- Salim Arkuch, Carrie Wilder, Francisco Madrid, Adriana Segovia, Francisco Andrés Scarpitto, Steve Quan, Julie Kyse, Javier Iezzi and Evelyn Hernández took the stage at the InterContinental Presidente Cancun Resort to share data, experiences, forecasts and trends.
- Dingus was one of the sponsoring brands of the Expedia Group – Travel & Tech Summit 2024 framed in the strategy ‘When travellers win, we all win’.
As usual, Expedia Group gathered many of their partners, customers and collaborators at the Cancun Travel & Tech Summit, an event to learn from the experts and celebrate with everyone in attendance.
Sponsored by Dingus, the event fully met its main objective: “to connect partners, large and small, with the universe of travellers, providing them with access to data, tools and technologies that maximise their potential and develop their business”. And it was in this context that we had the opportunity to meet with hoteliers and professionals interested in the Dingus offer: “we are committed to consolidating customer relationships and building trust between global distribution players, investing and launching new products adapted to the needs of each market and its maturity“. Undoubtedly an opportunity of enormous promotional value for our business model in destinations such as the Mexican Caribbean.
Agenda of presentations
Among the speeches that filled the central hall of this Travel & Tech Summit for two hours, the director of the Centre for Tourism Research and Competitiveness at the University of Anáhuac Cancún stood out. Francisco Madrid opened his presentation by asking whether a “new perfect storm for Mexican tourism” was approaching. He concluded by asserting that “no, not for now… although there will be turbulence”.
The tourism expert illustrated with figures the “clear pattern of a summer deceleration after a good winter season”, which he attributed to factors such as “insufficient tourism promotion, insecurity and the image it generates, destination fatigue and the intensity of the competition to be eligible, insufficient air supply in the domestic market and the peso-dollar exchange rate”. Madrid believes that the Mexican tourism industry faces major challenges between internal factors (concerns and uncertainties related to the judicial reform and the composition of Congress, weak public finances and the impact on costs of new labour benefits) and external factors, among which he highlighted the volatility of global financial markets, the slowdown of the US economy, the US electoral process and the aggressiveness of competitors’ efforts, together with the complexity of current global geopolitics.
How to navigate turbulent waters to 2025
The Expedia Group’s response to this instability comes in the form of key trends, identified as e-commerce (specifically the growth of e-commerce and digital transformation), sustainability as a source of value creation (with 90% of travellers already looking for sustainable options, 50% willing to pay more for them and 65% wanting more information on hotel and transport sustainability), as well as technology and artificial intelligence.
The Travel & Tech Summit 2024 closed with a party to toast the Mexican destination as a protagonist and recipient of travellers, driven by the organisers of the event, who are also celebrating 20 years of success in the country.
Cristina Torres. Dircom Dingus®
