TOWARD Europe Goes Monthly with Industry Forums

The Web and Business Operations are the Focus for 2006

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. October 14, 2008

UNITED KINGDOM, December 15, 2005. TOWARD Europe, the pioneering organisation created to maximise the profitability of the European travel industry, has announced it is to run 12 industry forums in 2006.

The organisation (www.towardeurope.org), Europe's fastest growing industry body, is expanding its conferencing programme by over 50% against 2005, following industry demand. The series of forums for 2006 will focus exclusively on either online operations or on key business issues, and are divided into six 'Online Imperatives' conferences and six 'Business Agenda' conferences.

Online Imperatives forums cover everything from designing the perfect website to online marketing and pay-per-click advertising, while Business Agenda forums will cover everything from distribution to technology, market trends to Europe.

Members of TOWARD Europe are entitled to send two delegates from anywhere in their organisation to each monthly event for free. The organisation has announced today it is giving travel companies not yet members a 10% discount on their annual membership fee, if they join before 21 December 05. This means that membership for 2006 will cost just lb900 (normally lb1000 p.a.) for tour operators, travel agents or online sellers and just lb1800 (normally lb2000 p.a.) for all other travel industry companies.

All events will be held from 10.00-1300 at 28 Portland Place in London, W1. The first Industry Forum for next year takes place on Thursday January 26, and is titled 'The Perfect Website'. The forum will be a master-class in how to make your online experience attractive, user-friendly and above all, business-winning.

Speakers already confirmed for the events next year include Hugo Burge, head of international at Cheapflights.co.uk; Nick Jones, UK category development director at Overture; Steve Endacott, CEO of Holiday Group; Andy Tidy, managing director, Up Trips; Sue Hurdle, director of The Travel Foundation and John Harding, CEO of Trustaccomodation.com. For details of all confirmed speakers, please visit www.towardeurope.org

Bill Barnes, Amadeus director of sales and a member of the Toward Europe management committee said: "Following the success of the Industry Forums held this year and feedback from our members, we're delighted to offer 12 events in 2006. The topics and fantastic line up of speakers promise that they'll be an unrivalled resource for travel companies and will give members a unique opportunity to share ideas and to network."

The full line up of Industry Forums for 2006 is:

.The perfect travel website ('Online Imperatives'), Thursday 26 January

.GDSs and the future of distribution ('Business Agenda'), Thursday 16 February

.CRM and tracking the web customer online ('Online Imperatives'), Thursday 23 March

.Travel trends: How the industry will change in the future ('Business Agenda'), Thursday 20 April

.Online marketing: Ensuring the right mix ('Online Imperatives'), Thursday 18 May

.The systems showdown: Latest innovations from the technologists ('Business Agenda'), Thursday 22 June

.Portal power: Which websites will win out? ('Online Imperatives'), Thursday 13 July

.New developments in dynamic packaging ('Business Agenda'), Thursday 31 August

.Pay-per-click and search engine optimisation ('Online Imperatives'), Thursday 28 September

.New products, new markets, new opportunities ('Business Agenda'), Thursday 26 October

.Online intermediaries showdown: Choose your partner please! ('Online Imperatives'), Thursday 16 November

.Europe: The new opportunities ('Business Agenda'), Thursday 14 December