Advantage boss John McEwan has been appointed ABTA’s chairman after winning the hard-fought election.
The consortium chief executive won the vote by 54%, beating his only challenger, Britaly Travel director Daniele Broccoli at 46%.
John McEwan said “I am delighted to be elected as ABTA Chairman. It was a very public and lively election and I would like to congratulate Daniele for his contribution towards it.
“I now look forward to working with Mark and other members of the ABTA Board to take ABTA forward – delivering even better value to all Members and being at the forefront of change on key industry issues.”
As part of his manifesto, McEwan pledged to make ABTA a “catalyst for change”, and in the process, increase the value of the association for its members.
Furthermore, he pledged to ensure all sectors of the industry were heard. He hopes to gain support from other industry organisations to harness the collective strength of ABTA.
McEwan has also promised to lobby the government on behalf of the travel industry, and bring resolution on issues such as ATOL regulations, while broadening consumer protection and tackling the rising cost of Air Passenger Duty.
During the canvassing for the election, he said: “ABTA needs to be a catalyst for change.
“One of the key challenges for the chairman is to create a feeling of togetherness of total ABTA membership rather than having areas of potential conflict.
“If we want to move ABTA forward, we need to do that as one team.”
ABTA chief executive Mark Tanzer said “ John brings a wealth of experience to the role of Chairman and I am very much looking forward to working with him in continuing the development of ABTA as the leading voice of the industry.”
- Look back on the election battle at travelweekly.co.uk/abtarace
Video interview
Watch John McEwan’s response to winning the chairmanship on our ITT Conference video player…