The German National Tourist Board (GNTB) is focusing its Knowledge Days 2021 on how digital transformation is shaping the present and future of international tourism. On June 23 and 24, high-profile guest speakers and GNTB experts will present current trends and technological innovations, future scenarios and the practical application of digital tools for its members and sponsors.

Petra Hedorfer, Chairwoman of the GNTB's Executive Board: "We see leadership in the digital transformation as an opportunity for future challenges. Together with our partners in German tourism, we want to discuss current trends during the Knowledge Days that we believe will shape incoming tourism in the post-corona phase. In this way, we provide practical support to our members and strengthen the position of Destination Germany in the increasingly fierce international competition among destinations."

As keynote speaker, company founder, tech investor and author Frank Thelen will present his view of digitization as the beginning of the greatest revolution in human history under the title of his bestseller "10xDNA - The Mindset of the Future".

Under the title 'Rethink & Unlock: Using Digital Technologies in Tourism', the Knowledge Days will address, among other things, new developments in conversational marketing, which is already an integral part of the GNTB's digital strategy with voice recognition systems, AI-supported chatbots or skills for smart speakers. This also includes possible applications and functionality of voice technology in Knowledge Graphs - a direct link to the German tourism industry's Open Data project, which the GNTB is coordinating. The trend topic 'Social Listening - digital listening' leads from social media marketing to the targeted positioning of brands‘.

The strategic GNTB theme of future-oriented and sustainable tourism, which has been established for around a decade, is the focus of the presentation "The Conscious Traveller of Tomorrow: Why travel and sustainability must be thought together in the future". The topic 'Recovery & travel data insights' will focus on possible uses of digital data sources in the tourism industry post Corona.

The Knowledge Days are the central format with which the GNTB annually addresses the latest trends in digital transformation for its members and sponsors, incorporates the expertise of prominent pacemakers from the industry and demonstrates practical applications for tourism marketing in the present and future. The external presenters in 2021 will come from Triple Sense Reply, one of Germany's most successful digital agencies, Talkwalker, one of the leading providers of social media analytics and monitoring, the Lufthansa Innovation Hub and Google, among others.

The GNTB is organizing the Knowledge Days 2021 as a virtual event.