One of Europe’s most eloquent proponents of research in travel and destination marketing is joining ForwardKeys, the leading travel analytics company which predicts future travel patterns by analysing 17 million flight booking transactions a day.

Olivier Ponti has been appointed Vice President Insights, with a mission to translate and interpret ForwardKeys’ considerable data in a way that brings travel trends to life, forecasts future travel patterns, reveals the impact of events on travel and provides deep insights into the travellers of tomorrow.

Olivier joins from Amsterdam Marketing where he was Research Manager, and where he initially established a reputation for attracting tourism and business investment to the city by judicious use of market research and compelling presentation. Latterly, as Amsterdam became increasingly popular, his data-driven approach was at the heart of successful initiatives to balance the demands of visitors, residents and businesses.

Until June this year, he was also chairman of the Research & Statistics working group of European Cities Marketing (ECM) where he played a pivotal role in developing the Group’s research tools and reports, as well as establishing strategic partnerships.

ForwardKeys CEO and co-founder, Olivier Jager, said: “We are pleased to welcome Olivier Ponti on board. He will very much be the face of ForwardKeys because of his ability to present data in a meaningful and lucid way. He has a track record of bringing data to life and connect it into actions to drive decisions and support strategies.”

Olivier Ponti said: “This is a great opportunity to join a world leader in travel data and analysis. My job satisfaction comes from transforming complex information into clear actionable insights and ForwardKeys is the place to do that.”

Olivier Ponti’s career in city tourism started in 2004 when he was appointed manager of the tourism research department of the Paris Visitors and Convention Bureau. He also teaches market intelligence at the Sorbonne University.

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