NEWS THE INTERVIEW


Theme: ‘Leading the Way: Envisaging and Inspiring in Extraordinary Times’


Date: Wednesday, October 13


Venue: East Winter Garden, Canary Wharf, London


Fees: Abta members/partners £295 in-person, £155 online; Non-members £395 in- person, £255 online


Register at: thetravelconvention.com


behaviours may be different, and how that could impact your business”. He added: “We have Mohsin


Zaidi, a barrister, campaigner and writer, who will talk about diversity and mental wellbeing. And, of course, we have industry leaders talking about how they’ve dealt with the challenges and the opportunities they see coming out of Covid-19. “Andrew Swaffield, chief


commercial officer at Virgin Group – who people will remember from his days at Monarch – will talk about how Virgin is meeting commercial and sustainability challenges. “It will be interesting to hear Ailsa


Pollard, the new chief executive of dnata Travel Group in the UK and Europe from November, on how the market is developing, as dnata has an interesting spread of businesses with very different business models.


Business travel


“I’m very pleased Suzanne Horner, chief executive of Gray Dawes Travel and chair of the Business Travel Association, is joining us. Business travel has a different recovery profile


travelweekly.co.uk Companies have had real problems just to


come through this. But there is also a positive picture. The demand for travel isn’t going away


from leisure. Some people are arguing we’ve all learnt to communicate on Zoom and Teams, so will we ever go back to flying? It will be interesting to hear how travel management companies are responding. “Julia Simpson, new president and


chief executive of the World Travel & Tourism Council, and Manuel Butler, who is running the Spanish Tourist Office in the UK, will be speaking, and we have Richard Carret, nominated vice-president for alliance development and communications at Star Alliance.” Tanzer noted: “Not all the


challenges we face are due to Covid, of course. The big issue is sustainability. How do we meet the commitments to zero carbon? “Aviation is very much in the


headlights on meeting those targets and has to take customers on a journey where they can fly without a guilty conscience. “So there will be a lot of content from different parts of the sector.”


Demand remains The aim of the convention, he said, is “to capture a vision for the future. How do you lead through a crisis such as Covid-19? How do you lead an organisation or an industry through huge change? “I’m interested in the big picture,


the vision of what can be done, but also personal stories of how people on the frontline reacted and led others through the pandemic. “We want it to be positive and


inspiring. There are a lot of challenges.


Companies have had real problems just to come through this. But there is also a positive picture. The demand for travel isn’t going away. “I hope we’ll be able to get that


sense and rebuild the collegiate character of travel. “This is a very hospitable and


collaborative industry. Companies that compete and fight tooth and claw can also happily collaborate on challenges such as sustainability. It’s a mature industry in that way. “I hope the convention marks a


milestone for our sector in being able to come back together.” Tanzer argued: “This has been


a difficult period. It’s been a lonely time for people running businesses. “If the convention helps people


think ‘I’m not the only one who has had to face these challenges, there are others grappling with them and finding solutions and I can get support’, plus it can provide a vision of what travel can be in the future, that would be a result. “Travel has to be different, not


just in terms of its carbon footprint, but its impact on destinations.”


30 SEPTEMBER 2021 9


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