Comment: So, was ABTA’s Convention a success?

So, what was the verdict on the ABTA Travel Convention?

Overall, and most importantly, I – and everyone I spoke to – felt it was a hugely successful and well-organised event.  Most people came to network, cementing relationships and making new ones, and there was plenty of that.  The venue also leant itself to a good convention because everywhere was so accessible.

It’s cheesy to talk about a destination having friendly people but the Maltese hospitality was fantastic.

Conference moderator Bill Turnbull did a fair job but I’m not in favour of using outsiders because they have a limited knowledge of the travel industry and therefore cannot ask the type of penetrating questions that people want to hear. 

Turnbull has an excellent track record, but how can he be expected to understand the complexities of issues like consumer protection?  I know we had questions from people tweeting to the news desk – which was a nice new touch – but that can’t replace a strong interview.

Every time I say this people think I’m just making a pitch to do the job myself.  But it’s not just me who could do the interviews.

I strongly believe the moderating should be done by an industry insider or several insiders – there’s no reason why we couldn’t have various people hosting sessions.  Chris Photi, from White Hart Associates, did a good job with his Loose Talk panel debate and others could also moderate.

Much was expected of keynote speaker Willie Walsh, the chief executive of British Airways, but to be fair he was on a hiding to nothing.  In his speech he was never going to be able to offer breaking news, but he did at least give straight answers to questions.  Far better, then, to go straight to a Q&A but, of course, it requires an industry expert to put him on the spot.

The conference programme was one of the most confusing I have ever seen – detailing sessions from Tuesday to Wednesday to Tuesday to Wednesday and back to Tuesday again (why not just clearly show everything that is on Tuesday followed by everything on Wednesday?).  However, those who did navigate their way around them found there were some excellent sessions on offer.  My only beef was that many of the ones I wanted to attend clashed.

I felt the speakers were a mixed bag.  Boris Johnson’s brother Leo was entertaining and the economist Doug McWilliams excellent.  The digital man Josh Spear was fascinating, but I would have liked him to make his presentation more relevant to his audience and he rather let himself down in the marketing session that followed.

I was always puzzled by the decision to give a platform to Ken Livingstone and I didn’t change my mind after his speech.

A lot was said about the lack of women on the stage and I felt it was compounded by the decision to get one female involved in that Loose Talk session on entrepreneurs.  Victoria Sanders of Teletext Holidays is an intelligent and successful woman but not an entrepreneur in the classic sense of the word.

Nice though, to see ABTA redress the balance with a lot of scantily clad women dancing on the stage at the nightclub later on.

But was it a great convention? And would I go again?  Yes and Yes.

Follow Jeremy Skidmore’s views at www.jeremyskidmore.com