Cinnamon Hotels & Resorts marked the occasion of ‘World Tourism Day 2015’ with the first-ever ‘Future of Tourism & Responsible Travel for Driving Revenue’ Summit on 28th September at the Cinnamon Lakeside Colombo. The Summit featured global experts exploring future tourism trends as well as responsible travel practices for driving revenue. The event was well attended by the who’s who of the industry, including 300 CEOs, Managing Directors and Managers of top industry leaders.

The opening remarks were delivered by Prof. Roland Conrady, Director of the world’s largest tourism convention, the ITB Berlin Convention, since 2004, and on the supervisory board of several tourism companies. He went on to eloquently explain the scope of the conference.

The President of Cinnamon Hotels & Resorts, Ajit Gunewardene, delivered a warm welcome speech to all present at the conference. Further, the Minister of Tourism & Christian Affairs, Hon. John Amaratunga, addressed the distinguished gathering, while Partners of the Future of Tourism conference also commented at the occasion.
Meanwhile, Prof. Mohan Munasinghe delivered the keynote address for the summit on the topic ‘How Sustainable is our Future?’ His knowledge on Climate Change and his experience gained as the Founder Chairman of the Munasinghe Institute of Development (MIND) and Senior Advisor to the Government of Sri Lanka benefited the audience greatly.
Adviser to the World Economic Forum on Shared Economy and Shareable Cities and an academic on the future of travel and tourism, April Rinne focused on ‘The Sharing Economy: Transforming Tourism’.

The conference also featured Dr. Ian Yeoman – the world's only professional futurologist specializing in travel and tourism, who uses advanced techniques such as economic modelling, trends analysis and scenario construction to analyse the future of the industry, which is exactly what he did for an enraptured audience at the summit.
Future of Tourism speaker, Prof. Sarath Kotagama, a leading conservationist, shared his views on ‘Responsible Product Innovation for Tomorrow's Traveller’.

At the symposium, Wilhelm K. Weber spoke on ‘Entrepreneurship and Education for Sustainable Tourism Development’. He is a partner of the Swiss Hospitality Solutions AG and a lecturer at University of Salzburg.
Senior Research Analyst at Euromonitor International, Shabori Das, also a panellist at the convention, imparted interesting insights on the topic, ‘Exploring Future Trends of Global Travel’.

Furthermore, a lecturer at the UNESCO World Heritage Work Master Programme, independent advisor for national, regional and city government administrations and a visiting scholar at various institutions in Belgium, The Netherlands, Italy and Dubai, Robert Govers, delivered an eagerly-awaited talk on ‘Destination Branding & its importance for the Future of Tourism’.

René Massatti-Trendone, who counts over 10 years of professional experience in the international agency business, held forth on ‘The World in 2025’, to offer insights to participants on how to gear up for tomorrow’s traveller.
The tourism industry today is experiencing rapid growth, both globally and in Sri Lanka, making dynamic waves of change and development across the commercial and technological landscapes of every region. This is why Cinnamon Hotels & Resorts, a diversified lifestyle brand, seeks to share knowledge through this esteemed group of panellists -their views, ideas and insights-, thereby creating awareness and an understanding of social responsibility within a dominant industry, said to shape the world in 2025.