Athens has been scrapped as the location for the 2006 ABTA Travel Convention and replaced by Marbella after hitches planning the event in the destination, writes Juliet Dennis.
It is the second time Athens has been dropped for ABTA’s convention – the last time was in 1974 because of tensions between Turkey and Greece following the Turkish invasion of Cyprus.
The convention will also take place later, from November 27-29 instead of November 23-25. This means it will be during the week instead of over a weekend.
Rumours about problems organising the event in Athens surfaced a month ago following a change in tourism minister in Greece.
ABTA head of corporate affairs Keith Betton admitted this did affect the planning, but added job changes among organisers at the Athens Convention Bureau followed by a switch in organisation of the event to Hellenic Association of Tourist and Travel Agencies compounded the issue.
“We feel there is a better year to go to Athens. The team we wanted to work with are no longer there and it was proving difficult,” said Betton.
He denied there had been a lack of interest among delegates to go to Athens – 250 had registered to date – but confirmed Marbella was more accessible with UK-wide daily flights into Malaga. “We’ll probably get more delegates in Marbella but we’re not moving it to get more delegates,” he said.
The event will be at the Marbella Convention Centre, where it was last held in 1998. Hotel deals and sponsors will be announced next week.
Olympic Holidays has yet to decide whether to continue as a sponsor. Commercial director Photis Lambrianides said: “Athens would have been fantastic but we are not despondent.”
Betton could not confirm whether Athens will be a contender for 2007.
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