Biggest ever Routes event officially opens

World Routes 2009 officially opened today (September 13) on a sunny and bright afternoon in Beijing. This year marks the biggest ever world event, said David Stroud, RDG deputy CEO, at the opening press conference.

Meanwhile, Liu Yanbin, chairman of Beijing Capital International Airport remarked that the record attendance of 3,000 delegates has seen BCIA recruiting over 3,000 volunteers to ensure a smooth running event over a floor space of 30,000sqm.

Earlier today the Tourism and Air Services Summit (TAS) saw a strong turnout of attendees keen to take part in the interactive session that focused on the interdependence of air services and tourism development. The speaker line-up included Mark Gill, manager of access development for South Australia Tourism and Sayed Mohammed Mehdi, director for marketing and promotion of Bahrain International Airport.

Mehdi said tourism authorities could impact the route development process through collecting and sharing data with their airport partners and by collaborating with stakeholders throughout the aviation industry.

"Regular dialogue with all stakeholders is vital and that includes hotels, speaking about pricing," he said. "But above all it is important for tourism authorities to continually support their airport and airline partners, regardless of what ever else is happening around you."

Tomorrow the one-to-one meetings, activities on the Hosted Networking Stands and the Global Strategy Summit (GSS) begin at 9am.

Lucy Siebert, Routes News