Aito revealed Thessaloniki in Greece as the location for its 2023 overseas conference as it called on members to help the association expand.
The Specialist Travel Association (Aito) announced the destination at its Annual General Meeting in London, where it also gave results of its latest Business Confidence Tracker and Consumer Travel Insights survey, discussed the merits of Artificial Intelligence and paid tribute to the late Derek Moore, former Aito chairman and deputy chairman.
The Aito overseas conference will be held on November 23-26.
Eleni Skarveli, UK director of the Greek National Tourism Organisation, described Thessaloniki as the “capital of the north”, telling Aito members: “I promise you it will be amazing.”
Last year’s overseas conference was held in Braga, Portugal, while previous recent destinations have included Wroclaw in Poland and Ras Al Khaimah in the United Arab Emirates.
Aito operators and agents, as well as affiliate companies, are invited to attend the annual overseas event.
Speaking at the AGM, chairman Chris Rowles reiterated the association’s expansion plans, revealed at last November’s conference, to drive up the number of Aito’s tour operator members to 150 by 2026. The organisation currently has just over 100.
He urged members to help reach this goal by coming forward with “leads” to help the association find new companies to join.
“We still believe we can hit that sweet spot of 150 members but we need leads. Please feed them to us and convince others this is the association for SMEs in the UK,” he said.