A great line-up of keynote speakers and panellists will inform and entertain delegates at the 2014 New Zealand Hotel Industry Conference (NZHIC) to be held on June 5, 2014 at Pullman Auckland.
The annual hotel conference, now in its 8th year, is the only such event dedicated to the New Zealand hotel industry, and has Accor as its Platinum Sponsor. The program for the conference was announced today by co-hosts Tourism Industry Association New Zealand and Horwath HTL Ltd.
The program will include more than 30 local and international keynote speakers, chairs, panellists, hotel and tourism experts and key decision makers. Approximately 300 delegates are expected to attend this year’s conference.
The keynote speakers will include:
Mark Lankester, CEO of Tune Hotels, the fastest growing budget hotel chain in the world. Tune Hotels is a wholly owned subsidiary of Air Asia which was named the World’s Best Low Cost Airline in the annual World Airline Survey by Skytrax for five consecutive years from 2009 to 2013. Tune Hotels started with one hotel in 2007 and currently operates 44 hotels in eight countries, aiming for 100 hotels in its global portfolio by 2015. Tune uses a limited service model similar to the no-frills business model practiced by Air Asia and Air Asia X. Mark was awarded the Outstanding Entrepreneurship Award in 2012 by the Asia Pacific Entrepreneurship Awards.
Dominick Stevens, Chief Economist for Westpac will discuss the economic outlook for New Zealand’s main international visitor markets. He will look at economic growth as a key driver of international visitor arrivals, domestic visitor activity and hotel demand. Dominick’s presentation will be followed by a panel discussion on visitor arrival growth for the next 12 month. Panellists will include Dominick and representatives from NZIER and Visa, chaired by Rod Oram.
Plenary and breakout sessions include:
-Hotel Leaders Forum, with Garth Simmons from Accor, Bill Edwards from IHG and Barry Robinson from Wyndham, discussing regional hotel performance and outlook and Australian hotel trends
-Hotel Grading & Review Systems, chaired by Simon Haigh, MD Asia Pacific, Market Metrix with representatives from TripAdvisor, ReviewPro and Qualmark
-Airline Growth Outlook chaired by Charles Spillane from Auckland International Airport with airline and airport management including Malcolm Johns, CEO of Christchurch Airport and Glenn Wedlock, GM Aeronautical Commercial, Auckland International Airport. Growing sustainable air connectivity is a key theme in the Tourism 2025 growth framework, which aims to grow total tourism revenue to $41 billion annually by 2025.
-Hotel Development, Investment & Conversions chaired by Dean Humphries from Colliers with representatives from Accor, IHG, Heritage, Mantra and Wyndham
-Online Marketing chaired by Chris Adams from Miles Partnership with representatives from Google, TripAdvisor, and Facebook
The conference dinner will again include the three New Zealand hotel awards for Senior Hotel Executive of the Year, Outstanding Young Hotel Executive and Environmental Initiative. Winners will receive a Samsung prize. Applications are now open with entry forms on the conference website.
New Zealand Hotel Industry Conference delegates will gain complimentary entry to the Technical Seminar held at Simpson Grierson’s offices, on the afternoon of the Wednesday June 4, 2014, the day before the conference.
This seminar will consist of three panel sessions, of which two will be on key legal and commercial issues in relation to development of new hotels and serviced apartments and hotel conversions. The seminar will be followed by cocktails.