Great anticipation for the 7th edition taking place at Fortezza da Basso With Philip Wolf, founder of PhoCusWright©, confirmed again this year.

The fixture, created to provide tour operators, marketing experts and public administrators with the tools to improve the performance of their structures and promote their areas on the internet, has just this year gained an outstanding collaborator in Philip Wolf. Wolf, the founder of PhoCusWright©, was a guest at last year’s edition at which an immediate empathy was formed with the BTO team. But let’s get to the programme. To meet market changes and the needs of the tourist-traveller 2.0, the T of BTO will not only refer to the T in ‘Tourism’ but also in ‘Travel’ and ‘Technology’. The focus will return to the evolution of Mobile, Food and Travel, and Reputation and Relevance. Space will also be given to the most innovative startups in the field of travel and to industry research presented for the first time at BTO.

The economy of sharing will be at the centre of Sharing cars & accommodation, the section that will see among the guests Petra Friedmann, President EMEA at Homeaway, and a surprise speaker from Uber, the company that launched the controversial app that puts passengers in touch with drivers. Also bringing along their experience on the subject of Mega Metasearch are four world giants of the sector, Expedia, Trivago, Skyscanner and Kayak. Unprecedented for BTO is the ‘Technology’ topic that will focus on Hospitality Internet of Things, with examples of the way in which the web simplifies life for the user-traveller, and on Wearable technologies that have come to the fore after the launch of Google Glass and Smartwatches. Another rather provocative new entry to the programme is the study Human to Human curated by Paolo Iabichino, Group Executive Creative Director of Ogilvy & Mather Italy. Here BTO will put the emphasis on the importance of the people who work in the tourism sector, a sector that puts reception, hospitality and human interaction at the top of the scale of values. In short, people are at the centre, even in the internet era. Last but not least are debates involving the airline companies, with the precedent having been set by the participation of Emirates Airlines at BTO 2013.

Registration for BTO 2014 will open online at the end of August on the official website for the event 2017.buytourismonline.com. For a limited time you can sign up using the special promotion code “early booking”. A special offer is also available for those under 26, while tickets remain. Until then, the list of speakers is continuing to flourish with excellent participants who will be gradually revealed over the coming weeks. Also scheduled is a preview of BTO on October 15 in Alberese (Province of Grosseto). This event will be part of Culture Week (October 9 – 19), an initiative promoted by the Region of Tuscany’s Department of Tourism and Culture.

BTO – Buy Tourism Online is an event promoted by the Region of Tuscany, Toscana Promozione and the Florence Chamber of Commerce, organized by Fondazione Sistema Toscana and PromoFirenze (a special agency of the Florence Chamber of Commerce), with the science programme and creative concept developed by BTO Educational. The media partner and official website for Tuscany is www.intoscana.it.