The “What's Next – Innovating Tourism”, event organized by NEST – Tourism Innovation Center, has a poster of excellence to think about the future of a strategic sector of the Portuguese economy. From the BTL Labs stage, dedicated to Innovation, dozens of leading experts share best ideas and practices.

Lisbon, March 11, 2022 – Sustainability, people and digitalization are critical themes for the future of Tourism that will be developed by specialists and to which an external vision of the sector is added to open up horizons. “With What's Next – Innovating Tourism”, innovation has its own stage for the first time at the Lisbon Tourism Exchange (BTL) 2022.

From the 16th to the 18th of March, from the “BTL Labs” stage – run by NEST – Centro de Inovação do Turismo de Portugal –, more than 40 leading experts will debate where the future of Tourism is going and share the best ideas and practices. In parallel with the agenda at FIL, in Lisbon, the event also includes a set of four sessions, taking place outside BTL, which bring the vision of leaders from other areas of society and the economy to Tourism.

In this series of conversations, the special guests, who, being outside Tourism, have a point of view on it, will contribute with their vision for the future of the sector. Sustainability, Digital Revolution, Health and Tourism and Ideas that Change the World are the topics for the sessions that will be made available on the NEST YouTube channel.

Thus, in anticipation of BTL, on March 14, Tiago Pitta e Cunha, CEO of the Oceano Azul Foundation and the Pessoa 2021 Award, and João Wenrovius Meneses, Secretary General of the Business Council for Sustainable Development, address the issue of Sustainability.

The 15th will be dedicated to digital revolution with the interventions of Inês Drummond Borges, CTO of Soane Sierra, and Antonio Câmara, Chairman of YGroup. On the 17th it will be the turn of Germano de Sousa, Physician, Professor and Manager in the health area, and Maria de Belem Roseira, former Minister of Health, to debate the impact of health on tourism.

The cycle of sessions ends on March 18th with a discussion on Ideas that change the world, in charge of Juliet Kinsman, Travel & Eco Tips Condé Naste, and Joana Vasconcelos, Plastic Artist. All sessions take place between 18h00 and 20h00.

Innovation Stage

On the BTL stage, between the 14h30 and 16h30 on the 16th of March, the digital revolution brings together tour operators, technology companies and a set of startups that are changing the rules and reinventing solutions. On the 17th, the talent management and training the new generation of professionals will be the highlighted theme, with recruiters, trainers and professionals from the sector. The answers to the sustainability solutions on a mobile planet are the highlighted theme on March 18, with active voices in society and in the sector.

The president of Turismo de Portugal, Luís Araújo and the executive director of NEST, Roberto Antunes, will host the opening sessions of “BTL Labs” over the three days.

March 16, 14:30pm-16:30pm: Digitization

• WOW – CULTURAL INNOVATION – Adrian Bridge, CEO Fladgate Partnership
• THE AGE OF BIOMETRICS IS HERE – Aaron Beeson, ANA Innovation Director
• IMPACT OF 5G ON TOURISM – Miguel Adrego, Team leader in new business and innovation NOS
• EMERGING TECHNOLOGIES AT THE SERVICE OF TOURISM – Rute Cardoso, Account Executive at the Microsoft Public Sector
• TOURISM CALL – Miguel Barbosa, Investment Director Portugal Ventures
• THE POWER OF ANALYTICS IN CITIES – José Maria Garrett, NOS Analytics Business Leader
• CAN BLOCKCHAIN ​​REINVENT TOURISM? – Fred Antunes, CEO RealFevr

March 17, 14:30 pm to 16:30 pm: People

• DIVERSITY, ETHICS AND VISION: TRANSFORMING LEADERSHIP – Chitra Stern, President United Lisbon International School and Grupo Martinhal
• DIGITAL SKILLS TO IMPROVE AUTONOMY AT WORK – António Neves, Industry Manager Google
• TRAINING FOR ALL: UPGRADE 2.0 PROGRAM – Elisabete Mendes, Director of the Department of Pedagogical Management and Innovation Escolas Turismo Portugal
• FINANCING OPPORTUNITIES IN TOURISM – Gonçalo Regalado, Marketing Director – Corporate and SME Millenium BCP
• HOW TO ATTRACT AND RETAIN TALENT IN 2022 – José Paiva, Co-founder and President Landing Jobs
• THE POWER OF DATA IS YOURS! – Ana Casaca, GALP Innovation Director
• PORTUGAL WITHOUT BARRIERS: INCLUSIVE TOURISM – Nuno Leal, President Accessible Portugal
• Accessible Portugal

March 18, 14:30 pm to 16:30 pm: Sustainability

• THE FUTURE OF SUSTAINABILITY RELIES ONTOURSIMS- Juliet Kinsman, Sustainability Editor Condé Nast
• THE JOURNEY – Luis Araújo, President Tourism of Portugal
• SUSTAINABILITY AND THE ROLE OF COMPANIES IN SOCIETY - Margarida Couto, CEO Vda | GRACE
• HUMAN SUSTAINABILITY, A NEW DIMENSION – Ricardo Leitão, Guest Assistant Professor and Executive Director Nova Medical School
• SUSTAINABLE FINANCING IN TOURISM – Paulo Rodrigues Brito, Coordinating Director – Senior Manager Banco BPI
• LEADING THE CHANGE IN MOBILITY – Pedro Mourisca, CEO Via Verde
• CLEAN & SAFE: FROM PAST TO FUTURE – Leonor Picão, Coordinating Director Tourism of Portugal
• LAUNCH OF THE TERMAS DE PORTUGAL CAMPAIGN – ESCAPADINHA – Vítor Leal, President of Termas de Portugal

“What's Next – Innovating Tourism” is organized by The Next Big Idea, an innovation platform, and has the SIC and the Express as partners of medium.

All information is available at https://www.whatsnexttourism.pt/.

BTL 2022 bets on new sectors, such as innovation, culture, wine tourism and nature tourism, but also gives continuity to areas such as the BTL LAB.

The BTL LAB, in charge of the NEST – Innovation Center for Tourism of Portugal, is a space dedicated to the dissemination of companies that work in the sector of innovation in tourism. In addition to showing startups, the LAB is an important stage for debate, trends and exchange of experiences on the subject of innovation and technology.

Its dynamism is based on complementary initiatives with the aim of thinking, debating and applying the future of tourism, an industry that seeks resurgence in a post-pandemic readaptation and which, in the Portuguese case, corresponds to almost 20% of GDP.

 

About NEST:

Non-Profit Private Association, founded on 18 February 2019 by eight entities – Turismo de Portugal, ANA Aeroportos, Brisa Via Verde, Google, Microsoft, Millennium BCP, NOS and BPI. Its strategic pillars are cultural innovation, digital knowledge and pilot projects for the sector.

About BTL:

promoted by AIP Foundation, 33th edition of BTL – from 16 to 20 March – aims to reinforce its status as the largest tourism event held in Portugal, contributing decisively to the recovery of this important sector of the Portuguese economy. It brings together in one space more than 1.400 exhibitors and more than 70.000 visitors, of which 35.000 are professionals.