Rick Antonson
Author & Former CEO
Tourism Vancouver

Conference Keynote Address
Session 2 – Panel Discussion 

Rick Antonson has 30 years as a leader in the Tourism Industry.

He served as board chair of the Destination Marketing Association International (DMAI) based in Washington, D.C., and as deputy chair of the Pacific Asia Travel Association (PATA) based in Bangkok, Thailand and as a Games Ambassador for the 2010 Olympic Winter & Paralympic Games held in Vancouver and Whistler, Canada. He was also President of Pacific Coast Public Television until the Spring of 2014.

These and many other senior volunteer roles anchored Rick’s full-time career as President & CEO of Tourism Vancouver, an international award winning, 1,000 member organisation widely recognised as a global leader in destination marketing, sales, management, and visitor experiences. Under his leadership, Tourism Vancouver has played a significant role in shaping Vancouver and B.C.’s future including the initiation of the Vancouver Convention Centre Expansion Taskforce, which led to the new centre that is partially funded by Tourism Vancouver’s $90-million investment. Tourism Vancouver launched the bid to bring the 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games to Canada.

A wide range of programs began during Antonson’s watch, including the organisation’s partnership with the City of Vancouver on Keep Vancouver Spectacular (an annual clean-up initiative now in its 19th year), Canada’s largest restaurant promotion, Dine Out Vancouver Festival and creating Tickets Tonight, which sells over $3.5 million in performing arts and event tickets each year.  He also chaired development of the TaxiHost driver training program, which has seen thousands of drivers graduate from the Justice Institute’s program in the past 17 years.

Capilano University awarded Antonson an Honorary Doctorate of Laws in 2011, and he has been inducted into the Canadian Tourism Hall of Fame. In 2013, he was presented with the IMEX Academy Award in Europe. Antonson is also a recipient of the Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Medal.

Rick Antonson is also the author of the acclaimed books  “To Timbuktu for a Haircut; A Journey Through West Africa”, and “Route 66 Still Kicks; Driving America’s Main Street.” His forthcoming book is “Full Moon Over Noah’s Ark; An Odyssey to Mount Ararat” to be released in 2016. 

He travels extensively around the world for business, speaking engagements and on personal journeys and is a firm believer that Tourism is a vital force for peace.

Dr. Mathew McDougall
CEO
Digital Jungle

Session 1 – Connecting with the new traveller
Session 2 – Panel Discussion

Dr. Mathew McDougall grew up between Australia and New Zealand then in his late teen’s ventured overseas for his University studies. Now, after 23 years of working in the Internet technology space and digital marketing areas, he boasts over 10 years working experience in China and time spent working in Australia, UK, US and Japan.He is a renowned expert on digital marketing, especially in the area of Chinese digital marketing. Recognised for his published articles, his frequent speaking engagements, as well as his prestigious consulting and teaching programs. Dr. McDougall thrives in entrepreneurial environments, where fast-paced change and continually evolving technology is the norm.

He was the founder of SinoTech Group (headquartered, China), a social media technology business in 2007 that secured VC funding to develop a range of Chinese/Western social monitoring technologies.

Dr. McDougall subsequently went on to found a digital marketing Agency called, “Digital Jungle” in early 2011. This multicultural digital Agency wanted to exploit the needs of Western organisations that needed support in marketing to a Chinese audience. Over the short number of years, Digital Jungle has grown to now have offices in China (Beijing & Shanghai), Australia and New Zealand. Additionally, partnerships with Agencies around the world.

In the workplace, Dr McDougall is the type of “leader” that is not afraid to roll up his sleeves and get involved with the team at all levels.

Dr. McDougall is also the editor of the “Digital Marketing Inner Circle” blog on digital marketing, author of “The Chinese Social Media Universe”, a frequent spokesperson on Internet issues and guest speaker at Internet industry forums worldwide such as:

* Ad-Tech
* SES Conference & Expo
* ATEC (Australian Tourism Export Council)
* iMedia Asia
* Social Media Summit
* AMP Amplify
* PATA (Pacific Asia Travel Association)
* Routes Online
* China Retail Showcase
* G20 Global Cafe

Sarah Mathews
Head of Destination Marketing APAC
TripAdvisor, Hong Kong SAR

Welcome Remarks
Session 1 – Connecting with the new traveller
Session 2 – Panel Discussion 

Sarah leads the Destination Marketing Sales team at TripAdvisor, covering the APAC region. The Destination marketing team’s key focus is to work and support all tourism boards in Asia Pacific.

Born and raised in Hong Kong and fluent in Chinese, Sarah has spent most of her life living in Hong Kong, Beijing and Australia giving her a deep understanding of the region. Her career started with Cesar Ritz Colleges and then eventually joined the London team for the Hong Kong Tourism Board and Visit Flanders where she held positions in MICE, and international marketing.

Her role with both organisations meant regular contact with industry partners and working together to drive awareness of each of the destinations. She started her TripAdvisor career in the London office; looking after the European, Asian and African Tourism clients. She has worked closely with key clients like South Africa Tourism and Greek National Tourism Organization.

Sarah’s work with South Africa Tourism includes a case study featured in the recent UNWTO E-Marketing Handbook. Her role with TripAdvisor is to share best practices not only for tourism boards but also for all relevant industry partners and players.

With TripAdvisor as the world’s largest travel site, there is a wealth of insight and data that Sarah shares with the tourism industry. Her travels across Asia Pacific place her in front of a variety of industry partners.

James Mooring
Strategy & Product Director
Room-Res.com

Session 2 – Customer and consumers are they the same?
Session 2 – Panel Discussion

Room-Res.com is a hotel booking platform for travel agents that allows agents to compare and book net rates and commissionable online rates. Beautifully designed, lightning-fast and simple to use, Room-Res enables agents to find market-leading prices and the greatest margin opportunities – all backed by their market leading customer support team based in Sydney. Launched in 2016 Room-Res is rapidly becoming the talk of the Australian travel agency community.

James Mooring is currently Strategy & Product Director at Room-Res.com, a business he co-founded in April 2016, where he has responsibility for the business strategy, marketing and development of the tech platform.  Since its launch in November 2016, Room-Res have rapidly become one of the fasted growing B2B hotel distributors in Australia.

Prior to getting involved in start-ups and launching Room-Res, James was previously the Senior Director of Online Marketing and Loyalty at HotelClub, Orbitz Worldwide’s global hotel only brand.  Based out of their Sydney office, James was responsible for the extensive global online marketing budget for the brand, as well as leading the rapid expansion of the HotelClub member database and oversaw the development of data-driven email and loyalty programmatic campaigns. 

Before joining Orbitz, James was the Chief Marketing Officer for oo.com.au, an online department store and one of the early success stories in the Australian online retail industry. James has also had marketing management roles at Expedia (in the UK), the BBC and Procter & Gamble.

Stewart Moore
Chief Executive Officer
EC3/ EarthCheck

Session 3 – Sustainability and what exactly does that mean?
Session 5 – Panel Discussion

Stewart Moore is one of the Asia Pacific’s most experienced planning and management consultants. He has over 25 years of experience in a wide range of disciplines from business and strategic planning, tourism destination management and marketing, sustainability, risk management and corporate and social responsibility.

He is an NIES accredited business consultant and has extensive experience in stakeholder engagement and the facilitation of business and community forums. He served on the Tourism Forecasting Council of Australia for 10 years and was Chairman of the Pacific Asia Travel Association (PATA) in Queensland for 8 years. He has been a member of three PATA Task Forces including the recent Macau task force in 2013.

He is the founder and CEO of EarthCheck and Chairman of the National Centre for Studies in Travel and Tourism.

In 2013 Stewart was named in the Global list of the top 100 sustainability professionals (ABC Carbon Singapore).

Stewart has a Masters of Regional Science specialising in tourism planning and sustainable development, a Bachelor of Regional and Town Planning (Honours) and has completed post graduate studies in Finance and Investment from the Financial and Services Institute of Australia (FINSIA) and Conservation and Heritage from the Institute of Advanced Architectural Studies, University of York, U.K.

He has co- authored a wide range of books and publications in the areas of destination management, risk and crisis management, strategic and regional planning and product development.

Carolyn Childs
Director
MyTravelResearch.com

Session 3 – Sustainability and what exactly does that mean?

Carolyn has spent more than 25 years’ helping businesses achieve their goals by using research and other evidence to guide strategy and planning – mainly in the aviation, travel and tourism fields.  She has worked in more than 35 countries on every inhabited continent and brings a detailed understanding of customers and how to connect with them. As well as running her own businesses, she has worked for organisations such as the International Air Transport Association, TNS (the world’s largest custom research company) and the Travel Research Centre.  Her clients include blue chip names across the industry including Aer Rianta, Tourism Australia, TurEspana (Spanish national tourism organisation), Air New Zealand, Qantas and Emirates.

Her passion is making a difference and she does this by making research accessible and business focused. With Bronwyn White, she co-created Domesticate™ (now owned by TNS) – one of the industry’s most respected sources of strategic direction for the Australian domestic tourism market.

She set up MyTravelResearch.com with Bronwyn in 2011 to help fulfil this passion by making the tools, approaches and insights accessible to everyone.

Carolyn is a regular speaker at conferences and writes blogs for Sparksheet (on behalf of TNS) and MyTravelResearch.com.  She is currently preparing an ebook of her Sparksheet columns on opportunities in emerging markets.

David Beirman
Senior Lecturer
University of Technology Sydney

Session 4 – Crisis and Recovery
Session 5 – Panel Discussion 

UTS is a dynamic and innovative university in central Sydney. One of Australia’s leading universities of technology, UTS has a distinct model of learning, strong research performance and a leading reputation for engagement with industry and the professions.

David Beirman is a senior lecturer in the Management Discipline Group specialising in tourism. He completed undergraduate and postgraduate degrees majoring in Sociology at the University of NSW. David has had an extensive career in the Australian travel industry between 1981-2009 which encompassed work with retail travel agencies, wholesale tour operators, destination marketing organisations and management, human resource management and in-service industry training. Prior to joining UTS as a full-time lecturer David had developed tourism courses and lectured part-time at UTS and other universities in tourism, marketing, Middle East studies and sociology.

His specialist areas of research are tourism risk, crisis and recovery management and destination marketing. He has been widely published in these fields. He has been invited as a keynote speaker at conferences all over the world and has provided crisis and recovery management consultation to governments and tourism businesses in Australia, Asia, Africa and North America. He is the founder and National Secretary of the Eastern Mediterranean Tourism Association, an industry association which promotes fifteen countries between Italy and Jordan. David is also a member of the Smartraveller Consular Consultative Group which is a travel industry and government leadership body appointed by Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade to consult with DFAT on the issue of government travel advisories and tourism safety and security

Mark Ferszt
Product Director
BarterCard

Session 4 – Crisis and Recovery

Mark Ferszt was born in Australia and raised in New Zealand.  He graduated from Otago University in 1999 with undergraduate Bachelor degrees in Laws and Arts.

After a number of years working within the Tourism & Leisure sector in Australia and the United Kingdom, he took on a role with Bartercard International Pty Ltd, a subsidiary of ASX listed parent company BPS Technology, managing their Tourism Division.

With a decade of experience working for one of the World’s leading Trade Exchanges, Mark has developed and refined an innovative excess capacity distribution model and funding solutions for SMEs and independent operators within the Tourism industry.

Currently, they work with over 1100 accommodation providers and 2700 Tourism & Leisure partners globally; each of them using the model as an alternative distribution channel for their low season and off-peak periods.

Tammy Marshall
Founder
The BHive

Session 5 – Ingredients for Success
Session 5 – Panel Discussion

The BHive is an innovation & change management consultancy and educator. Our goal is to help people and businesses to reset for the future. We do this by shifting the way people and businesses think and act so that they’re able to adapt quickly and get results.Tammy built a career enabling global companies to pivot, transform and capitalise on rapid growth opportunities. With over 25 years experiences in travel and tourism across the Asia-Pacific, North America and Europe including leadership in touring, cruising, transport, food and beverage and hospitality. I offer a proven track record in establishing strategically aligned brands, cultures and operating models that exceed revenue and EBITDA targets, year on year.

Tammy built a career enabling global companies to pivot, transform and capitalise on rapid growth opportunities. With over 25 years experiences in travel and tourism across the Asia-Pacific, North America and Europe including leadership in touring, cruising, transport, food and beverage and hospitality. I offer a proven track record in establishing strategically aligned brands, cultures and operating models that exceed revenue and EBITDA targets, year on year.From as early stage of her career with Contiki to her last role with TFE Hotels she has been drawn to challenging and complex roles that require a progressive and change-oriented leadership style to forge paths forward into new territories and markets. Tammy played a leading role in propelling the travel and tourism sector into its current stage of dynamic modernisation, most notably through her success in launching and embedding experiential travel as a globally relevant offer.

From as early stage of her career with Contiki to her last role with TFE Hotels she has been drawn to challenging and complex roles that require a progressive and change-oriented leadership style to forge paths forward into new territories and markets. Tammy played a leading role in propelling the travel and tourism sector into its current stage of dynamic modernisation, most notably through her success in launching and embedding experiential travel as a globally relevant offer.Highly skilled at leading both the visualisation and operationalisation of new business ideas, she has successfully launched and embedded experiential travel in global markets. Core to this success is two key strengths: the ability to define and execute highly effective strategic plans and programs of significant transformation and the passion I have for developing fiercely engaged and fulfilled front-line and leadership teams that are fully focused on delivering exceptional customer experiences.

Highly skilled at leading both the visualisation and operationalisation of new business ideas, she has successfully launched and embedded experiential travel in global markets. Core to this success is two key strengths: the ability to define and execute highly effective strategic plans and programs of significant transformation and the passion I have for developing fiercely engaged and fulfilled front-line and leadership teams that are fully focused on delivering exceptional customer experiences.Tammy believes that successful people and business transformation

Tammy believes that successful people and business transformation rests on what she call the FIVE Rs! (R)eset by (R)efocusing strategy, (R)eengineering business, (R)ealigning internally and (R)ethinking communication. So much so, she founded The BHive – a business that helps people and businesses to reset for the future through our speciality in innovation, change management and education.TS is a dynamic and innovative university in central Sydney. One of Australia’s leading universities of technology, UTS has a distinct model of learning, strong research performance and a leading reputation for engagement with industry and the professions.

Sue Hodges
Managing Director
Sue Hodges Productions (SHP)

Session 5 – Ingredients for Success
Session 5 – Panel Discussion

SHP has been in business for over 14 years and has completed over 100 museum and heritage based projects. It is one of the few companies to position heritage interpretation at the forefront of each project so that the site’s values and significance inform all aspects of the work. Each project will be customised to the client’s needs.

Sue brings extensive experience in the fields of history, heritage interpretation, sustainable tourism and museum and exhibition development. Before establishing SHP in 2001, she worked as a historian for a wide variety of public and private sector organisations, including Museum Victoria, the State Library of Victoria, the National Museum of Australia, the Department of Conservation, Forests and Lands and Heritage Victoria. She is the author of Hands-on- History (2006), a fun and practical guide to making history fun for students that are linked to the ACT curriculum, and worked for four years in the ACT on the ‘Heritage in Schools’ project.

Sue’s work at SHP has encompassed all aspects of heritage projects, from concept planning to implementation. Her academic expertise lies in capacity building through heritage interpretation, economic modelling for cultural heritage, sustainable heritage tourism, reconstruction in heritage and Sites of Conscience. She has overseen all of SHP’s projects including business cases, interpretation plans, installations, exhibitions, signage, public artwork and heritage trails.

Sue also plays an active role in the professions of history and interpretation nationally and internationally. She is President of the ICOMOS International Committee on the Interpretation and Presentation of Cultural Heritage Sites (ICIP), a Member of the ICOMOS Advisory Committee, an invited expert speaker at the 40th and 41st Sessions of the World Heritage Committee and President of Interpretation Australia from 2010 to 2013 and an Executive Committee Member of Australia ICOMOS from 2012-2015. She was and is currently working with the University of Technology, Sydney, to devise an international course in heritage interpretation with the University of Highlands and Islands (Scotland); the University of Kansas (USA) and the University of Ljubljana (Slovenia). The aim of this course is to partner with ICOMOS in Europe to deliver ‘best practice’ heritage training internationally.

Sue has also conducted training in interpretation in Slovenia, Korea, Croatia, Romania, Scotland and Malaysia and has participated in several ICOMOS and Interpret Europe conferences