ITB Berlin, the World’s Leading Travel Trade Show, was held last week from Wednesday 6 to Sunday 10 March 2019, and Livn CEO Mark Rizzuto joined as a keynote host.
This year’s event saw 10,000 companies and organisations from 181 countries exhibit their products to tens of thousands of public attendees and more than 100,000 international trade visitors.
Alongside the show this year was the ITB Convention, the largest event of its kind, held from Wednesday 6 to Saturday 9 March.
For years, Travel Technology and the eTravel World have been the fastest growing themes at ITB Berlin, and with the inclusion of the new Technology, Tours & Activities (TTA) segment, it showed recognition for this increasing industry trend at this year’s event.
Livn’s CEO Mark Rizzuto was among 400 leading figures from tourism, politics and business that spoke about the future of travel. As such, Mark hosted the closing keynote at the TTA Forum at the eTravel Lab that took place on Wednesday 6 March.
Speaking after his keynote, Rizzuto said, “After a slow evolution of over 42 years to get real-time access to travel products, I was thrilled to discuss the possibilities of Livn that have been made available to the TTA sector by increasing innovations in the digital age. Being a part of one of the fastest growing verticals within the travel industry is exciting!”
Keynotes, panel discussions and best cases offered insights into the products, integrations, and booking methods of in-destination services during the Forum. Also, throughout the afternoon, founders and directors of companies including Livn, Regiondo, and Tourradar combined with experts representing attractions and museums, and the Adventure Travel Trade Association (ATTA) to take part in collaborative sessions.
The outcome of which were discussions on distribution, event and destination marketing, strategies, ideas, and the future of in-destination services. With Tours & Activities making up around 10% of the global travel market, according to Phocuswright, which is more than rail travel, car hire, and cruises combined, Mark was able to share his insights during the discussion.
Specifically, Mark addressed how the travel industry can optimise Tours & Activities’ sales by integrating last-seat availability and why ‘live’ inventory is so important.
“With 53% of all Tours & Activities booked in the last 72 hours, real-time inventory offers a superior experience to travellers or agents to convert these bookings via any device. The bottom line is that this technology increases revenue and customer engagement, as well as reduces lost sales, all during this 72-hour window,” said Rizzuto.
As well as these invaluable forums and segments, a special exhibition area dubbed The Marketplace for Technology, Tours & Activities was set up where major players and smaller start-ups presented their innovative products from the world of in-destination services.
