This year’s event will allow us to reflect and rebuild at a critical time for the sector, says Abta chief executive Mark Tanzer
On Wednesday October 13, Abta members and the wider travel industry will attend the first-ever blended Travel Convention, with the option to join either in person at the striking East Wintergarden in London’s Canary Wharf or online via a customised digital platform. This year’s theme is Leading the Way – envisaging and inspiring in extraordinary times.
As the pandemic continues to cause huge disruption to our industry, this year’s convention will provide a crucial opportunity for us to come together to reflect on the world in which we find ourselves and the industry we want to build – as well as be inspired by those with the vision for the way forward.
Leading the way
While the travel industry has always had to be resilient in the face of unpredictable political, economic and natural events, the pandemic has created unforeseen challenges and has had an unparalleled impact on every corner of our sector.
These extraordinary times have called for dynamic leadership and at this year’s Travel Convention, we’ll be recognising what our industry has achieved in the face of such adversity and hearing valuable insights from the frontline of this crisis.
As well as discussing the events and learnings of the past year, we’ll also be taking the opportunity to look forward at what’s next for the travel industry – in the short term as we look to emerge from this crisis and in the long term as we explore how our industry can come back better and stronger.
We’ll be looking at how innovations in the world of travel will shape the future of our industry – both in the UK and on a global scale – as well as how destinations around the world are rebuilding from the pandemic. With COP26 just round the corner, we’ll be considering the latest environmental developments and how we can place sustainability at the heart of our recovery. We’ll also explore changing consumer behaviours, what’s next for business travel and how we can adopt new ways of working to build better and fairer organisations.
Each session will be designed to help leaders and their teams envisage and embrace what the future holds for our industry, so delegates can get the most out of what promises to be a highly engaging and productive day.
This year’s convention and beyond
The Travel Convention has been hosted overseas for many years, and we’re very much looking forward to hosting our 2022 Convention in Morocco, as originally planned for 2020.
However, following the success of last year’s first virtual Travel Convention and the ongoing financial difficulties facing the industry, it seemed only right that we should return this year with an online element and an in-person event in the UK that would allow us to convene a greater number of people from the industry for some vital discussions about the future of international travel.
As the travel industry’s flagship event, the convention always attracts a high calibre of speakers from the travel industry and the wider business world, and we’ll begin unveiling the line-up this week.
Delivering thought-provoking content, keynote speeches and high-level business sessions, this year’s one-day event will also offer the much-missed chance to network and reconnect with our colleagues –face to face during refreshment breaks, lunch and a post-event reception for those joining us in our vibrant capital city.
I very much look forward to welcoming those of you who have already booked your places for this year’s event on October 13. For those of you who would like to join us but haven’t booked yet, registration for the in-person and online events is now open via the Travel Convention website, with early bird rates available until September 8.
Travel Weekly is official trade media partner of the 2021 Travel Convention.