Trade backs call for BDM support


Samantha Mayling and Robin Murray


A host of travel trade professionals have backed a call to reduce the burden of industry conferences on supplier business development managers. Travel Village Group chief


executive Phil Nuttall last week warned many BDMs were facing burnout and said fewer events would lead to a better work-life balance – and more time to support agents. This week, Nuttall said he had


been contacted by many people in the trade, including at the Clia RiverView Conference, to say they shared his concerns. “I’m not telling people how to run their business – that’s not up to me. I also understand


that networking is a key element of our industry and conferences provide a great opportunity for it,” he added. “I just think we need to take


a step back and evaluate how we do things before it’s too late. Clearly there are lots who agree.” Dozens of comments were


posted by agents and suppliers on Facebook, supporting Nuttall’s remarks and echoing his call for fewer conferences, especially in the autumn. Cruise365 founder Anthony


Blackmore said: “Phil Nuttall is speaking a lot of sense. Peaks planning time is more difficult as key contacts are at conference after conference.” Kay Byrne, owner at Palm


Trees Travel, said running her own agency was “far easier” than her 10-year stint as a BDM.


Baroness: It wouldn’t take much to improve airline accessibility


Ian Taylor


Wheelchair users “always have a dread” of flying, according to Baroness Tanni Grey-Thompson, chair of the government’s Aviation Accessibility Task and Finish Group. Addressing the Corporate


Travel Summit of the Business Travel Association and Advantage Global Business Travel last week, Grey-Thompson reported having “loads of experiences when I’ve been humiliated” and said: “If you can’t get it right for Frank Gardner, what about all the people who don’t have his profile?” BBC journalist Gardner, a


6 13 MARCH 2025


wheelchair user after being shot and paralysed in Saudi Arabia, reported having to crawl to the toilet on a flight last October, and has reported being stranded on aircraft after landing at least four times. Grey-Thompson recalled a flight


where her wheelchair went missing and “turned up three months later in Dublin, sawn in half”. She said: “I’m used to flying,


but you always have that dread. I choose airlines and airports very carefully and most of my family and friends choose the same. It’s about understanding how important my mobility equipment is to my life.”


BDMs are


expected to be here, there and everywhere and work outside of normal working hours


Clare Dudley, managing director at


agency Ponders Travel, said: “BDMs are expected to be here, there and everywhere, and so much of their work is outside of what is normal working hours. We need to support these very important people in our trade.” Richard Slater, managing director


of Henbury Travel and northwest chair at Abta, noted how many consortia hold separate conferences for retail agents, managers, homeworkers


and other business units. “All of these could easily


be combined into a single conference,” he said. “The money currently spent


on these various conferences could be better used for proper product and destination training.” The Business Travel Association


(BTA) joined with Advantage Global Business Travel to hold a first joint Corporate Travel Summit last week, partly in response to the volume of events for the trade. BTA chief executive Clive


Wratten told the conference in London: “We’ve been talking for some time about how many events there are and how much of the content we share, so why not get together to discuss the issues?”


Baroness Tanni Grey-Thompson


Grey-Thompson was appointed to


head the Aviation Accessibility group last November “to look at disabled people’s experience of aviation” and to develop “practical and achievable actions” and improvements. The group is due to report by the


summer, with the government likely to respond in the autumn. However, Grey-Thompson said:


“It’s a challenge as there is no money and the department [for transport] is not planning any legislation. We’ll leave a list of things to do. “We have 144 recommendations,


which we’re going to cut. I don’t plan a 300-page report. It will be tight.” Grey-Thompson identified the


main issues as “people being left on planes and equipment being damaged”. She said: “I have hundreds of


disabled people write to me every year about bad experiences, but I don’t think it would take huge amounts of work to make the industry better.” However, she acknowledged:


“There are more people requesting assistance at airports [and] a lot of the


support [required] is wayfinding.” i Corporate Travel Summit, page 46


travelweekly.co.uk


PICTURE: Dean Rossiter Photography


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