ABTA ditches ‘president’ title
ABTA will no longer have a president after members agreed to adopt the alternative title of chairman.
The change was agreed at the association’s annual meeting when current president Justin Fleming announced the end of his three year term of office.
Nominations for chairman of ABTA must be proposed and seconded by members of the board and should be made by May 14.
ABTA head of legal and member services Simon Bunce said: “The new title of chairman better reflects the role, which primarily is as chairman of ABTA’s board of directors.
“This important office ensures that the board is running ABTA effectively in a way members would want.
“To date there are no formal nominations and we won’t be disclosing or commenting on nominations until we reach the end of the nomination process.”
ABTA treasurer Hugh Morgan revealed that the move of headquarters out of Newman Street in London to its new location in Park Street, south London, would provide a profit by 2011 of £250,000 a year.
Accounts for the last financial year ending June 30, 2008 showed that ABTA had made an increased profit of £285,000 on a turnover of £4.8 million.
Board member John de Vial was re-appointed following the completion of his first two year term.
He is leaving Thomas Cook and will continue as an ABTA board member as he is taking up a role at ABTA travel agent Light Blue Travel based in Cambridge.
Fleming told the AGM: “The last three years have been a very challenging and dynamic time for the industry. We have had to deal with tightening security as a result of terrorism; we have seen a consolidation of the top four companies into two, which has helped the industry to better cope with the current recession.
“The merger of ABTA and the FTO has given members better access to information and FTO expertise in times of crisis, which is proving effective now with swine flu.
“ABTA has also had some success in combating the issue of misleading prices and been able to fight fraud much more effectively.”
Phil Davies
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