GLOBAL Travel Group has come under fire for the amount
of money it wants operators to pay to attend its overseas conference.
A select group of 40 tour operators have been invited
to pay sponsorship money to help fund the conference, which takes place on
March 25-27 at the Elysium Beach Resort in Paphos, Cyprus.
But the costs, which start at £4,000 for Bronze
sponsorship rising to £20,000 for Platinum, have been criticised by smaller
operators for being too high. Last year Bronze sponsorship was £1,750. Silver
sponsorship has risen from £5,000 to £7,500.
Jewel in the Crown Holidays sales director Paul Cowley
said: “I can’t afford £4,000. There are a lot of smaller operators like us for
whom money is tight.
“For three days away, £4,000 is a lot of money and it
won’t stop there. There will be additional expenses on top.”
Cowley alleged various operators had been given
reduced rates from the official price tags making a “mockery of the whole
thing”.
“As a preferred supplier, why should I have to start
negotiating to reduce the price?” he said.
Peltours sales and marketing manager Darren Panto
said: “Demands are being made on operators that are quite simply unrealistic.”
Independent Options business development director Sue
Foxall said she had limited the number of operators to stop industry
“hangers-on” attending.
She said £4,000 was not a lot of money when operators
would be surrounded by “wall-to-wall” agents. About 300 Global members are
expected to attend.