Month: April 2019

Angela Chen 陈静

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ITSC 2019 Speaker
Angela Chen 陈静
Global Head of Corporate Affairs
Dossen Hotel Group

Angela serves as Global Head of Corporate Affairs of Dossen Hotel Group which is ranked the 5th Hotel Group in China and the 15th of the world hotel groups in terms of overall hotel rooms scale.

Dossen International currently operates 2,000 hotels (including pipeline) in over 200 cities across China and southeast Asia with more than 25million loyalty members. Prior to joining Dossen, Angela was working on various positions in hospitality industry.

Press Release

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ITSC 2019 Press Release

Launching of the ‘Investing in Tourism Sustainability Conference’ 30 – 31 May 2019

The inaugural Investing in Tourism Sustainability Conference to focus on investment in tourism in Bulgaria and Southeast Europe.

 

The conference will be hosted by the Ministry of Tourism of the Republic of Bulgaria in partnership with ITIC and InvesTourism which is under the Chairmanship of Dr Taleb Rifai the Former Secretary-General of the UNWTO and to be held in Sunny Beach, Bulgaria on the 30-31 May – 1 June 2019 at the Helena Resort and RIU Helios Paradise Hotel.

The Conference will serve as a Tourism Investment platform bringing together Policy Makers, Tourism Ministers, Project Owners, Investors and the tourism and hospitality business sectors from Bulgaria, Southeast European countries and global tourism stakeholders. It will contribute to shape the future of travel and tourism by opening new business opportunities through innovative moves. This event will be focused on tourism development and investment in Bulgaria and Southeast European countries while addressing the issues and challenges faced by the region.

The inaugural of this Conference in Sunny Beach, Bulgaria will attract over 400 public and private sector leaders interested in investment and development of the travel and tourism sector as a prime engine for future economic growth and as a model that can promote self-employment among the local communities in both Bulgaria and Southeast European destinations.

As pointed out by Hon. Nikolina Angelkova, Minister of Tourism of the Republic of Bulgaria:

“ Tourism in this region of Europe is growing rapidly with over 120 million tourists in 2018 and total tourism receipts of USD 118.8 billion which accounted for around 11.7% of total GDP for the Southeast Europe countries. Bulgaria alone attracted over 9.2 million tourists and total tourism receipts was USD7.6 billion last year. Moreover, the enormous development potentials lying untapped within Southeast Europe represents a grand avenue for new investment opportunities within travel and tourism acting as prime engine of future economic growth and as a model of development that can promote self-employment among the local community in both Bulgaria and the Southeast European destinations.”

The conference will also be a forum for participants to discuss opportunities of mutual interest and initiate potential partnerships and alliances in investments in sustainable tourism developments up to projects’ fruition.

The conference has garnered high interest in the region and internationally and has attracted participation of regional and Mediterranean Tourism Ministers namely:

  • Mr. Gari Capelli, Minister of Tourism of Croatia
  • Mrs. Elena Kountoura, Minister of Tourism of Greece
  • Mr.Gian Marco Centinaio, Minister of Agricultural, Food, Forestry Policies and Tourism of Italy
  • Mrs. Majd Shweikeh, Minister of Tourism and Antiquities of Jordan
  • Mr. Kreshnik Bekteshi, Minister of Economy of North Macedonia
  • Mr. Haitham Mattar, CEO Ras Al Khaimah Tourism Development Authority
  • Mrs. Rania Al-Mashat, Minister of Tourism of Egypt
  • Mr. Konrad Mizzi, Minister of Tourism of Malta

 

This demonstrates the high level of commitment and involvement of the respective Governments and Policy Makers to develop the tourism industry as the Key engine of growth of the economy in this region.

The other main guests will feature Her Royal Highness Princess Dana Firas who is also the President of the Board of Directors of the Petra National Trust and a UNESCO Goodwill ambassador, Dr. Taleb Rifai, Former Secretary-General of UNWTO. The Conference will also line-up of high-calibre speakers and delegates such as Tourism Leaders, International Hotel Brands, Tourism Project Owners (SEE) having new projects to showcase, Investors, Investment Banks, Private Equity Firms to network and making new partnerships.

The event will be moderated by Rajan Datar, an award-winning broadcaster and presenter of the BBC.

The Partners of the events are the Ministry of Tourism of Bulgaria, ITIC, InvesTourism, Helena Resort & RIU Hotels, and Edelman.

The programme of the conference is enclosed. Registration to the conference is free of charge and is now open. Delegates can register on the conference Website www.investingintourism.com.

For more information please contact:

Mrs. Ralitsa Daskalova, Director, Directorate for Public Relations and Protocol, Ministry of Tourism of Bulgaria, email: [email protected]

or

Ms. Monika Dimova, Media Advisor to the Minister of Tourism of Bulgaria, email: [email protected].

Elizabeth J.Linder

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ITSC 2019 Speaker
Elizabeth J.Linder
Executive Director
Beautiful Destinations

Elizabeth launched her career at Google, splitting her time between the iconic Googleplex in Mountain View, California, and YouTube’s original headquarters in San Bruno. In 2008, Facebook recruited Elizabeth to join its small but growing international communications team. At the time, the company had no policy or communications representative outside of the United States.

In 2011, she moved to London to found and build Facebook’s Politics &Government division for the Europe, Middle East & Africa region. Often referred to as Facebook’s “first secretary of state”, Elizabeth advised heads of state, royal households, government officials, politicians, diplomats, think tanks, journalists, and civil society leaders across more than forty countries.

By the time she left Facebook in 2016 after spending eight years as a public spokeswoman for the company, she had been at Facebook longer than 99.2% of employees.

Elizabeth is a Senior Consulting Fellow at Chatham House and a regular commentator for the BBC, Sky, the Financial Times, and the Wall Street Journal. A California native and Princeton graduate, she holds an Exceptional Talent Visa for the tech sector granted by the British Government.

Christopher Rodrigues, CBE

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ITSC 2019 Speaker
Christopher Rodrigues, CBE
Chairman
Port of London Authority

Christopher Rodrigues became Chairman of the Port of London Authority in January 2016 and the Chairman of Openwork in January 2014.

Christopher was Chairman of the British Council from 2016 – 2019; Chairman of the British Bobsleigh and Skeleton Association from 2013 – 2019; Chairman of VisitBritain from 2007 – 2017; Chairman of International Personal Finance and Windsor Leadership from 2007 – 2015; Chairman of The Almeida Theatre from 2008 – 2016, and in July 2016 stepped down as a Council member and Trustee of the National Trust. He was on the Executive Committee of the World Travel and Tourism Council from 2007 – 2016.

Christopher is a graduate of Cambridge University and the Harvard Business School. He rowed for Cambridge in the 1970 and 1971 Boat Races, is a past-Chairman of Leander Club and is a Steward of Henley Royal Regatta.

He was made Visiting Professor at the University of Surrey in 2009 and a Visiting Professor at Cranfield School of Management in 2010. He was awarded an Honorary Degree of Doctor of the University of Surrey (DUniv) in April 2013. In May 2018 he became an Ambassador for the World Travel and Tourism Council, and in January 2019 the Development Committee Chairman at University College School, Hampstead.

Jayanth Kolla

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ITSC 2019 Speaker
Jayanth Kolla
Founder & Partner
Convergence Catalyst

Jayanth brings over Seventeen years of experience in Technology, Product Marketing, Research and Strategy Consulting in the Telecom, Internet and Emerging Technologies (AI/ML, Blockchain & IoT) domains. He is an advisor to the world’s leading technology firms, young & fast growing startups and the investor community, and has held various roles with Telecom Carriers, Device Manufacturers and Management Consulting firms in the past.

Currently, as a Partner with Convergence Catalyst, Jayanth leverages his hands-on experience and domain expertise to advise various companies to align themselves with the ever-changing technology and market trends, and evolve as leaders in the Digital Convergence space. He mentors a number of progressive and fast growing technology startups on Product & Service Offerings, Business Planning, Go-To-Market Strategies and Fund Raising. Jayanth is also an advisor to various PE & VC firms, Institutional Investors, Hedge Funds and FIIs on private equity transactions and public equity positions.

Jayanth is an Advisory Board member of India’s first and only Artificial Intelligence (AI)- based asset fund, Core team member of a global AI think tank, Advisor for a North- American AI platform company, a European Blockchain products company, Advisor and Mentor for Deep Tech companies of NASSCOM 10,000 Startups, Evangelist of leading 3rd generation Blockchains, and Founding member of “India IoT Forum”.

Jayanth is an oft-quoted industry leader whose viewpoints and analyst notes are regularly published in leading business publications including Wall Street Journal, Forbes, Fortune, Bloomberg and Financial Times, keynote speaker at various industry thought-leadership conclaves, and is also an empaneled judge for Mint’s Digital Innovation Awards, 2019 and MIT’s ‘Emerging Technologies Young Innovators’ (EmTech) Awards’, 2017. He’s also a columnist on technology industry trends for Forbes, APAC CIO Outlook, Moneycontrol and Mint magazines and business publications.

Previous Companies: Analysys Mason, Nokia, Motorola Kyocera, Tata Teleservices.