Every year the travel industry seems to be attending more conferences, more award ceremonies, and more roadshows. Is travel in danger of being ‘evented out’?
Well, not if the ITT Conference is anything to go by. The attendance figure at next week’s conference in Cyprus will be an all-time record 500 – governed only by the capacity of the InterContinental Aphrodite Hills.
Decision makers in any industry enjoy the opportunity to network with their peers and the travel industry is no exception. Of course, the business programme has to be carefully managed to appeal to this demanding audience.
The ITT Conference tends to look at the ‘big picture’ – that’s why this year’s opening session, which will be moderated by Travel Weekly’s new editor-in-chief Penny Wilson, will include big hitters Nick Hughes of Kuoni, Peter Owen of XL, Peter Brown of Monarch Airlines and Keith Stanley of Stella Travel Services (interviewed by Travel Weekly this week).
We’ll also be looking at the new Corporate Manslaughter and Corporate Homicide Act with Peter Stewart and Rhys Griffiths of Field Fisher Waterhouse.
There will be a focus on the modern legal and commercial approach to ‘safety culture’ within organisations. And we’ll be looking at the extent of the reach of the act – for example what happens when a death occurs overseas. Peter Stewart and Rhys Griffiths will also explain the radical new proposals for sentencing.
Alastair Campbell once told an ITT Conference that the travel industry was “crap” at lobbying, so it will be interesting to hear from this year’s keynote speaker, former deputy prime minister John Prescott, and see whether he concurs with this view.
Oh yes, and he may also try to sell us a few copies of his new autobiography…
