| Journal: TWUK | Section: |
| Title: | Issue Date: 01/05/00 |
| Author: | Page Number: 70 |
| Copyright: Other |
Bath taps into anti-technology feeling
to what his views were. During a lively speech, Bath again turned his vitriol on the Internet – with start-up companies bearing the brunt of his wrath.“I don’t believe in this technology,” was his opening line after a techno hitch had forced presenters to turn to the tried and tested written script.
“In 1895 it was feared that by 1910 the country would be buried under 4ft of manure,” he continued.
“The danger now is being buried under 4ft feet of press releases about rickety dot-com travel companies.”
We all knew what was coming next.
“I would rather have the horse manure,” he raged.
With the bit between his teeth, the joint managing director of Bath Travel then savaged marketeers who offer whopping great discounts “because they can’t beat the competition on merit”.
On discounts themselves, Bath offered the quite ludicrous suggestion that they are misleading.
Misleading? Discounts? Surely not. He added the headline discount never applies to the holiday the customer wants.
“As Travel Weekly said,” Bath went on, “discounts have been rumbled.”
WHEN it comes to subtlety, Stephen Bath does not immediately spring to mind.
Asked to comment on a presentation at the ABTA conference in Cairns last November, Bath replied with staggering rudeness that he was unable to offer an opinion as he had lost interest in what the speaker was warbling about and hadn’t been listening.
Honest, yes, but not particularly tactful, especially coming from the chairman of ABTA’s Travel Agents’ Council.
And while the rest of the industry waxed lyrical about the great and powerful advances of new technology, Bath offered the valuable piece of advice that agents would be better off buying a new carpet than investing in the Internet.
So it came as no surprise at last week’s Agent Achievement Awards in London that Bath offered one or two observations that left people in little doubt as to what his views were. During a lively speech, Bath again turned his vitriol on the Internet – with start-up companies bearing the brunt of his wrath.
“I don’t believe in this technology,” was his opening line after a techno hitch had forced presenters to turn to the tried and tested written script.
“In 1895 it was feared that by 1910 the country would be buried under 4ft of manure,” he continued.
“The danger now is being buried under 4ft feet of press releases about rickety dot-com travel companies.”
We all knew what was coming next.
“I would rather have the horse manure,” he raged.
With the bit between his teeth, the joint managing director of Bath Travel then savaged marketeers who offer whopping great discounts “because they can’t beat the competition on merit”.
On discounts themselves, Bath offered the quite ludicrous suggestion that they are misleading.
Misleading? Discounts? Surely not. He added the headline discount never applies to the holiday the customer wants.
“As Travel Weekly said,” Bath went on, “discounts have been rumbled.”
Bath: gets straight to the point