WIT, ITB Asia Expand Partnership

The partnership will see WIT not only run its conference alongside Asia’s largest travel trade event but also run WIT workshops and manage the ITB Travel Technology Pavilion at ITB Asia.

WIT 2009 will comprise WIT, The Main Event, on Oct 20-21, the WIT Ideas Lab, Oct 22-23, 9-11am and the ITB Asia Travel Technology Pavilion by WIT, Oct 21-23, 11am-6pm.

The two events first joined forces in 2008 with the inaugural ITB Asia, which attracted a total of 6,208 delegates, 24.2% more than expected by event organiser, Messe Berlin.

WIT 2008 was also the biggest in the event’s four-year history with close to 400 delegates.

“It was a partnership that worked well for both parties,” said WIT’s Producer Yeoh Siew Hoon. “It gave ITB Asia access to a high quality conference focused on the most dynamic segment of the travel industry, the online travel space, and it gave WIT access to the global network and resource of the world’s largest travel exhibition.

“We are pleased to expand and extend the partnership and will work to improve the synergies between the two events.”

Said Dr Martin Buck, Director of Messe Berlin (Singapore), “The success of ITB Asia was proof that we had met customer expectations by focusing exclusively on Asian source markets, following a B2B format, running a high quality hosted buyer programme, and putting our trust in the convenience and professionalism of Singapore as the host venue.

“Initial survey results from delegates have shown an 86% overall approval rating for the inaugural event. Over 95% said they would recommend their business partners to attend ITB Asia. More than 94% said they would visit ITB Asia 2009.”

WIT 2009 will take up the theme of “Tough Love”. “These are tough times and a new reality will emerge post-crisis. It’s a time when everything will, and must, be challenged. We need to give, and get, tough love to get our industry through its most challenging period ever,” said Siew Hoon.

WIT will stay focused on finding opportunities, smart ideas and real solutions.

A WIT ticket will give you access to all WIT and ITB Asia-related events while delegates to ITB Asia will get a 20% off WIT rates.

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ABOUT WEB IN TRAVEL | WIT-Web In Travel is Asia’s leading travel distribution, marketing and technology conference. 2009 is the fifth year the conference will be run. It was started by journalist Yeoh Siew Hoon,

WIT is different to traditional conferences in terms of content, delivery and attitude. The content is deep, rich and meaningful. The delivery is varied, diverse and impactful. The conference has an attitude that challenges speakers to be at their best – no sales speeches and platitudes, but provoking and thinking – and delegates to question, discuss, debate and challenge. With each WIT, the conversation gets better and the discussion more interactive.

In 2007, WIT introduced questions by SMS and allowed audience voting by SMS as well for best debators, best speakers and best pitches. In 2009, we take our presence further. We are using Web 2.0 technology to reach out to an ever widening network of colleagues with similar passion, engaging them through Facebook, Twitter, blogs, newsletters and micro events, WIT*e – Inspiration & Mentoring networking forums, leading up to the main conference to be held on the 20 -23 October, 2009 at Suntec City in Singapore.

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