Association of Independent Tour Operators (AITO) members hope that a bigger publicity campaign will help drive sales during AITO week in October.
The first AITO Week was held in October last year with the express intention of driving greater AITO operator sales through its Specialist Travel Agent (STA) members.
However, AITO executive director Kate Kenward said as the event happened just two months after its proposal, only about 12 AITO STAs took part in the event and it received little publicity.
Now, by launching the event, which will run from October 3-10, at the conference, it is hoped more STA members will sign up to it and support the event in their local high streets.
AITO Specialist Travel Agents Conference in Gdansk, AITO STA panel member Andrew Rowdon added: “It was an idea that came out of the meetings and we thought we’d go for it.
“There was not enough time to sell it to members [last year]. This year I’d like to see all 150 agent members get involved.”
Kenward added: “It is a great way to take AITO to the high street. AITO members are working much more closely with us [agents].”
She said it is hoped operators will come up with a number of promotions for the week, which they will be able to educate agents about during three AITO roadshows, scheduled for September.
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