Phocuswright WiT Middle East 2024

Northstar Travel Group’s two leading travel tech platforms, Phocuswright and WiT, are joining forces to launch a Middle East conference in Dubai on May 3.

Scheduled to be held before Arabian Travel Market week, Phocuswright WiT Middle East at Grand Movenpick Media City will blend the best of Phocuswright intelligence with WiT market insights in digital travel to focus on technology, innovation and distribution and marketing trends in the Middle East.

Phocuswright is the world’s leading travel tech research authority and runs its signature conferences in Europe and the United States. WiT, based in Singapore, is a travel tech news and events platform focused on Asia Pacific and frontier markets and runs annual conference editions in Singapore, Tokyo, Seoul and Malaysia. It will launch in Africa this year with WiT Africa, March 14-15, in Cape Town.

Phocuswright WiT Middle East, supported by Accor, marks the return of WiT Middle East, the first of which took place in 2014. The last WiT Middle East was in 2019.

“We are excited to return to the Middle East,” said Yeoh Siew Hoon, founder, WiT. “We were part of the early growth of online travel in the region when we launched in 2014 and watched it grow rapidly in the ensuing years. What was interesting was how the growth there paralleled some of the trends in South-east Asia and there were lessons to be exchanged across both regions.

“In the last three years, since we’ve been away, much has accelerated and changed, and we’re excited to make our comeback with Phocuswright to unearth the myriad opportunities in this exciting high-growth region.”

Pete Comeau, managing director of Phocuswright, said, ‘We began researching the Middle East in 2012, and have observed a dynamic market transform from a mostly offline region in 2012 where online penetration was less than 20% to a market where over half of sales will be processed online by 2026. We are excited to team up with WiT to combine Phocuswright’s market intelligence alongside WiT’s deep industry insights on travel technology and innovation.

“At Phocuswright WiT Middle East, “You, Me & The Machine” will meet “The Human Revolution” and our program will be heavy on the new step change in tech that’s sweeping travel globally – from generative AI to content fragmentation to social commerce – and how humans working in travel need to harness these tools for the greater good of travel.”