The Tourism Society announced the keynote speakers for the Tourism Society Annual Conference on 20th June 2008 at the World of Glass in St. Helens, Merseyside. Hilary BradtHilary Bradt will kick-off the afternoon session with an entertaining speech about her extensive travel experiences to unusual destinations. Hilary founded the award-winning Bradt Travel Guides in 1974 when no 'real publisher' wanted to take on a guide to hiking in Peru and Bolivia. The company has nearly 150 titles in its catalogue covering all six continents and in 2008 won the "Gold Award" from Wanderlust as the top guidebook series, voted for by the magazine's readers. Hilary is a regular contributor to Radio 4 and travel lecturer including engagements at the Royal Geographical Society and the Smithsonian Institution in Washington DC. 
 
"As well as exploring emerging destinations for guidebooks and articles, my work for nearly 30 years as a tour leader provides me with many anecdotes" commented Bradt. "I will reveal not only what went wrong but also look at the more serious side of promoting tourism to the countries that need it most."

Neil Scales, Chief Executive and Director General of Merseytravel, the Merseyside Passenger Transport Authority and Executive, will deliver a keynote speech in the morning about the importance of good transport links to deliver a quality tourism product. Neil is also Chair of ITSO (the Integrated Transport Smartcard Organisation), Chair of PTEG (the Passenger Transport Executive Group), and as a member of the Commission for Integrated Transport Neil advises government on transport policy.
 
This year's conference will look at 'Making Emerging Markets Pay' from an international, national and regional perspective. Programme speakers include Geoffrey Lipman FTS, UNWTO Assistant Secretary General; James Berresford, Northwest Regional Development Agency (NWDA) Director of Tourism; Adam Bates, Brighton & Hove City Council Head of Tourism and Richard Lovell, Carlson Wagonlit Travel CEO.