Bio

Tony Smyth Senior Vice President with iFREE GROUP in charge of business development, corporate communications and establishing worldwide partnerships for this global TRAVELUTION company. iFREE GROUP’s business units encompass Travelution, Investment Banking, Property Development, Product Research & Development, Intelligent Education, Connected Homes, Augmented Theme Parks, Smart City Solutions, Smart Security Management, Smart Social & Community Enhancement, and Oncology and Cancer Research & Development. With worldwide operations in 34 countries, 24 regional offices and 6 dedicated in-house R&D teams located in China, Hong Kong, Japan, Malaysia, United Kingdom and United States, he promotes iFREE GROUP’s vision to build a connected future for a smarter and better world. He is active as: Member and Sponsor of Global Travel & Tourism Resilience Council (Chaired by Dr. Taleb Rifai and H.E. Edmund Bartlett) Member and Sponsor of Pacific Asia Travel Association (PATA) Founding Member and Brand Ambassador African Tourism Board (ATB) ATB Project HOPE Travel Taskforce Member and rebuilding.travel (Chaired by Dr. Taleb Rifai) Executive Director of SKAL International Hong Kong Chapter Tony is also the Co-Founder of MCI Group of Companies with business interests in Asia, India and Africa. He hails from County Cork in Ireland and has lived in Hong Kong for 30 years. He was the founder and publisher the acclaimed HA+D/Hospitality Architecture+Design magazine. Tony is also a regular contributor to The Peninsula Hotels Magazine. He is a popular conference moderator around the world on a wide variety of subjects. Tony was Group Publisher, Asia Pacific and the Middle East for Nielsen Business Media Asia charged with creating new markets in China, S.E. Asia and the Middle East. Prior to entering the wild world of publishing in 1996, he owned companies involved in property and golf course development, fast food franchising and finance based in Hong Kong, China, the Philippines and Singapore. He is extremely experienced in forming unique and focussed networking platforms. Tony is heavily involved in charity work, especially dog rescue organisations, and for 10 years had 12 rescue dogs at home which made his house always full of activity of both human and canine varieties. Of course, being Irish has always meant that he enjoys the finer points of a good beverage but most importantly his industry networking parties and entertaining skills are legendary! He’s always connected with iFREE.