ANYONE who knows Warren Sandral will know of his reluctance to get on stage at a conference.
Yet there he was again at Midconsort’s gathering in Palma last weekend strutting around the convention hall spouting in his distinctive understated style.
The topic of his presentation this time around was the snappily titled Truly Independent Professional Travel Organisation, of which he is chairman.
Sandral, who is managing director of French Life Holidays in his spare time, began by hurling sweets at the audience – which one uncharitable delegate suggested was French Life’s idea of an agent incentive.
This was proceeded by a series of observations on the state of the travel industry accompanied by his usual exaggerated arm movements.
Sandral, now in full swing, then painted a picture of a restless sleeper who woke in a cold sweat and let out three piercing screams (all nearly loud enough to wake up one or two slumbering delegates).
“His name,” pronounced Sandral, “was Gary David.” And TIPTO was formed.
How the audience laughed.
But Backchat’s mood changed when Sandral unexpectedly launched an unprovoked attack on the trade press and accused us of turning the TIPTO launch into a circus. After displaying a number of headlines surrounding the launch, Sandral announced it was “all rubbish” – or words to that effect – this is a family paper.
He said the widespread coverage was not what TIPTOfounder Gary David had wanted and not what Sandral wants now.
Was this a joke? Are we, thought Backchat, talking about the same Gary David? To put the record straight, our reporting was both fair and accurate, as David himself will tell you.
We bear no grudges – but in light of Britain’s ‘beef’ with our friends across the Channel, we urge agents to boycott all tour operators offering holidays to France!