ABTA Convention frontrunners named

BARCELONA, Athens, Marrakesh and Crete have emerged as the front-runners to host the 2005 and 2006 ABTA Conventions.

If conventions were held in Crete or Marrakesh they would be at beach resorts – the Creta Maris Resort in Hersonissos, Crete, and the Kempinski Hotel Mansour Eddahbi, Marrakesh. Barcelona and Athens would be city-centre events.

ABTA head of corporate affairs Keith Betton, who has been visiting all four destinations in the past few weeks, will report to the board on May 19 with a decision likely to be made at the July board meeting.

Meanwhile Tenerife has already put in a bid for the 2007 convention in a Palma style attempt to bag the convention every 10 years.

Tenerife hosted the ABTA Convention in 1997.