Skift Forum Europe Emphasizes Global Perspective — Meetings Innovation Report
Photo Credit: Skift Founder and CEO Rafat Ali at Skift Forum Europe 2017, our first such event in Europe. Skift
Skift Take
The travel industry needs to embrace the geopolitical realities of the world. More than anywhere else, Europe is at the center of a wholesale reimagining of the role that tourism and hospitality play in uniting global governments, cultures, and companies.
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More than 450 founders and executive leaders in the tourism industry from 36 countries registered for our first annual Skift Forum Europe this week in London.
Rafat Ali, founder and CEO of Skift, kicked off the proceedings by emphasizing the outsized role that Europe has in today's shifting travel ecosystem and global political landscape.
"Europe is in many ways the center of travel, and what happens with Brexit and anything associated with that, the movement of humans will become the biggest part of it," he said. "We think there's a wholesale change that's needed in how travel is marketed. The travel industry needs to embrace the geopolitical realities of the world, and we think the travel industry in Europe is poised to do it in the best way."
Visit Jordan tourism minister, Her Excellency Lina Annab, also addressed the audience with a message that international conferences like Skift Forum Europe are a conduit for collective cross-cu
