Travel companies are hoping for the first ‘normal’ peaks in three years, says Travel Weekly’s Lucy Huxley
Abta head of public affairs Luke Petherbridge headed to the Conservative Party conference in Birmingham earlier this week to make travel’s case as a key driver for the economy.
The event was overshadowed by the government’s swift U-turn on top band tax rates and its ongoing attempts to prop up the economy, so you would hope for some receptive ears for a sector whose contribution to UK plc is so often overlooked.
But with new incumbents in the ministerial posts closest to our industry, it remains to be seen if messaging will get more traction than it has done previously.
Conference season is of course not limited to politicians, with autumn also a busy time for the industry.
Following on from Travel Weekly’s Future of Travel Conference, the Business Travel Association and UKinbound held their own events and these were swiftly followed by agency conferences from Inteletravel, Elite, Hays IG and Midcounties’ Co-op Consortium.
This weekend, the industry will head to Marrakech for Abta’s Travel Convention, with many more trade events in the pipeline through to Clia’s Winter Forum in mid-December.
As Dame Irene Hays said at the IG event, this period and the conferences that are its hallmark are a great opportunity to “sharpen our acts” for what we hope will be the first ‘proper’ peaks in years.
As always, Travel Weekly reporters will be covering them all, so make sure to keep up with all the coverage on travelweekly.co.uk, on social media and in your only weekly trade magazine.