BARCELONA,
Athens, Marrakesh and Crete have emerged as the front-runners to host the 2005
and 2006 ABTA Conventions.
If
conventions were held in Crete or Marrakesh they would be at beach resorts –
the Creta Maris Resort in Hersonissos, Crete, and the Kempinski Hotel Mansour
Eddahbi, Marrakesh. Barcelona and Athens would be city-centre events.
ABTA
head of corporate affairs Keith Betton, who has been visiting all four
destinations in the past few weeks, will report to the board on May 19 with a
decision likely to be made at the July board meeting.
Meanwhile
Tenerife has already put in a bid for the 2007 convention in a Palma style
attempt to bag the convention every 10 years.
Tenerife hosted the ABTA Convention in 1997.