Famous faces join Ultratravel Forum line-up

Rounding off the day on May 22 at The Savoy in London, panellists Jason Atherton, Tania Bryer, Charlotte Hawkins and Stanley Johnson will discuss what well-known public figures and affluent consumers are looking for when they travel and how they feel about the issues affecting the industry.

Jason Atherton was the first British chef to complete a stage at Spain’s famous ElBulli restaurant in 1998. Having also worked under great chefs including Pierre Koffmann, Nico Ladenis, and Marco Pierre White, he joined the Gordon Ramsay Group in 2001 as executive chef for Verre in Dubai. In 2010, he decided to go it alone and has since opened nine restaurants in London, as well as many others in Shanghai, New York, Sydney, Cebu and Dubai, winning several Michelin stars along the way.

His recipes and articles appear widely and he has published several cookbooks. He is also a regular guest on BBC’s Saturday Kitchen and in June 2008, won the third hugely popular series of BBC2’s Great British Menu, a show which has since returned to host.

TV broadcaster Tania Bryer hosts and executive produces the series CNBC Meets… on which she has profiled the likes of President Bill Clinton, Sir Richard Branson, Melinda Gates, Andrea Bocelli, Carla Bruni-Sarkozy, Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson, will.i.am, Diane von Furstenberg and Matt Damon among many others. She is also an anchor on The CNBC Conversation series, appears weekly on Sky News Sunrise and has contributed on Radio 4’s Today programme, ITV’s This Morning and BBC’s Celebrity Masterchef.

Joining her on stage will be reporter Charlotte Hawkins who is one of the anchors on ITV’s Good Morning Britain, a show she has been part of since its launch. Hawkins also worked at Sky News for seven years on Sunrise with Eamonn Holmes and has hosted Sky News at 9am with Charlotte Hawkins. She has also had numerous travel articles published in the Sunday Telegraph, the Mail on Sunday, the Independent on Sunday and Conde Nast Traveller.

Also part of the panel will be politician and author Stanley Johnson, who is also hailed as an expert on environmental and population issues. Johnson has had 10 books published dealing with environmental issues and nine novels, while his children include the former Mayor of London and current Foreign Secretary, Boris Johnson.

The panelists will be interviewed in this final session of the day by John O’Ceallaigh, digital luxury travel editor for The Telegraph, Telegraph Luxury’s travel editor and Ultratravel’s associate editor.

The Ultratravel Forum in partnership with ttgluxury takes place on the afternoon of May 22 and also includes a future-looking session from TrendWatching; a presidents’ panel with leaders from major travel brands debating issues in travel; and a session moderated by ttgluxury editor, April Hutchinson.

The day also includes Luxpo – the one-to-one luxury travel meetings event – in the morning and the 11th annual ULTRAs. The nominated charity for the ULTRAs this year is Children in Crisis and its founder and life president Sarah, Duchess of York will attend with her daughters Princess Eugenie of York and Princess Beatrice of York who are also global ambassadors for the charity.

• Tickets are available to attend the Forum (£195 +VAT) and the ULTRAs (£250 +VAT). For more information, go to ttgmedia.com/ultratravelforum