Mr. Ed Fuller, president and managing director of international lodging for Marriott International, has been confirmed to provide the keynote address at the World Export Development Forum in Istanbul on 10 May.
Mr. Fuller has nearly 40 years of experience at Marriott, an international hotel company with more than 3,500 properties in 70 countries. He will address the WEDF during the opening session on the topic of the potential for tourism’s contribution to sustainable growth.
The theme of the WEDF 2011 is ‘Private sector engagement with LDCs for tourism-led growth and inclusive sustainable development’. The aim of the Forum is to identify ways to bring small- and medium-sized enterprises in least developed countries into the tourism value chain.
Other speakers from the private sector include: Mr. Hiran Cooray, the Chairman of the Pacific Asia Travel Association (PATA) and Chairman of Jetwing; Ms. Rosette Chantal Rugamba, founder of Songa Africa, Rwanda; Professor Geoffrey Lipman, founder of Greenearth.travel; and Mr. Ronald Hepburn, founder and Managing Director of Etoile Partners, UK.