Asian travel pioneers lined up to speak at Travolution Summit

Asian travel pioneers lined up to speak at Travolution Summit

Founders of MakeMyTrip, Venture Republic and Yatra confirmed as keynotes Continue reading

Three of Asia’s most prominent and successful travel entrepreneurs will feature in keynote sessions at Travolution’s first day-long Asian Summit next month.

The event is taking place on January 15 ahead of SATTE, the annual travel mart being held in Delhi on January 16-17.

Around 150 delegates are expected attend the summit to listen to speakers from leading travel and technology firms from the west and the APAC region.

Headlining will be a triumvirate of Asian business men who are true pioneers in the travel sectors in their countries.

Opening the day will be Deep Kalra, chairman and group chief executive MakeMyTrip, one of India’s leading e-commerce businesses.

Founded in 2000 to serve US visitors to India, MakeMyTrip Launched in India in 2005 and, headed by Kalra, successfully listed on the Nasdaq in August 2010.

Kalra took on the role of group chief executive in August 2013, to focus on strategy, mergers and acquisition and international businesses.

The second Asian travel leader lined up to speak at the Travolution Asian Summit is Kei Shibata, co-founder and chief executive of Japan-based Venture Republic.

Venture Republic, which runs price comparison websites Travel.jp and Hotel.jp, went public in 2008 and is now back by LINE Corporation as a strategic investor.

Over 13 years, Kei has been an active investor and board member of various start-ups including Telunjuk (Indonesia) and flocations (Singapore).

Completing the keynote speaker line-up is Dhruv Shringi, co-founder and chief executive of Yatra Online, the online travel agency and search engine.

Shringi leads the company’s business initiatives globally and led the company to its successful listing on the Nasdaq in December 2016.

This saw it become the second Indian e-commerce company to be listed on the global stock exchange.

Since its successful launch in January 2006, Yatra.com has grown from having just three employees to a 2,400 people strong organisation, making it the leading travel brand in India.

Prior to Yatra.com Dhruv was director of group operations and technology of the Ebookers Group in London.

Lee Hayhurst, Travolution editor, said: “We are truly honoured to have three such incredibly successful travel entrepreneurs address our first Asian Summit.

“The event was conceived of as a forum in which the experiences of key players in different travel markets around the world can be discussed, debated and compared.

“We hope that this coming together of innovative ideas and visionary people will play some part in ensuring travel sectors in the west and the east continue to grow and prosper.”

Delegate places for the Summit are available online now for just £30 per person (approx. 2,700 Indian Rupees). Book now at: travolutionasiansummit.com