A TOURISM Society bash at the Royal Naval College in Greenwich, chaired by that most respected of industry stalwarts, British Airways Holidays managing director Roger Heape, sounds like a thoroughly sober affair.
And so it proved to be at first as Gareth James from the British Tourist Authority and then Sunvil chief Noel Josephides gave presentations to the suited and rather serious-looking gathering.
But the tone changed as Peter Chappelow, managing director of Thomson’s Independent Holiday Group, entered the fray.
Chappelow, a no-nonsense northerner, soon changed the tone by turning the air blue and having a rant about our friends from across the water.
He said, in his own colourful way, how good it was for the UK market that the French upset us before explaining how Brits won’t travel to France when relations between the two nations are strained. He blamed the poor weather and the strong pound for hindering the UK market.
Chappelow said he couldn’t wait for the weather to improve, the pound to weaken and the French to make a mess (or something similar), referring to the three ways the market could improve.
By this stage Backchat was in stitches, even if others weren’t.
But it didn’t stop there as he gave his own unique insight into ‘semiotic solutions’ – whatever that means.
Chappelow also gave us a rare insight into Thomson board meetings by declaring many of his colleagues go ‘yacking on about load factors on aeroplanes’.
Combine all this with a farcical 1970s-style overhead projector display and you have the ingredients for an entertaining presentation.
How well it would have gone down at Greater London House is anyone’s guess.