Northstar

■ APRIL 2015 1 A Tale of Two Cities: Visiting London, Visiting Edinburgh City Europe cruise passenger figures 2014: Key general messages Data bank Cracking the Innovation Code of Tel Aviv Silver nomads on the march Leaders in trade Insight www.wTCf.TrAVEL AprIL 2015 Focus on Global Travel: Disruption and reinvention Each year, a portion of the summit is devoted to "Tourism for Tomorrow" awards, which shine a spotlight on reinventions in this area through examples of conservation efforts, sustainable operations and ecotourism initiatives. The occasion for the gathering is the annual World Travel and Tourism Council (WTTC) Global Summit. And the speaker roster reflects the full range of the commercial and geographic diversity within what will soon be the largest industry in the world. The most disrupted character found in fact or fiction may well be Sisyphus. Every time he came close to his goal, he was sent back to the starting line. It's a fact of this century that disruptive events are altering life and business at an accelerating rate. And like many industries, travel and tourism evolves along a continuum made jagged by disruption. But travel's timeline differs from Sisyphus' in a significant way: Travel's story is one of disruptions followed by reinvention and progress. Travel actually appears to be particularly vulnerable to disruptive forces, from natural disasters to terrorism to political upheaval to economic downturns. But, perhaps as a result of its long list of vulnerabilities, it has also shown itself to be particularly resilient. Travel's proven ability to reinvent itself quickly and successfully resulted in growth last year that — once again — outpaced worldwide gross domestic product (GDP). On April 15, an extraordinary collection of global CEOs representing every sector of the travel industry will convene in Madrid. They'll examine the current forces of disruption and share observations, research and best guesses about what challenges — and resulting opportunities — the industry is likely to see in the coming years. The occasion for the gathering is the annual World Travel and Tourism Council (WTTC) Global Summit. And the speaker roster reflects the full range of the commercial and geographic diversity within what will soon be the largest industry in the world. Airline CEOs from Turkey, Abu Dhabi, Japan, Ireland and Hawaii will be on stage, as will the top executives from the largest online travel agency in the world (Expedia's Dara Khosrowshahi) and the fastest-growing in China (Qunar's Chenchao Zhuang).

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