Agent diary

Jacqui Cole, from Bakewell Travel in Bakewell, reports from the AITO Agents domestic conference at Drayton Manor, Staffordshire.

Saturday 11 January

Spotting fellow agents and friendly operators at the welcome drinks reception always evokes memories of the first day back at school after a long holiday. Building close relationships with tour operators that I know I can trust, and who can supplement my knowledge of their specialist destination, is at the heart of my business and meeting them yearly is an invaluable opportunity for further discussion and making new contacts.

It was a tremendous surprise and honour to find Bakewell Travel nominated for three awards and myself nominated as a ‘shining star’. I was delighted to see our MD Gary Cooke collect the ‘Best Newcomer’ award for the North of England, Northern Ireland and Scotland. The party continued well after dinner with a fabulous band.

Sunday 12 January

Jono Vernon Powell, from Nomadic Thoughts, used his seemingly effortless ability to command attention and started the morning business sessions. The theme was ‘reasons to be cheerful’ and it was clear that the mood was very different from the talk of a triple dip recession a year ago. Bookings from AITO Agents for the All Stars operators were up over 18% in the last year and the trend looks set to continue.

I was invited to take part in an interesting panel discussion together with Jonathan Whiteley from 1st Class Holidays, Elaine Tait from Kenneth McLeod Travel, and ABTA chairman Noel Josephides, who has numerous other lroles in the travel industry.

We discussed our best opportunities this year, as well as industry issues we should all be taking notice of. The use of social media was a divisive topic. Many present felt it is a vital platform for interaction and promoting business while others felt it is potentially negative. Personally, I am averse to using it and I don’t tweet or have a Facebook page. While Noel gave us an insight into the major changes and challenges we may face in the years ahead, we also discussed more current problems such as hoteliers promoting direct booking discounts on their websites and disinterested call centre staff.

The morning’s highlight was our guest speaker, Paul Chapman from Entrepreneur’s Circle, who had us hanging on to every energetically-delivered wise word. He discussed how his observations on good and bad business practices could be woven into or eradicated from our own working day.

Finally, following an enticing look ahead at June’s overseas conference from Czech tourism, it was time for the marketplace, a chance for a 10-minute one-to-one with some of the best and most knowledgeable tour operators in the industry.

Thank you to all the AITO panel for the hard work, making it such a successful conference, and to Drayton Manor for a fabulous venue and looking after us so well… back to work with a buzz now – looking forward to Prague…