I had the opportunity to visit the summit and attend some of the numerous conferences that took place, namely those related to content production and social media. 😉
Web Summit Center Stage
Actor Joseph Gordon-Levitt talking about his company hitRECord
However, I was expecting more news in the area of Tourism. Admittedly, this is not an event focused on this sector, but I was curious to know if there were major technological advances that we could keep an eye on in the near future.
Perhaps the most curious thing that I came across was the Honula, an international platform that allows accommodation and surf schools booking in 14 countries. Watch the presentation video here.
But if it was technological advancements that I was looking for (and coming out of the scope of this blog), the conference on Artificial Intelligence with Ben Gortzel from Hanson Robotics and Mike Butcher from TechCrunch surprised me the most. If you want to know what the future will look like, check it out here… but I warn you that it might be scary…
Panda Conf stage
Facebook @ Web Summit
The new Airbus from TAP Portugal in the Web Summit
Returning to travel, one of the most beautiful stands of this year’s Web Summit belonged to TAP Portugal.
Not to be outdone as the setting was the new Airbus 330 that the airline will integrate into its fleet as early as next year.
TAP Portugal stand
So I had the opportunity to take a “trip” through the cockpit of the new airplane through virtual reality glasses and then try out one of the business class seats. I can tell you that the prospect of taking a long-haul flight in a chair that lies flat and also does massages (!) is quite tempting. 😉
This new A330 will start flying as early as 2017, first to the United States and then extending to the remaining long-haul routes.
The VR experience
The new business class seats
What do you think about the Web Summit? Have you ever participated? What is your opinion on the technological future for travel? Participate in the discussion in the comments box below.
22 COMMENTS
Chrysoula
6 years agoIt looks like you had an amazing time at the summit. Wow chairs that give a massage while you travel! i would love to try it too!
Marlene Marques
6 years ago AUTHORHi, Chrysoula. You’ve definitely got to try it! 😉
Tamara Elliott
6 years agoLooks like my kind of plane 🙂
Rob
6 years agoI have never attended Web Summit. It looks pretty interesting. Where is the next one? The A330 looks like an awesome plane. We house sat for one of the design engineers of that plane in Toulouse France a few months ago, he told us all about the cool design features.
Marlene Marques
6 years ago AUTHORHi, Rob. Web Summit will be held also in Lisbon in 2017 and 2018. And how cool was to hear from one of the engineers about the new A330. 🙂
Megan
6 years agoLooks like an interesting thing to attend and explore. The new plan looks particularly amazing. Think overall it would be interesting even just to learn about new things on the horizon.
Marlene Marques
6 years ago AUTHORThank’s for your comment, Megan. That’s the best part of this kind of events.
LeAnna Brown
6 years agoYeeeeah, I don’t even want to know where AI is heading! lol. Technology is an amazing thing, but who knows what it will lead to in the future (good and bad!) What a great conference to get to be apart of though, I bet you learned so much!
Marlene Marques
6 years ago AUTHORI did, LeAnna. Only wish I had a bit more time to catch more conferences. As for AI, is a love and hate affair with me. 😉
Christina
6 years agoLooks like an excellent event Marlene. Honula sounds like a cool idea for the surfing community. And the AI stuff is exciting. Great to see Portugal forging ahead in the digital world.
Marlene Marques
6 years ago AUTHORThanks, Christina. The AI conference was the most overwhelming for me. I only wish they had more shows on travel related technology.
Nisha
6 years agoDid you say 50k participants? Thats amazing and I am sure you loved moment of it. I had never heard of this until I got this barrage of emails asking me to participate and I did not 🙁
Marlene Marques
6 years ago AUTHORIt’s worth taking a look, Nisha, especially for those who like to keep up with new technologies or for those who have a startup in this area.
Brianna
6 years agoOMG, I’m thinking of going to Portugal next year but I may wit until I can get there with a lie flat massaging seat!
Marlene Marques
6 years ago AUTHOREheheh good move, Brianna! 😉
Samantha Elisabeth
6 years agoThis sounds so interesting even if there wasn’t quite as much about the tourism industry. I always feel like TAP Portugal is ahead of other airlines when it comes to best utilizing the web and its online presence.
Also, taking a fangirl moment for Joseph Gordon-Levitt *heart eyes*
Marlene Marques
6 years ago AUTHOReheheh join you in that fangirl moment, Samantha. 😉 As for TAP, you’re right, the airline company has evolved positively.
Arnav @ Eat, Travel, Live and REPEAT
6 years agoAn interesting summit to attend indeed.The Airbus setup by TAP Portugal is definitely a show stopper.
Wandering Carol
6 years ago50,000 people? Seriously? That’s huge. I’d like to attend more conferences and have been thinking about branching out of the travel blogging sphere into something like this. It sounds so interesting.
Marlene Marques
6 years ago AUTHORIf your thinking digital, this is for sure the place to be. 😉
Honula
6 years agoWe are happy to read that you considered Honula.com so interesting!
Websummit was definitely the place to be!
Marlene Marques
6 years ago AUTHORThanks, Honula. Wishing the best of luck with your project. 🙂