In a meeting in Sao Paulo, the management of the event brought together members of its Advisory Board and stressed topics relevant to the event, the 7th edition of which will take place in April 2019
WTM Latin America, the world’s leading event for Latin America’s travel industry, is continuing with its intense agenda of meetings, partnerships and events. On Friday 28 September, Luciane Leite, director of WTM Latin America, and her team of executives met with members of the Advisory Board at the Parque Anhembi Hotel Holiday Inn in São Paulo. In addition to announcing seven new members of the Advisory Board, the meeting also introduced its new chair, Adriana Cavalcanti, who has a background in the commercial aviation segment that goes back almost three decades, having worked with Air France and KLM, most recently as the Country Manager in Brazil.
During the meeting, Luciane thanked Jeanine Pires, who has held the position for the last six years, for her rich and relevant contribution and wished her success in her new career. She congratulated the 8 new board members on their appointment and stressed the importance of having professionals on it who are so representative in the market. “Having such a strong and diverse board is very valuable for us. These members have a great capacity to anticipate and discuss what’s new in the travel and tourism sector and its trends, thus playing a fundamental role,” says Luciane. “We have with us strategic leaders and executives from the industry who represent and reflect the interests and needs of our stakeholders, including exhibitors, buyers, visitors, members of the Buyers Club, entities and associations.”
“The Advisory Board is extremely valuable and I’m very pleased to be part of it as the new chair. As a board we propose offering our time and experience in order to contribute to WTM Latin America and we all shall undoubtedly gain from it,” says Adriana. “We’re strengthening the team and bringing in new directors. It’s very rewarding to be able to foster this exchange of experiences and expertise between highly respected professionals in the industry. In my case, I come with a background in aviation, which will comprise yet another segment on the Advisory Board; I hope I can contribute significantly to the team.”
Among the new members are Adriana, executives Eduardo Murad (Executive Director, ALAGEV), Cassio Salles Oliveira (VP of Anchorage), Diana Pomar (Director of the Tourism Promotion Council of Mexico for Brazil), Danielle Roman (CEO South America of the Interamerican Network), Ana Maria Berto (Director of Orinter Tour & Travel), Ney Neto (Director of Business Development and Innovation, MCI) and Guilherme Paulus (the founder of CVC Brazil).
Spreading ideas
The full agenda of the meeting included the introduction of the new members, the numbers and results of the last edition, prospects for the 2019 edition and five main topics: corporate tourism and MICE; the tourism operators programme; new formats for participation in the event; the role of the board members during the event; and technology and innovation.
Rich debate marked the second board meeting, which was held after the last edition of the event, when members reinforced their contributions, mentioning the quality content that had been promoted during the year, the new interactive platforms, the supply of research, strategies for attracting buyers and the strong increase in the use of technology associated with the event, whether before, during or after the editions.
Adriana used the opportunity to stress the importance of events like WTM Latin America and how technology fits into this scenario. “We’re on a digital journey and there’s no going back. But I firmly believe that business is done face-to-face, in other words, professionals still need to move to do business, whether corporate or leisure. It will be up to the tourism professional to adapt to this new digital reality, by associating both formats,” she added. The executive believes that Brazilians exhibit benchmark behaviour in terms of online purchasing, with very high rates of service acquisition when compared to other countries. The question is: how are tourism professionals going to prepare for this? With regard to this topic, the WTM Latin America event is fundamental. “We offer the market a great training opportunity and integration of the offline scenario with the virtual, which serve as strategic support for the optimization, generation and maintenance of relationships,” Adriana concludes.
WTM Latin America is scheduled to take place in São Paulo between April 2-4, 2019, at Expo Center Norte.