ABTA chief executive Ian Reynolds has admitted aspects
of the ABTA Convention were “disappointing” and suffered from
“pathetic” attendance.
The association is now analysing delegate feedback of the
Orlando event in the hope of improving the appeal of business
sessions. It has also ruled out long-haul venues for the immediate
future in order to attract more delegates put off by the time and
financial demands.
Reynolds said he was at a loss as to why sessions were so badly
attended, with some attracting just 200 out of 1,600 delegates.
“The business sessions were disappointing and attendance was
pathetic,” he admitted.
He suggested future sessions could be more general to appeal to
the interests of the wide range of delegates. More break-out
sessions could be tailored to specific groups of agents, suppliers
or operators.
“Overall, there are lessons to be learnt about meeting
delegates’ needs,” he said.
Reynolds said the convention and sessions had been prepared in
conjunction with the board and members, but they had failed to
appeal in practice. “In the event, it didn’t pull people in,”
he said.
“We tried to get it right but it didn’t work on the
day.”
Analysis of a questionnaire returned by 300 delegates is now
being collated and results will be considered at the next board
meeting on February 2.
The association has said the convention will break even, but
will host the event at short-haul destinations for the forseeable
future to avoid the commercial demands of long-haul events.
Next year’s convention in Marrakesh will be followed by
either Athens, Barcelona or Crete in 2006 and Tenerife is booked
for 2007.
Initial feedback from ABTA’s post-convention questionnaire
showed that 68% of delegates supported Marrakesh as the next venue,
with 31% voting maybe and 2% voting no.
Other feedback has shown that 29% of delegates had found the
conference “fully” met their needs, 55% said “partly”, 11% said
“not much” and 4% voted “no”.
For networking opportunities, around 78% had voted positively
that it had met their needs.