The end of the year is approaching and you may be looking for the right conferences to attend in order
to network, hear some new ideas, get in front of the right people, and help grow your travel business.
We’ve compiled a list of some of the most anticipated events in the travel/travel tech space for 2020
that are already on our radar...
Will you be attending any of these?
Tech Summit by Lab Ventures - Future of Travel
When: February 11, 2020
Where: Miami, Florida
Hashtag:
#FOTTECH2019
Hosted by Miami’s tech matchmaker,
LAB Miami Ventures
, this event celebrates innovation and the future of tourism in a city in which it’s the #1 industry.
Attend the third edition of the Future of Travel Technology Summit, a one day event, if you’re
interested in seeing industry leaders and some of the brightest and most innovative travel and
tourism startups from around the world come together.
A boutique event, the program focuses solely on technology and how it’s causing rapid and
unprecedented change in the tourism industry. The program will have a curated agenda including
panels, a startup pitch competition, and a keynote speech by leading industry disruptors.
Until December 10, you can snag a ticket at an early bird price,
more information here!
RTO Summit West
When: Feb 25-26, 2020
Where: Marina Del Rey, California
Hashtag:
#RTOSummit
The RTO Summit series was created by the founders of
touroperatorland.com
in 2003 and has been
tested, improved by hundreds of North American travel suppliers and receptive tour operator buyers
who cover all the major and developing international markets.
Each RTO Summit program opens with a Symposium, a full day of international inbound trends, market
intelligence, and panels that feature tour operators talking about their business, offering fresh
insights on their booking trends–all designed to make the next day’s appointments most productive.
One-on-one scheduled appointment sessions on day two take place in an intimate environment, where
attendance is limited to buyer/seller ratio of 1 to 1.8—the best in the industry.
RTO Summit West is largest RTO event attracting over 100 receptive operators in 2017, 40 percent
of which were Chinese RTOs. This event also has two sister events, RTO Summit East in NYC and RTO
Summit Florida in Kissimee.
For more information, visit the
RTO Summit website.
ACTE Global - New York City Global Summit
When: April 26-28, 2020
Where: Manhattan, New York
Hashtag:
#ACTEmtl19
This spring event in New York City is lead by ACTE, The Association of Corporate Travel Executives
(ACTE), which has a 31-year reputation for leading the way corporate travel is conducted.
This event as well as the others it hosts around the world is where decision makers come to network
and learn. Attend this event if you’re a travel manager or a supplier because last year, the event
drew in people from over 22 countries and 87% of them found the networking opportunities invaluable
and 86% felt the education was high quality!
For more information, visit the event’s
save the date page.
TravelCon
When: May 8-10, 2020
Where: New Orleans, Louisiana
Hashtag:
#TravelCon19
During this three-day event for content creators, DMOs, PR Firms, and travel companies, you can
learn from some of the biggest influencers in the travel world such as Pauline Frommer, Nomadic
Matt, and Richard Kerr (The Points Guy).
The conference connects attendees with industry leaders, influencers, and celebrated writers
through keynote speeches, small group writing and photography workshops, breakout tutorial
sessions, and industry panels. According to the organizers, you’ll learn what’s working in today’s
competitive travel industry, timeless business practices, and the skills you need to succeed as a
creator.
Visit
TravelCon.org
for more information or
read this blog post
by Nomadic Matt on what you can
expect at TravelCon 2020.
Digital Travel Summit
When: May 18-20, 2020
Where: Indian Wells, California
Hashtag:
#WinTheBooking
Brought to you by the creators of eTail, Digital Travel Summit is a digital marketing, eCommerce
strategy and customer engagement event that will focus on helping 1top travel, hospitality and
leisure companies act more like retailers to embrace digital strategies, harness technology to
improve operations and enhance the customer experience to build true brand loyalty. The conference
is meant to make you reflect on how your company currently approaches its digital strategy and be
able to find more tactical and strategic ways to reach your objectives.
With disruptive insights, unrivaled content and a variety of engaging formats, Digital Travel
Summit is designed to share best practices for achieving stronger brand recognition, higher customer
engagement and an increase in sales.
For more info, visit the
event website.
IPW Las Vegas
When: May 30-June 3, 2020
Where: Las Vegas, Nevada
Hashtag:
#ipw20
U.S. Travel Association’s IPW is the leading international inbound travel trade show, driving $5.5
billion in future travel to the United States, and securing America’s position as a leading global
travel destination. Held in a different U.S. city each year, IPW will be taking place in Las Vegas
in 2020!
The event serves as a national showcase of America, where U.S. travel exhibitors connect with travel
buyers and media from more than 70 countries to promote their product, negotiate future business
and build relationships. An appointment-based show with networking opportunities, more than 1,000 US
travel companies, 1,300 international and domestic buyers, and 500 travel journalists are expected to
attend.
The main value proposition of the event is that at IPW, 110,000+ appointments take place. It is a
proven, cost-effective means to grow an international leisure travel business—no other trade show
can offer the quality, contacts and access of IPW.
For more information, visit
ipw.com.
GBTA Convention
When: July 25-29, 2020
Where: Denver, Colorado
Hashtag:
#GBTA2020
The Global Business Travel Association Convention provides a platform where the next generation of
travel professionals meet world-class education and networking with industry-leading suppliers.
It provides attendees with the opportunity to join the state-of-the-art education and view and
learn more about all session topics, including the duty of care, data analytics, procurement and
much more.
Why go? On average, buyers anticipate their organization will select 3 new suppliers based on
their interactions at the GBTA Expo and 95% of travel buyer attendees say the GBTA Expo influences
which suppliers they select for their travel program.
For event updates, check the
GBTA website
.
ASTA Global Convention
When: August 25-28, 2020
Where: Washington, DC
Hashtag:
#ASTAGlobalConvention
According to the organizers, this event is known as the “Essential Industry Event for Travel Agency
Professionals”, the annual ASTA Global Convention is where the best of the best in the travel agency
industry convene for three days of inspiration, education, and entertainment – guaranteed to leave
attendees ready to boost their business.
This convention is home for over 1,000 travel professionals playing a key role in improving their
business and the travel industry. Attendees can expect to grow relationships with suppliers from
cruise lines, destinations, hotels and more.
For more information, visit the
event website.
Future Travel Experience Global Expedition
When: September 1-2, 2020
Where: Las Vegas, Nevada
Hashtag:
#FutureTravelX
Future Travel Experience Global 2020 is an independent global forum that brings together airlines,
airports, government agencies, vendors, start-ups, terminal designers, architects, ground handlers,
destination partners and various other travel industry stakeholders to define tomorrow’s end-to-end
passenger experience and business performance opportunities.
In 2020, the event will take place at the famous hotel, The Venetian, and feature various conference
tracks which include a raft of formats such as Think Tanks, Guest Sessions, Symposiums, Briefings,
Technical Workshops, and more. The conferences will also focus on a wide range of topics including
Digital, Customer Experience, Security & Biometrics, Baggage, Terminal Design, Future Airports,
Inflight, New Non-Aero Models and Accessibility, with a case study-focused approach.
The 2020 agenda is still being developed, but you can access more event information
here.
Future Guest Experience
When: September 28-29, 2020
Where: Las Vegas, Nevada
Hashtag:
#FutureGuestExperience
A productive two day event, Future Guest Experience is the premiere hospitality technology conference.
Attendees will get actionable strategies to provide personalized high touch experiences for today’s
connected guest.
At Future Guest Experience, you can anticipate having conversations and making connections with the top
minds in hospitality. You’ll hear from and meet C-suite, VPs, operations, technology, design and
innovation professionals spanning every hospitality category, with an emphasis on the trailblazers,
visionaries and trendsetters that are changing the world with immersive experiences.
Some highlighted speakers include the Atlanta Hawks VP of Guest Experience, David Garcia, Southwest
Airlines Director of Strategic Planning, Michael Sikes, and more.
For more information, visit the
event website.
Digital Travel Connect US
When: October 5-7, 2020
Where: San Diego, California
Hashtag:
#DigitalTravelConnect
From the same organization that brings you Future Guest Experience, this is an invite-only,
executive level meeting of digital marketing leaders in travel; who come together to benchmark,
network and share strategies that will take place this year in San Diego.
The event brings together 75 of the most senior level executives from North America's most
successful and innovative travel agencies, hotels and OTAs. Lucky guests get to shake hands with
Chief Digital Officers, Chief Marketing Officers, VPs/Heads/Directors of eCommerce, User Experience,
Personalization and many more.
For invitation or sponsorship information, visit the
event website.
Digital Travel Connect US
When: October 5-7, 2020
Where: San Diego, California
Hashtag:
#DigitalTravelConnect
From the same organization that brings you Future Guest Experience, this is an invite-only,
executive level meeting of digital marketing leaders in travel; who come together to benchmark,
network and share strategies that will take place this year in San Diego.
The event brings together 75 of the most senior level executives from North America's most
successful and innovative travel agencies, hotels and OTAs. Lucky guests get to shake hands with
Chief Digital Officers, Chief Marketing Officers, VPs/Heads/Directors of eCommerce, User Experience,
Personalization and many more.
For invitation or sponsorship information, visit the
event website.
TBEX North America
When: October 7-9, 2020
Where: Lafayette, Louisiana
Hashtag:
#TBEX
Looking for an influencer? BEX is the largest conference and networking event for travel bloggers,
online travel journalists, new media content creators, travel brands and industry professionals.
Each year, TBEX partners with host destinations in North America, Europe and Asia Pacific to bring
the travel industry’s most creative minds together to learn, network and do business.
According to its website, each TBEX conference attracts 600-800 delegates from around the world,
making it the ideal opportunity for DMOs, travel brands, PR firms and their clients, to engage
with the most influential travel bloggers and leading digital content creators.
Visit the
event website
for more details.
Analytics & AI In Travel North America
When: TBD
Where: TBD
Hashtag:
#EyeforTravel
Analytics and AI in Travel North America connects a plethora of data scientists, pricing and
revenue specialists, AI engineers and leaders in digital marketing to deliver hyper-personalization,
real-time pricing, and a true knowledge of exactly who your customer is.
Although there isn’t any information available yet about the 2020 event, in 2019, the Summit focused
on topics ranging from harnessing AI and data to transform your loyalty strategy, to overcome pricing
peril with personalized and real-time revenue generation tactics, to get up close and personal with
the customer and capitalize on every channel, and more! It also saw 350+ travel executives, 40
speakers, amd over 20 hours of networking from companies like Google, Hopper, Expedia, and more.
Stay tuned for the 2020 agenda and in the meantime, learn more about the 2019 event
here.
Skift Forum New York 2020
When: TBD
Where: New York City
Hashtag:
#SkiftForum
If you’re looking for the TechCrunch Disrupt of travel, then the Skift Forum is for you. Or rather,
they like to call it the “Ted Talks of Travel”...
Skift Global Forum is the premier travel conference focused on the top marketers, strategists,
and technologists in the industry — the people creating and defining the future of travel. Skift
carefully curates topics and speakers for this two day conference in order to inspire professionals
in travel about the business and creative potential of the world's largest industry.
In 2019, the event boasted 1,200+ attendees from 40+ countries. The program is fast-paced, intimate,
and thought-provoking. Skift moderators ask tough questions that go way beyond the obvious, draw on
original Skift Research, and push the boundaries of strategy and creative imagination.
Stay tuned for tickets and more information, check out
the website!
The PhocusWright Conference
When: Nov 16-19, 2020
Where: Phoenix, Arizona
Hashtag:
#phocuswright
With the 2019 edition just recently wrapping up, this conference gathers the most influential
leaders from around the world. During the event, industry leaders and company analysts bring
primary research intelligence to life by debating issues, sharing ideas and defining the
ever-evolving reality of the travel industry in 2020 and beyond.
The Phocuswright Conference consists of cutting-edge content from innovator demonstrations and
expert workshops to industry influencer panels and exclusive keynotes. The program is broken into
three distinct sections, The Phocuswright Innovation series, including Summit and Launch, followed
by workshops and Center Stage. There's also the exhibitor/innovator Showcase, plus networking breaks,
parties and late-night gatherings.
And that is our list of top 2020 travel industry conferences... so far!
Will we see you at any of these? Have any more to add? Contact us below to let us know!
