Industry needs to get its act together to avoid event clashes
David Beirman, the organizer of the 2008 Eastern Mediterranean Travel Industry Roadshow told The Mole that while EMTA’s first event in Rydges Melbourne on the 5 Feb attracted a very pleasing 150 agents, Qantas Holidays and Flight Centre’s decision to clash with the EMTA function resulted in not a single Flight Center Agent in Melbourne attending the EMTA evening.
On Tuesday Feb 12, EMTA enjoyed an excellent turn up in Adelaide with 80 agents attended and on Wednesday Feb 13 EMTA’s function in Perth at the Novotel Langley atttracted 70 agents, with the number a lot less than had originally registered.
EMTA is expecting strong turn outs at functions in Sydney on Tuesday 19 February, Canberra Wednesday 20 February, Gold Coast on 4 March and Brisbane on 5 March with strong registrations.
Over ten years ago, John Alwyn-Jones, Editor of TravelMole was working with the British Tourist Authority and David Beirman with Israel Tourism and they both experienced an event clash on the same night in the same hotel and vowed to start an industry calendar to avoid clashes of that very nature, which is what happened with the establishment of the ANTOR industry calendar.
David Beirman said that unfortunately, some industry members ignore the calendar, with Qantas and P&O among the worst offenders and as a result, it was not a surprise to him to find out that the clashing event in Melbourne was organised by Qantas Holidays for Flight Centre
In Perth, Creative Holidays which scheduled a Bali event and while Creative claimed to Beriman they had registered their Perth event in the calendar, the truth is that they registered their after EMTA, ignoring the EMTA event.
In addition, he added that when a number of agents told Creative Holidays that they were clashing with EMTA, Creative’s response was dismissive.
David Beirman urges all travel industry function organisers to check the ANTOR calendar to ensure everyone in the industry avoids the danger of clashing with other organizations.
David Beirman
National Secretary
Eastern Mediterranean Tourism Association
A Report by The Mole
John Alwyn-Jones
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