May 22, 15.00 Nairobi time
Online Tourism Conference for Africa and “Silk Road” Countries:
WHAT DO INBOUND AND OUTBOUND TOUR OPERATORS HAVE TO DO TO BE ATTRACTIVE TO EACH OTHER
Case studies from the US and China travel markets.
Days
Hours
Minutes
Seconds
About the event
Online conference aims to provide practical tools for inbound and outbound tour operators from Africa and Silk Road countries on possible networking strategies and how to keep partnerships for years.

The event allows networking opportunities for registered participants and explains the working ethics to bear in mind when communicating with partners from the US and China Travel Markets.
Organizers of the Conference
World Tourism Alliance (Hangzhou, China), the largest non-government international organization with the vision to focus on “Better Tourism, Better World, Better Life” (www.wta-web.org/eng)
World Travel Chat, a business to business platform with a mission is to develop travel business by supporting its transformation to the 21st century digital world and by providing travel professionals a space for sharing best practices and making partnerships regardless of the difference in business mindsets, internet habits, government restriction on using some of the messengers and language barriers (wtchat.travel)
200+ Participants
The participants of the event are the members of travel associations (inbound and outbound tour operators) from the “Silk Road” countries, Africa and the leading outbound tour operators from the USA.
10 Discussions
The speakers from China and the USA will explain the business ethics and mindsets to be taken into consideration when looking for partners in these markets. Additionally, you will hear about the tips on digital marketing, building unique travel products and processing feedback in order to avoid retention of partners after the cooperation has started. Last but not least, a few case studies about looking for partners in the new markets and promotion will be presented.
10+ Speakers
We have invited over 10 Speakers from China, Israel, Switzerland and the USA. Our speakers are actively involved in the travel business and will share their best practices and insights.
The key discussions are
Where can inbound and outbound tour operators find each other? Strategies for building partnerships.

What needs to be done not to be replaced with a different partner? Keeping the loyalty up.

How to work with outbound partners from the US and China. The insights on business mindsets, expectations and working ethics.
Speakers of the Conference:
  • Kim McLaughlin
    Founder/CEO,
    Simple Family Travel
    Boston, USA
  • Leonid Luo
    Deputy General Manager of Impact
    Cultural Communication Co., Ltd.
    Shenzhen
  • Luca Lässer
    Owner and director of Kalpak Travel

    Switzerland
  • Salvatore Cascino
    Buyer for Middle East & North Africa

    Sicily, Italy
How to join the Conference
You can come to the conference and listen to all the speakers without registration.

Or you can register to get the opportunity to communicate with the speakers and travel companies who attend the conference. This way you will extend your participation to networking events, where you can meet potential partners from more than 10 countries.

You can register via World Travel Chat, a new online platform for travel professionals. All the registered participants will be added to a conference group chat, where you can write messages for everyone or more to one on one chat. World Travel Chat allows communication in 6 languages, overcoming the language barrier with auto translation service.
Features
With registration
Without registration
Free of charge access to the Conference online broadcast
Free of charge access to World Travel Chat
Opportunity to offer your services to partners from 10+ countries
Opportunity to communicate with the speakers
for connecting from a mobile/old PC
recommended connection
Select a connection method to view the conference
2
Fill out the registration form. You will have to provide the information about your company
3
Wait for verification
(normally done within 24 hours)
Kindly note that World Travel Chat sees having verified members as its competitive advantage. We pay a lot of attention to having trustworthy organizations as the members of our community. By going through verification process yourself, you know that other members have been though the same procedure and share the same values
4
Receive a login and password to enter the Platform
5
Enter the Platform, accept terms and conditions
6
Accept the invitation to the Conference and land in the Conference Chat to enjoy networking opportunities
7
Create a profile for your organization to get full access to the opportunities World Travel Chat provides
Conference itinerary
Wednesday, May 22, 15.00 Nairobi time
15.00
Conference kick off
Module 1: Where can inbound and outbound tour operators find each other? Strategies for building partnerships
15.05
Presentation by World Tourism Alliance (Hangzhou, China). What are the opportunities that the Alliance provides for the travel business to for scale?
15.15
Presentation by World Travel Chat about standing out when doing international networking and promoting your travel business through online business to business travel platforms.

The discussion will be focused on reviewing certain digital profiles of tour operators uploaded to business to business platforms and the explanation what exactly is eye-catching when presenting yourself to potential partners.
15.30
Presentation by Kaplak Travel (Switzerland) about creating White label strategy for inbound tour operators.

You will hear a case study from a relatively small family-run company and their growing business in Central Asia. Practical tips about marketing and attracting top outbound players to run your product under their brand.
15.45
Presentation by one of the regional travel associations of China about cooperation between travel association to boost the networking for their members.

The discussion will present the opportunities for destination promotions for the audience formed out of the members of various travel associations
16.00
Presentation by Simple Family Travel (Boston, USA). How to be able to accommodate requests in the unknown regions with no partners.

You will hear a case study from a boutique outbound tour operator and get the insights on the strategy of partner selection. A big part of the presentation is about revealing the mindset of an outbound partner and how the decision process works when choosing between similar offers.


Module 2: What needs to be done not to be replaced with a different partner? Keeping the loyalty up.
16.15

Presentation from one of the outbound tour operators about the role of the feedback in assessing the quality of services, provided by inbound partners.

The discussion will go around how not to take feedback personally and to be objective when listening to the travelers. When is it necessary to make product changes or partner changes based on the feedback received? We will also cover the topic of collecting feedback and how to get 80% of your travelers to fill out the evaluation form.


16.30

Presentation from one of the inbound tour operators about prolonging contracts with the current partners and being able not to go cheap in order to keep the relationships.

We will discuss practical tips on running the negotiation process and why offering your services significantly cheaper than others will scare the strong players away.

16.45

Presentation from one of the inbound tour operators about how to design unique travel products and not to miss new trends.

The discussion will be focused on how to design your products based on off the beaten track concept and to make it happen that others would want to copy you.

Module 3: How to work with outbound partners from the US and China. The insights on business mindsets, expectations and working ethics.

17.00 – 17.30
You will hear 3 presentations from China and the US to help you understand Dos and Don’ts when building professional relationships in these markets

For all organizational matters, kindly contact coo@wtchat.travel
Find out about our past conferences
World Travel Chat aims to organize professional events for travel professionals, with the focus on covering the relevant issues, important for the members of travel associations. Our conferences also unleash the opportunity to get professional connections between the speakers and the audience. Kindly study the other events we have accomplished.