Marc Descrozaille holds an MBA in International Hospitality Management in Paris from Cornell-Essec and is also a graduate of Lausanne Hotel School.

Prior to his appointment, Marc most recent role was President, Middle East and Africa, for Mövenpick Hotels & Resorts and he was responsible for over 50 hotels of the largest single brand in the region.

In his role, Marc oversees 191 hotels across all brands in India, the Gulf (excl KSA) and Sub-Saharan Africa, with an active pipeline of 118 hotels.

With more than 20 years of experience across a broad spectrum of disciplines in Africa (based in Cape Town), Europe and the Middle East, he worked for leading hospitality companies, including Radisson Hotels Group, Hilton Hotels and the Savoy Group (Claridge’s Hotel London). It was during his time with the Radisson Group that strong ambitions for Africa were realized and Marc led this vision for accelerated growth by opening 20 hotels in the region within a three-year span.

Marc’s operational experience is complemented by an intuitive understanding of finance, food & beverage in addition to working as a consultant at the very start of his career for KPMG, providing market and feasibility studies for upscale hotel projects and leisure concepts in Europe.

Danielle Curtis was appointed regional Exhibition Director for the Middle East for Arabian Travel Market in 2019.

Curtis took on the overall responsibility for ATM and all associated travel projects throughout the region.

Originally from Australia, Curtis has over 15 years’ experience within the events industry, including extensive knowledge of Reed Travel Exhibitions’ portfolio of events.

Prior to her accepting her latest role, Curtis was events manager for IBTM Arabia following her position as contract exhibition manager for Arabian Travel Market, where she had responsibility for the event’s strategy for the international travel and tourism showcase. Prior to that, she was Global Head of Sales for Reed’s IBTM portfolio of shows and has also worked on other hospitality-related exhibitions in the Middle East.

Curtis joined a team of accomplished travel industry veterans, and her expertise has further cement the wealth of travel trade knowledge and event experience in the WTM portfolio.

H.E. Zayed bin Rashid Alzayani was appointed Minister of Industry, Commerce and Tourism in December 2014.

Prior to his appointment, Alzayani led his family business as the chairman of Alzayani Investments, Euro Motors, Zayani Motors, Zayani Leasing, Zayani Properties, Alzayani Industries and Orient Motors.

In addition, he also served as the Managing Director of First Motors and Chairman of the Bahrain International Circuit (BIC) until 2016.

Alzayani graduated from Boston University, where he received his MBA in Finance and was a former Board Member of Boston University International Advisory Board.

Alzayani currently serves as the Chairman of Bahrain Tourism and Exhibitions Authority and was recently appointed Chairman of Gulf Air Board in April 2017.

His Excellency sits on the boards of the Economic Development Board (EDB), Gulf Aviation Academy, Bahrain Airport Company and the Business Family Network as well as acting as the Minister in charge of Bahrain Bourse from 2016. He is also a member of the International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS).

Priyanka Kapoor, Group Director & Senior Regional Director EMEA for Sales, Marketing, Branding and Communications at Swiss-Belhotel International, holds over 20 years of outstanding experience in the Hospitality and Airlines industry working with leading brands such as Hyatt Hotels and Jet Airways. Currently at Swiss-Belhotel International, with a portfolio of 145 hotels and projects, she is responsible for sales, marketing and revenue growth strategies at a Group level while managing the requirements of EMEA region more closely.

In keeping with the market trends, Priyanka leads the team with innovative ideas while consolidating the company goals with the ever-changing market situations and expectations of clients and owners.

She is a Certified Revenue Management Executive (CRME) through HSMAI and holds a diploma in Executive MBA in Global Ivy League curriculum, from Emeritus Institute, Singapore.

Laurent A. Voivenel is the Senior Vice President – Operations and Development, Europe Middle East, Africa and India, and Senior Vice President – Group Human Resources and Talent Development for Swiss-Belhotel International. He holds over 30 years of extensive international hotel and asset management experience with some of the world’s leading and most prestigious hospitality brands including Starwood Hotels & Resorts and Hilton Hotels & Resorts.

Prior to joining Swiss-Belhotel, Laurent was the Chief Executive Officer of HMH – Hospitality Management Holding for over three and a half years and was the primary driving force behind repositioning HMH as the Middles East’s largest and most credible operator in the dry segment while setting in motion aggressive expansion.

With a Master’s degree in Business Administration (MBA), Laurent has a proven track record in areas of corporate mergers and acquisitions, hotel development and investment, multi-brand operations, as well as outstanding management experience across Europe, Asia Pacific and the Middle East.

Being based in the Middle East for the last 18 years, Laurent also has a deep understanding of the region’s unique business dynamics and culture that has resulted in a solid network and close ties with hotel owners, developers and investors.

Yariv Fisher, entrepreneur and expert in the JCC, co-founder and chairman of Flyeast and Global Remit companies.

Flyeast is Israel’s principal aviation and tourism company, with a vast global operation in south East Asia.

Global Remit is one of the leading Fintech and Trade Company at the Israeli market, representing several banks and fintech.

Scott Livermore is the Chief Economist of Oxford Economics Middle East and based in Oxford’s Dubai office. He is also Managing Director of Consultancy in the Middle East and Asia, as well as a member of Oxford Economics’ Senior Management Team. Scott leads many of the major projects in the GCC and Asia which have recently included capacity building, macroeconomic modelling, and policy impact assessment engagements for government institutions in the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, and Oman, and IFRS 9 and Stress Testing engagements in Singapore, Thailand, and Hong Kong.

After completing a degree in Philosophy, Politics and Economics at St. Edmund Hall, Oxford University, and an MSc in Economics at University College London, Scott joined Oxford Economic Forecasting in 1997. During his initial five years at OEF, he worked as a country analyst for a number of European countries and participated in numerous consultancy projects for a variety of international organisations, governments and multinational companies using both Oxford Economics’ Global Economic Model and bespoke economic models.

Scott rejoined Oxford Economics in 2005 as a senior economist after spending two years at the Ministry of Finance in the Slovak Republic assisting with the government’s medium-term macroeconomic framework and developing the analytical capacity of the ministry to prepare such forecasts. He has also held the positions of Managing Director of Macro and Industry Services, Managing Director of Macro Consulting, and COO of Oxford Economics USA.