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The post Virtuoso launches its first-ever Travel Tech Summit appeared first on TD (Travel Daily Media) Travel Daily.

Virtuoso is hosting its first-ever Travel Tech Summit, taking place on 14 August at ARIA Resort & Casino during its Virtuoso Travel Week event.

The summit will consist of three distinct components: a Big Ideas Session featuring multiple speakers addressing tech strategies that are driving the industry forward; a VC Panel focused on the innovations and longer-term opportunities that investors are seeking and funding; and a Startup Showcase featuring companies that are addressing obstacles the travel industry is currently facing. Led by tech entrepreneur and investor, as well as Virtuoso board member, Gilad Berenstein, with Virtuoso Senior Vice President, Digital & Consumer Products Travis McElfresh among the Big Idea speakers, Virtuoso is putting technology on center-stage to support its long-held belief that its network is best served by having a choice when it comes to tech solutions.

“Innovating and pushing boundaries is something Virtuoso has always embraced,” says Virtuoso Chairman and CEO Matthew D. Upchurch. “Our Incubator program helped launch some of the travel tech players that are core to our business today. This Travel Tech Summit is just our next step in furthering innovation and ensuring that travel technology benefits our agencies, advisors and the partners who work with us. We believe in fostering technology that enhances the value of human connection. As I’ve been saying for more than 20 years, automate the predictable so that you can humanize the exceptional.”

The summit will begin with a wide, macro view and go through phases that eventually narrow down to the grassroots level. Berenstein will kick off the sessions with a broad overview addressing five key themes: the optimisation of everything; financialisation of travel and how it leads to better consumer experiences; the role of creators and influencers; aggregation and super apps; and emerging technologies focused on the Metaverse and Web3. This opening presentation tees up the four Big Ideas speakers, who will dive deeper into each category. Next, the venture capitalist panel will weigh in with their perspective as investors. Finally, the Startup Showcase will feature five new companies that are developing solutions to ease travel industry pain-points and are demonstrating real-world application.

“After attending so many industry events, both open and closed, it seemed to me there was no home for innovators focused on luxury travel and the advisor/agency model,” said Berenstein. “The goal of this summit is to bring together some of the top minds in the industry, from the largest innovators, to those funding development, to the entrepreneurs and start-ups bringing these visions to life.”

Speakers for each session follow.

Big Ideas Speakers:

· Khalid Meniri – CEO and Founder, Selfbook

· Ethan Hawkes – Head of Strategic Partnerships, Hopper

· Karen Bolda – Senior Vice President of Partner Products, Expedia Group

· Travis McElfresh – Senior Vice President of Product, Virtuoso

VC Panel:

· Gaurav Tuli – Managing Director, F-Prime Capital Partners

· Chris Hemmeter – Managing Director, Thayer Ventures

· Chantal Noble Haldorsen – Early Stage VC Lead, Certares

· Cara Whitehill – Founder and Managing Director, Unlock Advisors

Startup Showcase:

· Grace McBride – Founder and CEO, Lucia

· Gary Kohn – Co-Founder, Luxury Travel Hackers

· Alex Jara – CEO, Deal Engine

· West Askew – Founder and CEO, Thatch

· Irving Betesh – CEO and Co-Founder, Sion

The post Virtuoso launches its first-ever Travel Tech Summit appeared first on Travel Daily.

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The post KKday expands footprint in Vietnam appeared first on TD (Travel Daily Media) Travel Daily.

KKday has announced it will be aggressively expanding its footprint in Vietnam, and driving over 100 million USD for Vietnam’s tourism industry by 2023. 

KKday will be focused on working with local merchants to digitize, launch marketing campaigns to capture both inbound and outbound tourism, and expand distribution channels to capitalize on the sharp travel rebound expected in Vietnam across key markets including Ho Chi Minh, Hanoi, Da Nang, and Phu Quoc. 

During Covid-19, KKday’s Vietnam business grew 20x and exceeded pre-Covid-19 levels largely driven by the growth of its domestic business. KKday expects revenues to continue growing as borders reopen and international travelers will return. Travel bookings in Vietnam have also surpassed pre-Covid levels. In June 2022, KKday’s GMV surpassed pre-Covid levels. 

“We believe that the tourism recovery in Vietnam will accelerate given pent-up demand, restrictions being lifted, and the increasing digitalization of travel operators locally. As more travelers are digital-first and traveling for longer periods in this new environment, we are committed to establishing our foothold in Vietnam to support the growth and digital transformation of the tourism industry in Vietnam. We believe our hyperlocal approach combined with our focus on innovation and operational excellence will continue to be the key drivers of our business,” said Pinky Lee, Managing Director of Southeast Asia of KKday. 

Prior to Covid-19, Vietnam was one of the fastest growing tourism destinations in Southeast Asia with tourism contributing to 12% of Vietnam’s GDP and the three-year CAGR was 22% between 2017-2019. According to the Asian Development Bank (ADB), Vietnam’s economy is expected to rebound by 6.5% in 2022.

In terms of traveler demand, KKday forecasts over 20 million trips will be taken both inbound and outbound from Vietnam by the end of 2023; in addition to Vietnam’s tourist numbers to increase by 50% y-o-y by the end of 2022. 

To capitalize on this growth opportunity, KKday plans to triple its current team, hiring for business development for partner acquisition and marketing roles and is also lazer focused on supporting digitalization transformation of the tourism industry, helping local merchants go from offline to online. 

“We are committed to working with our local merchants in Vietnam to digitize and expand their customer base locally and also globally. With the travel surge we are expecting and the return of international travelers, we look forward to partnering with these merchants on providing local and highly curated experiences for travelers and building out their distribution channels,” said Annie Nguyen, General Manager of KKday Vietnam. 

Today, there is a strong opportunity for digital transformation of the tourism industry in Vietnam with only 54% of travel activities and experiences booked online. During Covid-19, an increase of local activity providers have adopted rezio to help digitize and scale their businesses, and get access to manage their bookings on multiple OTAs. Since 2022, KKday has onboarded over 1200 local travel operators to its platform in Vietnam. 

KKday has also tripled the number of activities and experiences from Vietnam with over 1,400 tours, experiences, and attractions during Covid-19 – and plans to continue to grow its experiences and activities offering by 100% in the next 12 months. 

To increase its footprint and support in the digital transformation of Vietnam’s tourism industry, KKday has also recently signed MOUs with leading Vietnam partners. ● SunWorld Holdings has just partnered with KKday in its digitization efforts for its recreation and amusement attractions including Ba Na Hills and several amusement parks. 

• VinWonders, Vietnam’s largest recreation brand, appointed KKday to become the first online travel agency (‘OTA’) API partner to distribute tickets in Vietnam and to international partners. 
• FLC Group, a leading airline and resort group in Vietnam, will onboard experiences and activities packages on the KKday platform; while KKday will offer special incentives to FLC members 
• BestPrice, one of the leading travel companies, will collaborate with KKday to offer unique tours and packages for theme parks and key attractions to domestic and inbound travelers on the KKday platform. 

The agreements are expected to support domestic and international visitors, especially visitors from Korea, Japan, and Southeast Asia. This will also help over 3,000 travel operators globally on KKday’s platform access experiences and activities offered by its new Vietnam partners.

This announcement follows KKday’s recent Series C+ round close in July to inject more funding in KKday’s Asia growth, hiring, and digital transformation of local merchants. 

The post KKday expands footprint in Vietnam appeared first on Travel Daily.

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