Former Sunday Times editor Andrew Neil is the latest speaker to join former England rugby union coach Sir Clive Woodward at this year’s Advantage Conference.
The UK conference, at the Radisson Edwardian Hotel in Heathrow on September 18-20, will also include expert on consumer buying trends, Mike Greene, who is chief executive of retail research agency him!, as well as Kevin Maguire, chief executive of the National Business Travel Association in the US, the equivalent of the Institute of Travel Management (ITM) in the UK.
Advantage sales and marketing director Colin O’Neill is confident Neil will be able to give a political perspective on the market, while Woodward will provide practical tips on team work to make businesses successful.
Greene, who works with brands such as Coca-Cola, Diageo and Unilever, will provide an update on consumer buying trends. He also spoke at the conference three years ago.
“It’s worth bringing him back to see how things have changed and he will discuss mechanisms to increase customer loyalty,” said O’Neill.
Update: Delegate numbers
Advantage is expecting similar numbers of delegates at this year’s conference, despite the recession and the UK location.
Three hundred delegates have already registered for the event – the first to be held in the UK for at least a decade.
The venue can hold about 500 delegates, a similar number to the venue for the 2008 conference in Sitges, Spain.
About 55%-60% of delegates are expected to be agents and 40%-45% suppliers, in line with previous years.
Next year, the Advantage conference will return to an overseas location and will be held in May instead of September. The destination will be short-haul, and will be announced at the end of this year’s conference.
Update: Business sessions
Industry leaders will join a panel chaired by Travel Weekly columnist Simon Calder to discuss the challenges for the leisure market in 2010, and recovery from the recession.
A session on the cruise industry will kick off this year’s conference for the first time, demonstrating the importance the sector now holds for independent travel agents. Traditionally, cruise sessions have been run as break-out sessions rather than as one of the main sessions.
Advantage will use the session, on September 18, to announce new net fares and allocations currently being negotiated for members for 2010 cruises. The session will focus on retailer-driven discounting, support offered by cruise operators, case studies and the future shape of the cruise market.
Advantage chief executive John McEwan said: “We want to work through some of the industry issues on cruise, but importantly, come up with some practical tips.”
The session will be targeted at a middle tier of about 100 of its agent members that sell cruise, but could sell more, added McEwan.
The conference will also host a session on September 19 on the consortium’s second State of the Nation survey presented by Travel Weekly editor Karen Dempsey. It will give members’ and partners’ views on the state of the industry, with year-on-year comparisons with what was revealed in August last year.
Further sessions on Saturday will include a presentation by McEwan on trading in the recession, and what the consortium is doing to help members, such as its Managed Services scheme. On September 20, Shai Vyakarnam, director of consultancy Transitions, will give advice to members on how to survive the credit crunch.
Similarly to last year, there will be break-out sessions on leisure and business travel, including speakers such as corporate travel buyer Jamie Hindhaugh, vice-chairman of the ITM, and sessions on best practice, including videos of agents who have swapped businesses to see what they can learn from other members, as well as the usual speed-dating sessions.