Matt Zito presenting at ASTA conference
Last week, TSI had the opportunity to present, “How Business Leaders Can Innovate in Travel,” to ASTA’s premium business members in New York City. The ASTA Premium Business Summit, is an exclusive annual event that allows its Premium Members to come together and connect on the industry’s most important issues.
Companies in attendance included Expedia, Enterprise, Casto Travel, Plaza Travel, Executive Travel, Ovation Travel, Amadeus, Flight Centre Travel Group, Luxury Retreats, Marriott, Wings Travel Group, Celebrity Cruises, Valerie Wilson Travel, Royal Caribbean, Balboa Travel, BCD Travel, Conlin Travel, Hertz, Travel Leaders, Virtuoso, Hickory Global Partners, Travel Planners International, Viking Cruises, ARC and many more.
TSI spoke about our investments in Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning, Travel Chat Bots and API’s that are impacting travel businesses. We shared strategies by corporate travel players from launching their own incubators and accelerators, starting Innovation Hubs to acquiring startup technology.
Overall, it was a great conference and we met many new people. At TSI, we believe in travel agents and the value they create for travelers. We don’t believe that the travel agency business will die. We do believe that the current travel agency business model is evolving. Technology and new travel trends are changing how people are traveling. In our view, the current travel agency/TMC model must change. Change starts by embracing new technologies and being open to new business models.
A special thanks to Miriam Moscovici with BCD Travel, Erika Richter and Mark Meader with ASTA for inviting us to the conference. The reception at the Westin Times Square followed by Kinky Boots the Broadway musical was a fantastic evening.
You can view our presentation deck below and photos from the conference.
TSI_ASTA
