The travel trade must continue training and keep an eye on their cash flows if they are weather the recession, World Travel Market was told.
Speaking at the ITT’s Question Time debate at WTM, ITT chairman Steven Freudmann urged travel companies not to cut back on training during the recession. He said: “Companies that invest in training are the most profitable.”
However, All Leisure Group chairman Roger Allard predicted that more travel businesses would fail this winter because of cash-flow problems.
He said he was “amazed” at how resilient the industry had been so far, but advised businesses to “remember that cash flow is king – and make sure your credit card provider is on side with you”.
Western and Oriental Group managing director Ian Neale said the key to business survival was “maintaining the highest possible product knowledge and customer service”.
Meanwhile, tickets for the 2010 ITT conference went on sale at the World Travel Market (WTM) yesterday. The conference will be held on June 7-9 in Benidorm. To book, go to itt.co.uk/Conference10.