ABTA sessions fail to inspire: Comment by Jeremy Skidmore

If you were one of the select few travel agents who attended this year’s ABTA convention in Orlando, you won’t have learnt much from the business sessions, says Jeremy Skidmore. “Most people I spoke to, including big company executives involved in the panel debates, voted the content of the conference as particularly poor. “Lowlights included the technology session and a general discussion about the growth of the Internet, punctuated by a delegate complaining about phone numbers in the back of brochures. For a moment I thought it was 1997. “I found the Convention hugely beneficial, but not because of the sessions. It brings together an enormous number of contacts and I was able to hold meetings that in total would have taken months to organise back home. “But what can be to improve the sessions and are they even necessary at all? “I think you need a forum to discuss and debate issues, although perhaps in a different format. I don’t have any magic solutions, but some hard thinking needs to be done about the structure of the conference for next year. “Panel debates included too many people agreeing with each other – where were the alternative views? “There was no mention of cruising, one of the few growth areas in travel. Most people are in business to make money and a case study from a successful cruise agent might have been interesting. “Word clearly got around that the business sessions weren’t worth getting up for and, by the third day, the auditorium was sparsely attended. “The debate on US immigration threw up some interesting points for agents about the treatment their customers can expect in future, but by then there were precious few to hear it. “The Face to Face interview with Brent Hoberman missed an opportunity to put the lastminute.com chief executive under the microscope and wasted much of the allotted time discussing the past instead of the future. “John Stapleton is a professional journalist but you really need someone who knows the industry inside out to be able to ask penetrating questions. “Tellingly, the probing came from the audience, kicked off by industry analyst Michael East, who suggested that with everyone chasing the independent traveller, too many companies would be trying to sell too little product in the future. “These interviews need to be conducted by an East, an industry journalist or someone like Hoseasons boss Richard Carrick, who knows tour operating inside out and can command an audience. “I’ll look forward to next year’s Convention, but I hope the debates are worth getting out of bed for in 2005.” What did you think of the conference? How would you do it differently? Let us know your views and we’ll pass them on to ABTA.