This year's conference will look at 'Making Emerging Markets Pay' from an international, national and regional perspective. Special sessions will cover 'Achieving the Olympic Opportunities' and 'Winning the Battle for Business Tourism'.

According to the latest UNWTOWorld Tourism Barometer international tourism arrivals increased by 6% in 2007, to 898 million. Economic and tourism growth are driven by emerging markets and developing economies. While mature markets remain the leading destinations in the world, the faster growth rate of new markets confirms UNWTO's main message of tourism's potential for the developing world, according to UNWTO's Secretary-General, Francesco Frangialli. The conference will hear from Geoffrey Lipman, UNWTO's Assistant Secretary-General on how the international tourism industry is performing in terms of emerging markets.

From a national perspective,VisitBritain state that Tourism is one of the largest industries in the UK, accounting for 3.5% of the UK economy and worth approximately £85 billion in 2005. David Edwards, Tourism Trends Manager at VisitBritain will review how Britain can maximise on major emerging markets such as Russia , India and China. James Berresford from the NWDA and Adam Bates from Brighton & Hove City Council will explore the regional and destination perspectives.

The London 2012 Olympic Games and Paralympic Games present unrivalled opportunities to grow the London and British visitor economies. With teams from 204 countries worldwide and a potential global television audience of over 4 billion spectators, the Games provide a great platform to reach new markets and showcase 'Britain' and 'London' brands in emerging markets. Sandie Dawe, Director of Communications for VisitBritain and Sally Chatterjee, Deputy CEO for Visit London will reveal how Britain and London can make these emerging markets pay before, during and after the 2012 Games chaired by Think Tank Chairman, Ken Robinson CBE FTS.

Business Tourism is a growing market sector which generates a quarter of all tourism business in the UK. Experts from the group and individual business travel sectors will look at how this thriving market sector will target emerging markets for the UK and global economies including Richard Lovell, CEO Carlson Wagonlit and Giselle Ripken, MD DMS, sister company to Martiz chaired by Tony Carey, founder member of MPI UK.

1. click here for a summary of the Tourism Society Conference 2008
2. click here for information regarding the study tours and conference dinner
3. click here for the programme of events day one
4. click here for the programme of events day two
5. click here for transport & location details
6. click here for the booking form (downloadable pdf to be faxed, scanned & emailed or posted back)

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