Ed Balls to be keynote speaker at hospitality and tourism summit

Former shadow chancellor of the exchequer Ed Balls has been announced as the keynote speaker at the hospitality and tourism industry's annual summit, to be held two days before the general election.

 

Balls, who lost his parliamentary constituency at the 2015 general election, is expected to provide an insight into the current election campaign.

 

To be held on 6 June at the Grand Connaught Rooms, London, the summit will be a collaboration between the British Hospitality Association (BHA) Summit, the Global Restaurant Investment Forum, Serviced Apartment Summit, the Hotel Distribution Event, AviaDev and the Airport Operators Association.

 

Topics to be covered include restaurants and how eating habits are changing, aviation and the importance of connectivity to the hospitality sector, the changing face of distribution, and the rise of serviced apartments and aparthotels and their potential threat to traditional hotels.

 

The event will also feature analysis of the campaign from broadcaster Steve Richards, presenter of Radio 4's A Week in Politics.

 

Richards, one-time chief political columnist at the Independent,

 

“I look forward to discussing it all at the summit. And we will have some fun too.”

 

Ufi Ibrahim, chief executive of the BHA, added: “We make no apology about introducing a political theme to our summit, but along with that we have a fantastic line-up of topics and speakers this year which should be of interest to many sectors of our industry.

 

“Coupled with the timing of the election and the launch of the BHA’s own manifesto for politicians of all parties, the day promises to be one not to miss.”

 

For the full itinerary and details of how to book tickets, go to www.summit.org.uk/

 

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