On November 5 and 6 the 17th World Travel Monitor Forum took place in San Giuliano Terme, Italy. The Meeting is a renowned appointment for tourism practitioners, who annually meet in Tuscany to make the point about the past year and gain insights about the next year development of the industry at a worldwide scope.
The red line throughout the two days of conference was the economic crisis and its impact on the tourism industry.

While the first day was mainly devoted to the projections of IPK's World Travel Monitor, the second day more directly hit the issue with a think tank on strategies and responses to the economic downturn and a discussion on the outlook of the post-crisis tourism.

At the event Valeria Croce represented MODUL University with a contribution to the section devoted to “Megatrends and Innovation in Tourism”. Her presentation dealt with the process of aging population, a process of relevant magnitude with significant impacts on the world's population. By discussing the impact of the demographic shifts on our societies and the tourism industry, she elicited the need for thorough research in this area as support for tourism policy-makers in their strategy-development activity.

On the podium representatives of the UNWTO, univeristies, research institutes and consultants alternated to present the most relevant trends in tourism related industries (see program here below).

The event is regularly organized by IPK International, a tourism consulting company based in Munich (Germany) in collaboration with the European Tourism Council and ITB Berlin.

Contact
Valeria Croce (MA), MODUL University Vienna
Department of Tourism and Hospitality Management
Am Kahlenberg 1, 1190 Wien, Austria
valeria.croce@modul.ac.at | www.modul.ac.at/croce