systems Design engineer In Panasonic for 6 years and leading team of sales engineers with a local SME for 6 years before starting Anewtech Systems in 1999 and grew the company from 3 persons to a team of 40 currently with Headquarters in Singapore and regional branch offices in Malaysia and Vietnam; During the past 15 years had implemented various projects in transportation, Semicon Machine automation , RFID solutions, embedded systems and digital signage and customers survey across different market segments.

Maunik Thacker
Senior Vice President – Marketing -Marina Bay Sands Pte. Ltd.

Maunik joined the pre‐opening team at Marina Bay Sands Pte Ltd, Las Vegas Sands’ premier Integrated Resort development in Singapore, in December 2009 as the Vice President for Revenue Optimization. In this role, he was responsible for the property’s Revenue Management as well as Gaming Optimization needs, leading a team of 20 highly motivated and analytically driven team members. His primary responsibilities included the development of the systems, practices, analytical capabilities and processes to drive total revenue and profitability for the property, which today is the single most profitable casino resort development in the world. Since 2013, he leads the marketing organization at Marina Bay Sands. His key focus has been on developing a strong brand positioning and alignment of the service culture for Marina Bay Sands, and through the development of technology and use of analytics, to provide a personalized, relevant, seamless and consistent customer experience across the destination. A lot of his time is also spent refining the resort wide loyalty program value proposition to ensure high engagement levels and incremental spends across the property. Prior to working at Marina Bay Sands Pte. Ltd., Maunik worked with Las Vegas Sands’ properties in Macao, The Venetian Macao and Sands Macao, for three years, starting with the pre‐opening team, overseeing the Revenue Management function for the company in Macao. He started his career in Revenue Management and Distribution in 1999, with Taj Hotels in India, before moving to the Middle East in 2001, to work for Le Meridien Hotels (part of Starwood Hotels & Resorts) in Dubai and Bahrain for over 5 years. Maunik holds an MBA in International Hospitality Management from IMHI in Paris, a program jointly administered by Cornell University, USA and ESSEC, France. His personal interests lie in travel and he has always had a desire to live and work in different parts of the world, learning about different cultures. He also serves on the HSMAI Asia Pacific Marketing Advisory Board and has been involved with the organization for several years.

Thorleifur Thor Jonsson
Senior Manager Trade Delegations - Promote Iceland

Mr. Jonsson has been active in the Icelandic Tourism industry for over 30 year holding several managerial positions. He is currently the principal coordinator and primary contact for the Asian market at Promote Iceland. He holds a M.Sc degree in Tourism from University of Surrey. 

Asaf Toker
Managing Director, CEO, Co-Founder – SeeVoov

Asaf holds extensive knowledge and experience in the fields of tech development and entrepreneurship. He previously worked in senior managerial positions in the public health system and in Medi-tech companies.

Asaf holds a M.D., M.H.A. and M.Sc in Biotechnology Engineering, all from BGU in Israel.

Rob Torres
Managing Director of Advertising and Marketing – Google

With over 20 years of travel industry experience, Rob Torres serves as Google’s Managing Director of advertising and marketing for the travel sector. In this role, Rob oversees the strategy development and profitable growth of integrated marketing campaigns. His group serves some of the largest travel brands in the US.

Prior to joining Google, Rob was Vice President of Strategic Partnerships at Expedia.com. During his seven year career at Expedia, Rob managed a team that had Global responsibility for 30 strategic accounts, generating gross bookings in excess of $2 billion.

Rob is active in the hospitality industry and community affairs. He currently serves as the vice chairman of the Hospitality Sales and Marketing Association (HSMAI) and is on the board of directors for the Association of Travel Marketing Executives (ATME), the US Travel Association, Fareportal, Regatta Solutions, the Adventure Travel & Tour Association (ATTA), Sustainable Travel International (STI) and the Washington Leadership Council for the American Lung Association. Twice Rob has been listed among HSMAI’s Top 25 Extraordinary Minds in Sales and Marketing.

Rob holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Public Administration from the University of Southern California and a Masters of Business Administration from Georgetown University.

Sean Treacy
Managing Director, Asia Pacific - Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd

Sean Treacy is Managing Director for Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd.’s operations in Asia Pacific. He oversees all commercial and operational activities for the company’s brands, Royal Caribbean International and Azamara Club Cruises in the region.

Having been with the organisation since 2006, Treacy has held a variety of roles within the company, with a focus on Royal Caribbean International and Celebrity Cruises in the areas of revenue management and global deployment. His last position is Regional Commercial Director Asia Pacific, overseeing revenue, deployment, sales, marketing and PR across Australia and New Zealand. Prior to his time at Royal Caribbean, Treacy has worked for United Airlines where he held numerous roles in Sales and Revenue Management. He is a graduate of the University of Notre Dame with a B.A. in Finance and Spanish Literature.

Fenady Uriarte
Regional Manager – Southeast Asia - STR

Fenady Uriarte is  the Business Development Manager – Southeast Asia for STR and is based in the regional office in Singapore. She has over 12 years of experience in hospitality and real estate with global brands such as  Mandarin Oriental Group, Las Vegas Sands Corporation, Raffles Hotel Singapore and Century Properties Group Inc.  She graduated with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Organizational Communication in De La Salle University and has a Certifications in Revenue Management from Cornell University and  Hotel Industry Analytics from American Hotel and Lodging Association.  Fenady frequently presents the latest trends and updates at industry events in Southeast Asia.

Leon Vaidman
Co-Founder - HotelsBI

• An experience of 10 years in software development and 5 years in business development.
• In 2016 founded HotelsBI – a business intelligence platform for hoteliers.
• For the last 3 years have active role as a board member in
  • Platform161 – Advertising technology
  • Habidatum – BigData analysis platform.
  • Rewire – Payments technology
  • Comiten – Telecom provicer
• Up to 2010 worked as a software engineer at Microsoft.
• In 2006 Graduated Technion (Israeli institute of technology), B.Sc. in software engineering.

Nadine Vienne
Head of Events – Nissan Europe Development Director  - UNICEO

With 30 years of experience in marketing communication for different industries, Nadine Vienne developed a strong knowledge in all the mechanism engaging people behind brands. During the last years she introduced and developed the usage of Digital in events, including training, for better experience and effectiveness.

Nick Vivion
Editorial Director - Tnooz

Nick is the Editorial Director for Tnooz. Prior to this role, Nick has multi-hyphenated his way through a variety of passions: restaurateur, photographer, filmmaker, corporate communicator, Lyft driver, Airbnb host, journalist, and event organizer.

Hamish Wang
Travel and Meetings Manager, Greater China, Apple- Chair, GBTA China Advisory Board

Hamish is in charge of corporate business travel and meetings sourcing and management for Apple in Greater China region. Before he took on this role, he spent over four years with GE China as Indirect Sourcing Leader of Travel and Living/ MICE/ EHS in Greater China and Mongolia. His responsibilities included corporate travel management including airline, hotel, car rental and MICE as well as marketing and communications, environment, health and security solutions in Mainland China, Hong Kong, Macau, Taiwan and Mongolia. Hamish has 10 years of experience in the airline and civil aviation industries as well as sales and marketing background. He holds an MBA (Aviation Management) from RMIT University, Australia. 

He has taken the role of Chair of Advisory Board of GBTA China since 2015.

By 2016, he has been voted the Most Influential Travel Manager of China in CTW & ITCM China at Shanghai. And the Stickiest Corporate Travel Manager at CWT Asia Pacific in Bangkok Thailand. 

Joseph Wang
Chief Commercial Officer - TravelDaily

Mr. Joseph Wang joined TravelDaily.cn as the Chief Commercial Officer in Sep. 2014. Prior to that, he was the Senior Director of Hotel Business Unit Qunar.com from 2009, focusing on Hotel Direct Sales. He used to work for China Mobile 12580 as the Director of Hotel Business, focusing on hotel supplier partnership management and customer service. From 1999 to 2007, Mr. Joseph Wang worked at eLong.com, in charge of hotel market management. Mr. Joseph Wang was invited by several universities as visiting professor and tutor, also invited by Chinese Tourism Hotel Association, China Meetings Industry Alliance and several other industry organizations as VIP speaker.

Michael Weiss
Co-founder - bitemojo

Michael Weiss is a veteran Israeli entrepreneur in the filed of tourism & travel. In 2008 Michael founded GoJerusalem.com, Jerusalem’s leading travel portal that serves more than 1.5 million visitors annually. In 2011 Michael co-founded Yalla Basta, Israel’s leading culinary tourism company, which operates all over the country and offer different kind of culinary experiences for the international, domestic and corporate markets. In 2016 Michael co-founded bitemojo, the first app in the world that offers food tours with nothing but a smartphone. bitemojo already operates in 5 cities and aiming to become the #1 culinary experience in the world. Michael holds a B.A in Psychology and M.A in media &communication from the Hebrew University in Jerusalem. Operation system: Entrecôte, 500gr.

Jonathan Weizman
CEO - RoomChecking

Jonathan has been CTO for 2 leading companies, in the GPS field and the memory technology field in France, Israel and USA. He won a CES innovation award in 2010 in Las Vegas and the macworld best of show award in San Francisco in 2011 for 2 leading products, myDitto and the zPen. After these experiences he founded Roomchecking, to create the PMS for hotel operations. Coping with the diffulty of getting data from the PMS, he developped many technologies to enable true data exchanges between hotels apps.

Paul Whiteway
APAC Lead - Skyscanner

Paul Whiteway is APAC Lead at Skyscanner. Based in the regional headquarters in Singapore, he oversees the travel search company’s accelerated growth in the region. 

He has been working with Internet companies since the industry’s formation and is experienced at scaling businesses in both start-up and corporate environments. He has previously been General Manager of the Internet Advertising Division for Yellow Pages Australia, VP for a telecommunications start-up in New York City and Business Manager for MSN in London. He has been working in Asia since 2007 where, amongst other roles, he held senior roles at Yahoo!, leading product, editorial and engineering teams across the region and was Chief Operating Officer for the ASX listed company, iProperty, based in Malaysia.

Paul is also an Entrepreneur in Residence at INSEAD Singapore where he provides coaching and advice to students interested in entrepreneurship. In his spare time he cooks meat he directly imports from Australia and tries to do Yoga regularly.

Jameson Wong
Director, Business Development for Asia Pacific - Forward Keys

Jameson graduated from the Murdoch University with a double major in Hospitality & Tourism Management and Marketing Management. In his latest role as the Director, Business Development for Asia Pacific at ForwardKeys, Jameson is responsible for hospitality sales and product development as well as building new vertical sales. Today, ForwardKeys is trusted by companies across the Hospitality, DMO, Airport, Travel Retail and Finance industry.

ForwardKeys is a travel research firm that helps companies better anticipate demand by crunching and analyzing millions of air booking transactions daily. With the world’s most complete air reservations database, ForwardKeys’ clients are equipped with the freshest insights possible in todays’ dynamic market.

Joseph Xia
Founder & CEO - Yearth Group

Mr. Joseph Xia is Founder & CEO of Yearth Group. Mr. Joseph Xia co-founded Yearth in 2017. Yearth is the next-generation hospitality alliance that empowers independent hotels and small chains through technology and shared resources. By leveraging its loyalty program and digital marketing platform, Yearth can help alliance partner hotels increase direct bookings through a centralized channel, meanwhile allowing each hotel to retain its distinctive characteristics. 

Mr. Joseph Xia has extensive experience in the hospitality and airline industry. In 2000, Mr. Joseph Xia joined Air China and accumulated his experience in the areas of ground operation, sales, revenue management, etc. In 2006, Mr. Joseph Xia joined Jin Jiang Inns as Revenue Management Manager and Deputy Director of Sales & Marketing, taking charge of revenue management, call center, frequent flyer program and sales, etc. Mr. Joseph Xia joined Shanghai Jin Jiang International E-Commerce Co., Ltd. as Vice President in Nov., 2010. He was is in charge of Sales & Marketing, internet product, BI and Big Data.

Mr. Joseph Xia holds a Bachelor degree from Civil Aviation University of China and an MBA degree from Fudan University School of Management. Mr. Joseph Xia is also a Visiting Lecturer of Travel & Tourism Department at Fudan University.

Shinya Yokoyama
Co Founder - Halal Media Japan Co Ltd

HMJ is Japan’s Halal leading portal site. He has been working helping SMEs to develop overseas business since 1992. He holds MBA degree from Kenichi Ohmae Graduate School of Business and awarded encouragement award for his work titled “Management Strategy for Japanese SMEs in Halal Industry”. He was also awarded Entrepreneur Honouree 2016 from Singapore Malay Chamber of Commerce & Industry. In ITB 2017, Yoko-san as he likes to be called will give you an insight on Japan Halal market. 

Raudha Zaini
Marketing Manager - HalalTrip

Raudha Zaini is the Marketing Manager of HalalTrip – a leading global community platform for Muslim travelers. She leads and manages projects with partners and International Tourism Boards in destination marketing and campaigns. Her aim is to translate her passion for travel as a millennial into innovative products that offer useful and unique experiences to all Muslim travelers.

Leila Tekkaya
Director of Public Relations, Communication and Hospitality - Tunisian National Tourist Office (ONTT)