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Justin Fleming is new ABTA president
Former Panorama chairman and MD Justin Fleming has been elected unopposed as ABTA president.
Fleming, now non-executive director of Worthing-based Classic Collection Holidays, has been in the industry for 30 years and in 1998 sold Panorama to Mytravel.
He was chairman of the association’s former Tour Operators’ Council for two terms and remains chairman of the Finance Committee.
“ABTA has been through quite a dramatic change in the last year or so but that is just the beginning,” he said. “The big challenge ahead for the next 12 months is to complete that work and make sure that ABTA remains attractive to its members and to new members and that its status grows within the industry.
“The association has already moved with the times, but unless this transformation is continued its relevance could well be diminished. I look forward to working with Mark Tanzer, chief executive, the secretariat and the board to achieve that objective. It’s going to be a lot of hard work but I am very excited.”
Fleming replaces Martin Wellings, managing director of Personal Service Travel in Hailsham, Surrey, who stepped down after 18 months to focus on his own business.
ABTA head of corporate affairs Keith Betton is to stand down later this year to set up his own public relations agency. See separate story.
By Bev Fearis
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Bev
Editor in chief Bev Fearis has been a travel journalist for 25 years. She started her career at Travel Weekly, where she became deputy news editor, before joining Business Traveller as deputy editor and launching the magazine’s website. She has also written travel features, news and expert comment for the Guardian, Observer, Times, Telegraph, Boundless and other consumer titles and was named one of the top 50 UK travel journalists by the Press Gazette.
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