Yes, our inspiration and mentoring event is heading to Bangkok, the second time we are holding in the Thai capital.

The first one, held last year, was well received by the industry and hospitality students and we are working again in partnership with HSMAI Asia Pacific (Hotel Sales and Marketing Associates International), which is a global hotel sales and marketing association and has chapters throughout Asia.

WITNext in Bangkok, which will be held at the Globe Bar of the Centara Grand, will feature a cast of speakers that come from various segments of the travel and tourism industry and who will speak about the range of career opportunities available in each of their fields.

The evening will kick off with “Lessons in Entrepreneurship + Innovation” from (pictured) Kei Shibata, CEO, Venture Republic, Japan, who runs the country’s leading travel meta-search website, travel.jp and Morris Sim, CEO + Co-Founder, Circos Brand Karma, a leading social media analytics company specializing in hospitality.

Both Kei and Morris started their companies from ground up and will share the trials and tribulations of being an entrepreneur, as well as the rewards and benefits of running your own start-up and what are the job opportunities in the digital travel space.

This session will be moderated by Brett Henry, Vice President-Marketing and Vice President India for Abacus International, Asia’s leading Global Distribution System which connects thousands of travel agents in the region to the major airlines, hotels and other suppliers.

Following that, Yeoh Siew Hoon, Editor and Founder of Web In Travel, will moderate a discussion about finding your career groove with veterans in the travel business.

Chananya Phataraprasit, Chairman of Asian Oasis which runs several travel companies including technology, tour operating and lodges will share her take on the potential of tourism in Thailand and where the career opportunties are.
Scott Smith, Senior Lecturer, Assumption University, Thailand and Director, Young Skal, Thailand, who is passionate about hospitality and travel, will share his perspectives about how the industry can better engage with young talent in the country.

They will be joined by senior executives working for major global travel brands – Ali Yilmaz, Head of Travel, Google, South-east Asia, John Mims, SVP World-Wide Sales & Resort Marketing Asia, Las Vegas Sands Corporation and Alvin Ch’ng, Commercial Director,TripAdvisor For Business, will talk about carving about a career in the corporate world.

We have also planned a surprise ending for the event which is aimed at helping everyone find their groove which, by the way, is the theme of this year’s WIT Conference, being held in Singapore, from Oct 17-19.

WITNext in Bangkok is being held the evening before Asia Connect, the HSMAI one-day conference where WIT will be curating two sessions.