World Routes Opens in Las Vegas
Around 300 airlines, 750 airports and over 100 destinations are currently heading to Las Vegas for World Routes, the 19th World Route Development Forum, to discuss the future of air services across the globe in more than 8,000 pre-arranged face-to-face meetings and three high-profile conferences.
Core to the event are the face-to-face meetings which take place between attending airlines, airports and tourism authorities providing airports and destinations with the opportunity to discuss their route with the carrier.
In addition, World Routes 2013 will see a number of content streams running throughout the event which will bring together leaders from across the industry to participate in discussions that will set the commercial and political agenda for the industry.
This Conference Program includes the World Routes Strategy Summit, sponsored by Oman Airports Management Company and held in partnership with ICAO and the World Bank; the World Tourism Summit, sponsored by Brand USA and held in partnership with the Pacific Asia Travel Association (PATA), the International Coalition of Tourism Partners (ICTP) and TTG; Invest and Manage and a program of Routes Talks.
High level speakers who have confirmed their participation include Stephen Attenborough, Commercial Director, Virgin Galactic; Bob Jordan, Executive Vice President & Chief Commercial Officer, Southwest Airlines & President, AirTran Airways; Estuardo Ortiz, Chief Operating Officer & Executive VP, AviancaTaca; Lee McCabe, Head of Travel, Facebook; Christopher L Thompson, President & CEO, Brand USA; Stephanie Villedrouin, Minister of Tourism, Haiti; Prof. Jack Kasarda, Director – Centre for Air Commerce, University of North Carolina and Jaime Daly, CEO, Latin American Airport Holding (LAAH).
Also taking place during this year’s World Routes will be the first meeting of Caribbean & Indian Ocean Vanilla islands. Chaired by Minister Alain St. Ange, the Seychelles Minister responsible for Tourism and Culture and the sitting President of the Indian Ocean Vanilla Islands some 40 Tourism Ministers and CEOs of Island Tourism Destinations from the Caribbean and from the Indian Ocean Vanilla islands have been invited for a historic meeting of these two groups known as the Small Island States who are dependent on tourism for their economy.
