58 | TRADE NEWS
www.nitravelnews.com
November/December 2023
THE ABTA TRAVEL
COVENTION 2023 BODRUM TURKEYREPORT BY ROBIN NOWACKI
THE 2023 ABTA Travel Convention was held at the superb luxury Lujo Hotel near Turkey's most famous and fashionable
Bodrum, from the 30th October to the 1st of November.
The Opening Ceremony was addressed by the Turkish Minister of Culture and Tourism, Mehmet Nuri Ersoy, who spoke of how he hoped his nation hosting the ABTA Convention for the third time, would lead to an increase in the numbers of tourists from the UK visiting Turkey. Jill Morris CMG the British Ambassador to Turkey, who also addressed
holiday resort,
The Moderator for the ABTA Convention was the LBC Presenter Sangita Myska who introduced and interviewed the Speakers, and chaired discussions on stage over the two days.
This included CEO of EasyJet Holidays, Garry Wilson who told the Convention “We’re in a really strong position now and I think a lot of that is due to what happened in COVID,” he said. “It gave us a chance to re- engineer our processes and think about how customers would perceive holidays in the future,
the Opening Ceremony,
spoke of the close the links were now between Britain and Turkey and the importance of the travel industry for the Turkish economy. The following day the ABTA, Chief Executive Mark Tanzer, opened the Convention saying the travel industry was on “the threshold of a new era”, with artificial intelligence (AI) set to have a “transformative” impact, whilst rising temperatures would be “making many reassess future investment”. Mark Tanzer continued “the path industry
the is on over the next
decade will not be easy, the challenges we face are set against a background of international conflict and economic stagnation. The horrific images from the Middle East and from the Ukraine are a reminder of how fragile the world order is.”
“It allowed us to focus on the things we had planned to do in the coming five years at a quicker pace. That meant that when we came out of Covid in 2022, we were in a much stronger position to scale our business – and we’ve scaled very quickly.” “The fear was that we thought that would slow down and would return to normal, but that hasn’t happened. Instead, the prioritisation of travel has continued, so that optimism we had is still there.”
Garry Wilson believes there has
been a “shift” in how customers think about travel after the pandemic, saying
people now treat it as a
necessity rather than a luxury, despite mounting financial pressures. EasyJet holidays will carry about two million passengers this year, up from one million last year in its first full year of operation.
NI Travel News Attends World Travel Market London
The NI Travel News team attended this year’s 2023 World Travel Market (WTM) London.
Busy two days was had by all as the team in attendance spoke with both new and ex- isting clients and, of course, discussed all things travel news. Jonathan, Sarah, Jordan, and Christine are now back in Belfast to make use of the wealth of knowledge and learning experi- ences developed over the past two days. Thanks to all who took the chance to speak with team.
If you would like to connect with any of the team following WTM, you can find their con- tact details below: Jonathan Adair –
jonathan@nitravelnews.com (Managing director) Sarah Pickering –
sarah@nitravelnews.com (Associate Editor) Jordan McCluskey – jordanm@nitravelnews com (Business Development Executive) Christine McCleery – christine@nitravelnews. com (Brand and Operations Executive) or call 02890666151 to speak to a member of our staff.
NI HOSPITALITY EXCHANGE 2023 : HEAR FROM TOURISM NI CHIEF
testimony to the strength and resilience of the industry and where it’s managed to get to. A really pleasing point for us is that we did see a large uplift in numbers of people coming from the Republic of Ireland as restrictions on Covid lifted. Those figures are continuing to rise and that market is strongly continuing. Certainly from places outside of Belfast, and outside of Derry, that is really important.” Looking
forward to 2024, McGrillen
highlighted that “On the face of things, 2024 is looking pretty good. I have to say, the world is in a pretty volatile state at the moment. We had a very strong US market last year, and when things get jittery on the international stage, Americans tend to get jittery about travelling. I think that is the only negative arising. Structurally, looking at future bookings and looking at events like the Irish Open coming back next year. I think we are in a very good place.”
NI
Hospitality
Exchange
celebrated
its 24th year in October 2023. The two day conference serves as a catalyst of innovation, collaboration, and excellence in the Tourism and Hospitality industry. In 2023, NI’s Hospitality Exchange took place at the Crowne Plaza, Belfast on the 17th and 18th of October.
Over the course of the two days, industry professionals, entrepreneurs, and enthusiasts networked with influencers and innovators from the hotel, food, and tourism sectors. NI Travel News’ Erin English met with
Tourism Northern Ireland Chief Executive, John McGrillen to discuss how tourism figures in 2023 compared with pre-pandemic levels. In response, McGrillen stated “I think we have done much better than anticipated than we would do last year. To be back to where we were prior to covid, so quickly, is a
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