Travel Industry’s “Dragon’s Den” attracts key investors to TDS Europe 2008
Published: 20 Mar 2008
In an increasingly unstable economic environment, where do you think the travel industry's most successful money men will be investing in 2008? And is uncertainty in the global economy likely to stifle innovation or will it instead open up opportunities for the right products and solutions to really get the foothold they deserve?
These are pretty crucial questions. The online travel industry relies on entrepreneurial innovation – the small guy with the big idea is what makes this space such an exciting and fast moving one to work in. However, these big ideas also need the investments that can turn them into a big company with a successful future. EyeforTravel recognises this and for the first time ever, we will be launching our own “Dragon’s Den” for the Travel Industry, allowing 20 shortlisted entrepreneurs to present their ideas to a specially selected panel of industry experts, venture capitalists and angel investors. The panel includes Dick Porter, Co-founder & Director, STA Travel; Hugo Burge, Founder, Howzat Media; Jason Katz, Founder, KP Capital; Gerry Samuels, CEO, Travel Capital; and John Kent, CEO, youtravel.com.
The EyeforTravel Innovation Initiative will be taking place at the Travel Distribution Summit 2008 on 20-21 May in London. These two days, which are already packed full of learning and networking opportunities, will see over 1800 attendees convene at the Business Design Centre in London, making it the world’s largest meeting place for online travel professionals. To see the event overview click here
Already more than 500 attendees are confirmed for the event. If you would like to see who you could meet, please email simon@eyefortravel.com with Attendees TDS2008 in the subject line.
Only Summit delegates will be able to watch the exciting final of the Innovation Initiative on 21st May (the first round on 20th May will be free to attend). 2 day Summit passes, which give access to the Innovation Initiative Grand Final, 3 co-located conferences and insightful presentations from over 80 expert speakers can be purchased online at https://secure.firstconf.com/travel/tds/register-logix.asp
Are you a budding travel entrepreneur? The Innovation Initiative is free to enter and could lead to exciting investment opportunities for your business. For more information about this event and details as to how you could participate see http://events.eyefortravel.com/tds/innovation-initiative.asp
Entrants have the exclusive opportunity to promote their product to a key audience and the chance to win £7,000 worth of marketing.
To Europe
Early bird for TDS Europe 2008 to expire 4th April
Comments
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Viaje said on 24 Mar 08:
Great promotion. Now, here's the give-away freebie entrepreneurial idea for the day: ancillary revenue from sale of insurance to protect travellers against large fluctuations in currency exchange rates.
For example, let's assume that a French couple, we can call them M & Mme Gaulois, six months ago booked and paid for a two-week American tour with stops in Disney World and Las Vegas for US$10,000, converted to EUR 7,000. But now, as they are packing for the big vacation, the American dollar has dropped and at the new exchange rate they would have paid EUR 6,300. (I'm just rounding, so the figures are not exact.)
So, M & Mme Gaulois have lost EUR 700 because of the exchange rate -- that's a thousand dollars they could have spent on slot machines or front row seats at the latest Elvis impersonator show. Six months ago, being aware of exchange rates, they would have been likely purchasers of insurance to protect against a possible drop in the dollar's value.
It may not really be insurance, but rather a foreign currency exchange option, a mini-derivative, in which M & Mme Gaulois would have the right but not the obligation to exchange euros for dollars at the going rate when they make their trip.