Comment by Jeremy Skidmore: Convention a success but sessions need to offer more

Saturday, 02 Nov, 2003 0

Comment by Jeremy Skidmore

Another ABTA Convention comes to an end and what have we learnt?

Not a lot, but such is the nature of these events.

The conference sessions have been entertaining rather than informative and, as usual, the real benefit has been the opportunity to network with dozens of contacts in a short space of time.

Conference moderator John Stapleton was excellent. Unlike many of his predecessors, he clearly did some research into the issues affecting the industry and consequently was able to cut through much of the waffle and pin down interviewees on various issues. He earned his fee and deserves to be booked again next year.

The opening session “The Time, The Place” provided an interesting new format, but the content was disappointing. Yet again we had the same old moans about British Airways cutting commission. Shut your eyes and you could have been in a Convention session from 2001.

Surely it´s time to put this issue to bed. BA has cut commission. It´s not going to change it´s stance. You´ve got to live with it and move on.

I agree with Richard Carrick from Hoseasons, who said we should learn more from sessions. Conventions are crying out for new speakers with a different take on the industry to make presentations instead of seeing the same old faces debating the same old tired issues.

Of course, there needs to be some debate and I would like to see more focus on the customer and, in particular, discussion about the level of service in the industry. Agents are being urged to be more selective about the operators they do business with and have increasingly tried to switch sell away from certain suppliers.

But how does this square with offering a high level of customer service? If, for example, an agent switch sells from BA to Virgin is he really looking after his client? How would a holidaymaker feel if he found out that he was being sold a product because it suited the agent rather than his needs? To what extent should agents be suiting themselves rather than their customers?

Greater audience participation would also be welcomed. It´s intimidating to speak in front of 3,000 people and it´s no wonder many keep quiet, particularly if they are feeling slightly fragile from the night before, but we need more than just dear old Doug Wardle from Doug Wardle Travel to make an interesting debate.

As far as the entertainment is concerned, it´s quite heartening that nothing has changed on that front. Despite the doom and gloom surrounding the industry, or perhaps because of it, delegates proved once again they can party until well into the early hours and still make it for the conference sessions. After a couple of days I was starting to feel the affects of sleep deprivation. I must be getting old!

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