Web In Travel Dubai – Travel Massive interviews

Earlier in April we attended Web In Travel Middle East, a two day conference in Dubai focusing on online travel in the Middle East. We had a chance to interview some industry experts and get their take on challenges and trends in the Middle Eastern travel market.

Here’s the video (apologies for the background noise, it was a busy event and we didn’t have a good microphone – something for next time!).

So, what did we learn? Here’s a few take-aways about the travel industry in the Middle East according to those we interviewed.

According to Fritz Demopoulos (founder Queen’s Road Capital and former Qunar.com co-founder) key winners in the Middle East market will require a local solution. Dean Wicks – Wego.com‘s “Chief Flights Officer” – says that the interesting thing in the Middle East is that the airlines are more willing to work with online partners than in Asia. Self confessed travel geek, Timothy O’Neil-Dunne from VaultPAD Ventures says that the opportunity in the Middle East is the immediacy of mobile for Middle Eastern travellers, who on average own at least two phones.

On travel industry distruption, new technology from big players like Facebook are challenging legacy distribution models according to Rani from Abacus Ventures. And men have a few things to learn from Mona Tavassoli (founder of Momsouq.com & Mompreneur) according to Ksenia Repina from Booking.com. And what’s Web In Travel all about? – “sharing ideas”, according to Rui Sequeira from Farelogix.

Last but not least, we also had a lot of fun making our own version of Pharrell Williams’s Happy. Can the travel industry dance? Let’s find out…