November/December 2024
SHAPING OUR FUTURE: ABTA CONVENTION 2024 CONCLUDES IN GREECE
REPORT BY ROBIN NOWACKI
www.nitravelnews.com
leading to “general belt tightening”, and he hailed “the astonishing recovery in travel and tourism” since the Pandemic. Tanzer continued,
“ABTA now holds over £1
billion of bonds for the first time, driven by growth in members’ sales”. Referring to ABTA’s latest Holiday Habits
report Mark Tanzer said it, “shows people increasingly relying on the support of travel organisers” and that “the trust in travel professionals is counter to the general decline in trust in the UK – in politicians, in media, in institutions”.
ABTA’s 2024 Travel Convention was held in Costa Navarino, Messinia, in the Peloponnese,
Greece, on the pristine
shores of the Ionian Sea, 7th -9th October, hosted by the Greek National Tourism Organisation.
The Convention returned to the venue
of the 2015 event, with delegates hosted at The Romanos, a Luxury Collection Resort and The Westin Resort. This years Convention theme was “Shaping our future, a call to action for the industry’s leaders, stakeholders and experts to come together to collaborate on forging a positive,
He called on the government to use Air Passenger Duty (APD) revenue to fund development of alternative fuels, saying: “We’re looking for the new government to help accelerate production of Sustainable Aviation Fuel (SAF). Without this investment, the commitment to use
10% SAFs on all flights by 2030 will be unachievable or prohibitively expensive,” he warned, while insisting: “The funds are there”.
He told the Convention: “The new government has made growth a priority. Travel and tourism must be an integral part of its growth strategy.
sustainable,
innovative, and resilient future.” Opening the Convention ABTA Chief Executive Mark Tanzer said the travel sector has “outperformed every other consumer product and service” in the last two years despite higher interest rates
“The travel industry will have to adapt and change to succeed in a low-carbon future, and we’ll have to take the customer with us”. Sky News Presenter Jonathan Samuels
was the Conference Moderator, keeping the proceedings moving and on time whilst introducing a series of interesting and entertaining speakers.
This included Face to Face with Johan Lundgren EasyJet’s Chief Executive who
will be stepping down in January 2025 after seven years in charge, during which he navigated the airline through the Pandemic whilst pursuing its ambition to become Europe’s most loved airline. From the world of Agriculture, Baroness Minette Batters spoke about her time as President of the National Farmers Union, which included leading the NFU through Brexit and COVID, and having to deal with no fewer then four different Conservative Prime Ministers – Terrsa May, Boris Johnson, Liz Truss, and Rishi Sunak. On Boris Johnson she said, “Jonhson just wanted to be loved by everybody”, “ he didn’t do technical detail and that was the big issue with him” this she believed led to Australia being given a “fully liberalised trade deal” during the G7 Meeting in Cornwall in 2021. Minette Batters also spoke on how she had gained a deep understanding on the importance of sustainable food production and how sustainability needs to be at the core of every business for it to survive. Minette was joined on stage by Matt Callaghan from easyJet holidays, who gave examples on how they are supporting destinations who are benefiting local communities, and Linden Coppell from MSC Cruises who spoke of company’s aim to become a net zero emissions organisation by 2050.
Greece is where the Olympic Games originated and so it was appropriate that an interview by sports broadcaster and radio host Kirsty Gallacher, chatting to one of Team GB’s succesful Olympians concluded the 2024 ABTA Convention. Olympic and World female Weightlifting medalist Emily
Campbell shared her
journey to becoming a double Olympic medalist in a sport relatively new to the Olympics highlighting how important it is to make your own space, and not waiting for someone to give it to you.
TRAVEL TRADE NEWS 83
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71 |
Page 72 |
Page 73 |
Page 74 |
Page 75 |
Page 76 |
Page 77 |
Page 78 |
Page 79 |
Page 80 |
Page 81 |
Page 82 |
Page 83 |
Page 84 |
Page 85 |
Page 86 |
Page 87 |
Page 88
