NEWS THE TRAVEL CONVENTION PREVIEW
Day two business sessions: Tales of change, growth, trust and resilience will dominate the convention on Wednesday. Ian Taylor reports
SPEAKERS: From left: Gloria Guevara, Stuart Leven, Antonio Muñoz, Enrique Ybarra, Maajid Nawaz, John Bevan. Bottom row: Robin Shaw, Richard Calvert, Giles Duley and Noel Josephides
Overtourism, polarisation and trust take centre stage
Behavioural change at work is the subject of the first session on the second day of Abta’s Travel Convention next week.
Jon Hazel, senior advisor with M&C Saatchi Transform, a division of the global ad agency, will explain ‘employee-driven transformation’, which sounds intriguing in a hall-of-mirrors kind of way. He will be followed by easyJet
chief executive Johan Lundgren who, aside from running a pan-European airline, is poised to announce details of the relaunch of easyJet Holidays. Will this prove a challenge to Lundgren’s former
“Nawaz discusses building trust in a world of political unrest, polarisation and Islamophobia”
employer Tui? It may be too early for him to reveal to moderator Chris Ship – but let’s find out. Overtourism has become a
buzzword in the past 18 months. In the next session, ‘The Growth Challenge’, World Travel & Tourism Council president and chief executive Gloria Guevara will address the issue. She will be joined by Seville
tourism councillor Antonio Munoz, Abta chief executive Mark Tanzer, Royal Caribbean vice-president for Europe and UK and Ireland managing directing Stuart Leven, and City Sightseeing president and chief executive Enrique Ybarra. Matters become more serious
Johan Lundgren
still when Maajid Nawaz, writer, broadcaster and former prisoner of conscience, discusses building
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trust in a world of political unrest, polarisation, Islamophobia and terrorism. The final panel session,
chaired by Ship, should prove a little lighter as dnata B2B chief executive for Europe John Bevan, Saga Travel chief executive Robin Shaw and Specialist Holidays Group chief executive Richard Calvert give a ‘View from the top’. They will be followed by guest
speaker Giles Duley, one of the world’s leading documentary photographers. Duley lost both legs and an arm
when he stepped on an explosive device in Afghanistan. Yet he has continued to photograph in war zones and to document the impacts of disaster on people. He will be a hard act to follow,
but Abta chairman Noel Josephides will draw the convention to a close in his own inimitable style – and no doubt draw a hall full of applause to welcome his return following a serious bout of ill health. Then it will only remain to
reveal the convention destination for 2019, which is…
Day one offers delegates choice of four workshops
Tuesday’s programme diverges after the final plenary session when delegates have a choice of one of four workshops. Travel M&A in Uncertain
Times will examine the state of the mergers and acquisitions market, and offer tips on how to approach a deal from a panel of experts who advise on or have experience of the process. Wellbeing in the Workplace will see the return of Dr Paul Desmond who will present ‘Five ways to wellbeing’ before moderating a panel debate on issues in the travel sector. In Reputation Management Inside Out, VFS Global chief operating officer Dusty Amroliwala will discuss mitigat- ing the risks of reputation damage due to business processes or employee action. In Get Ready for Voice!,
delegates will hear from Global Radio creative director Jo McCrostie who suggests we can soon look forward to voice- activated cars. Apparently, 50% of all web browsing will be screenless by 2020. It will “take some pressure off our eyes”, but what about our ears?
PICTURES: PEPO HERRERA; IAN OLSSON; ALEX GRIFFITHS; DAVID LEVENE; SAGA GROUP
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