Dubrovnik 2013. The Travel Convention. But not as we knew it

Not only has it changed its name, but the ABTA Conference, er, sorry, The Travel Convention, has undergone a veritable transformation in the last decade. Having finally recovered from this year’s travel trade get-together, our regular PR blogger Helena Beard looks back…

"My first ABTA conference was nine years ago – Orlando 2004. A dangerous swarm of travel agents and those intimidating people I thought were celebrities because I’d seen their photo in the travel press once.

Nine years on, and those people have either a) retired b) become business colleagues or c) carried on appearing in the press, but no longer scare me. Or they are Malcolm Preston and are still on stage.

But it is not just the people who have changed. The whole world has changed, and, thankfully, the convention with it. It seems remarkable now to look at the schedule from Orlando. We flew 9000 miles round trip and the event went on for four days. Less than half of it was business sessions – networking and partying was the point. There were nine business sessions, plus four breakouts. This year, I counted 17 plus three. In half the time.

Back in 2004, I remember the big questions were the survival of the high street agent, and the anger over online pricing disparities. Disgruntled agency owners used the Q & As to direct their wrath at whichever poor tour operator had taken the stage, whether it was relevant to the subject matter or not.

There was a panel session called ‘Agents taking issue’ and another called ‘So much for the level playing field’. There was even a ‘Face to face with Brent Hoberman’ (successful online travel business owner = convention novelty act).

Fast forward to Dubrovnik and it’s all so different. The online pricing issue has lost its relevance and everyone now realises that all travel businesses need an online presence. But not just a website. We heard about the importance of mobile compatible, the use of tablets vs phones vs PCs for research vs booking holidays. We heard about iGlass (quite a few times, to be fair), we reeled at the Google stats, and the power of YouTube.

At one point, I left the main auditorium to attend a break out session called ‘Tourism in an uncertain world’ about the impact of crises on destinations. I felt like I’d escaped from the digital education equivalent of an all night rave, into the calm of a sophisticated garden party. My brain savoured a delicious scone for half an hour, then went straight back in for another vodka-Red Bull.

As marketers, we sometimes worry about how to can keep up. But it’s really not that difficult. Yes, things have changed, but it all still makes sense and, in many ways, technology has made things simpler. If I’m honest, I have found it much easier to get to grips with the marketing potential of mobile in 2013 than I ever did the intricacies of direct mail back in 2004. And that is because I am an every day user and it’s relevant to me.

Now, when a new platform, application or content development comes onto the horizon, I don’t run screaming for the nearest staff training course. We just sign up and start getting involved. And, happily, that is usually all we need to do."

Helena Beard is managing director of KBC PR & Marketing, a PR, representation and marketing agency specialising in travel and tourism.