Utrecht, 9 January 2023 - During the second edition of the Dutch Travel Week in 2025, a new trade event dedicated to the digitalisation of the travel industry will take place: Travel & Tech. This trade event will take place simultaneously with the Vakantiebeurs Travel Trade Day, which will be expanded from one to two days next year. Jeroen van Hooff, CEO Royal Jaarbeurs: "The Dutch Travel Week consists of a week full of activities for travel professionals and travel enthusiasts including the Vakantiebeurs, the Vakantiebeurs Travel Trade Days and, starting next year, Travel & Tech. With the addition of Travel & Tech to the Dutch Travel Week, Jaarbeurs will offer not only knowledge sharing, purchasing and networking opportunities, but also inspiration in the field of digital transformation in the travel industry from next year." Travel & Tech as well as the Vakantiebeurs Travel Trade Days will take place on Wednesday 8 and Thursday 9 January 2025 at Royal Jaarbeurs.
Travel & Tech: towards a future-proof travel industry
Travel & Tech promises to be the meeting place for travel professionals to explore the latest trends and innovations in digitalisation. Themes such as digital transformation, marketing automation, artificial intelligence (AI), virtual & augmented reality (VR & AR) and cybersecurity take centre stage at the first edition. Marleen Rompen, exhibition manager Dutch Travel Week: "The playing field of the travel industry is in full swing. Both in terms of technology, e-commerce and marketing. Travel organisations need to think more and more about the use of smart data and software. Developments to which we, as fair organisers, want and need to respond adequately."
Travel & Tech offers a collective look into the future of the travel industry with a full programme of field experts, including a special startup zone focusing on innovation in the travel industry. Frank Oostdam, director ANVR: "Travel & Tech is a wonderful new initiative as part of the Dutch Travel Week. This event is a very nice addition to the already extensive programme of the Dutch Travel Week, as it responds to a major overarching trend in our sector in terms of digitalisation. Highly recommended for every travel professional." Jeffrey Kusnadi, Sales Manager Strategic Travel Trade Benelux & Nordics at AirPlus adds: "We see that technology and payment solutions are essential to the travel industry and will become increasingly important in the future. It is good that Travel & Tech offers a prominent place for technology, trends and strategies." AirPlus is one of the launching partners of Travel & Tech 2025.
Dutch Travel Week expansion
Changes in the travel industry and developments in the world require the travel industry to take a new look at business. A future-proof travel industry now requires cooperation more than ever. Therefore, based on recent research among the travel industry, Jaarbeurs has decided to expand the Vakantiebeurs Travel Trade Day to two days and open the Vakantiebeurs to consumers for three days. The new Travel & Tech trade event will be added to the full programme of the Dutch Travel Week. Jeroen van Hooff: "The Dutch Travel Week brings all target groups together in Utrecht. From visitors and trade professionals to journalists and international ambassadors. This makes the city the centre of and for the travel industry for one week a year."
Travel & Tech and the Vakantiebeurs Travel Trade Days are part of the Dutch Travel Week and will take place on Wednesday 8 and Thursday 9 January 2025 at Royal Jaarbeurs. The Vakantiebeurs will be open to the public from Thursday 9 to Sunday 12 January.
