Stewart Baird, Richard Carrick and Manuel Mascarenhas (pictured) are among the high-profile speakers at the Association of Independent Tour Operator’s (Aito’s) 30th overseas conference.
The industry heavyweights will join a raft of speakers at this weekend’s three-day conference in Istanbul, Turkey, which has the theme “The Future isn’t what it used to be”.
Baird founded Pebble Travel: Investors, which invests in travel companies, earlier this year. He previously worked at Virgin Holidays as sales director and prior to that at Eurostar.
Manuel Mascarenhas, head of corporate partnerships and travel at the Royal Horticultural Society, was most recently managing director of Wendy Wu Tours but has also worked for Thomson, Thomas Cook and Kuoni in a travel career spanning 35 years.
Industry veteran Carrick, consultant for Richard Carrick Consulting, is former managing director of Hoseasons and headed the management buy-out and the sale of the business in 2010. He was previously chief executive of global development for MyTravel, ran Airtours’ UK tour operating brands and retailer Going Places. With 35 years’ experience in the industry he now acts as a non-executive director, consultant and investor in holiday companies.
Other speakers at the conference are: Charles Davis, director at the Centre for Economics and Business Research, an economics consultancy; journalist David Stevenson, Context Productions and Watering Hole; Andrew McMillan, consultant for Engaging Services; Bruce Wynn, a consultant on Cyber crime; and Rohit Talwar, chief executive of Fast Future Research.
Conference topics will range from the state of the economy, the ‘Googlification’ of travel, how to deliver a brand-defining customer experience, maximising relationships with industry partners, cyber crime, and how travel companies should prepare for the future.
Aito chairman Derek Moore said: “These vital speaker sessions will allow delegates to return to their offices with practical ideas to implement straight away, helping them to stay ahead of the game.”
One of Aito’s affiliate members, Appex Mobile, has created an itinerary app platform Vamoos to support the event, featuring the business sessions, dine-around restaurants, local maps and weather.