Business sessions

ABTA’s Travel Convention is recognised as the forward-looking and leading event in the travel calendar, with the business sessions providing a broad spectrum of topics and practical insights designed to help travel companies navigate the current climate and prepare for what lies ahead. The programme offers a balance of content anchored in reality with a vision of the future. 

Each year, some of the industry’s leading figures join us to share their views on the industry, while external experts deliver thought-provoking high-level content around new trends, best practice and innovations coming down the line. The two-day business programme also includes guest speakers who can inspire us to change the way we think and behave. 

Theme

Unleashing new potential will be the theme for this year’s Travel Convention. The business sessions will address the pressing challenges and exciting opportunities faced by leaders and senior managers in the travel industry, taking us from the here and now into the future. Through insightful discussions and thought-provoking presentations, we aim to provide a programme that will reveal new and untapped potential.

Industry leaders, visionary experts and outstanding guest speakers will explore a diverse range of topics from harnessing technology for travel’s future; nurturing talent and building for the future; sustainable initiatives and green communications; data analysis and emerging trends, and a range of other content that will equip delegates with the knowledge to help shape the future of the sector.

Convention moderator

Sangita Myska is an award-winning journalist and broadcaster working on national radio and television. She is a presenter at the national news and current affairs radio station, LBC, where she currently hosts a weekend, live and unscripted, phone-in show.

Prior to joining LBC, Sangita spent 17 years as a BBC National News TV and Radio Correspondent, where she worked on many major news stories, including award-winning undercover investigations.

Since arriving at LBC, Sangita has won Current Affairs Presenter of the Year at the prestigious ACTA Awards 2023.

Business sessions
Tuesday 31 October
09:40-15:50

Welcome and introduction 
Sangita Myska, Moderator
Award-winning journalist and broadcaster, Sangita Myska is a presenter at the national news and current affairs radio station, LBC, and hosts a weekend, live and unscripted, phone-in show. Sangita will open the business sessions with an overview of this year’s Convention theme and programme.

Opening remarks
Mark Tanzer, Chief Executive, ABTA
ABTA’s Chief Executive, Mark Tanzer, explores the central theme of this year’s Travel Convention, Unleashing new potential.

Consumer perspectives
Rick Jones, UK Hospitality, Sports & Leisure Sector Leader and Corporate Finance Partner, PwC
Eleanor Scott, Partner, Strategy& (part of the PwC network)
Rick Jones and Eleanor Scott will provide a PwC view on the outlook for the UK economy and how that might impact consumers and travel spending. What is the consumer potential waiting to be unleashed? What do they want? What do they think they want? The session will include proprietary research on how consumers feel about their financial situation and how they are thinking about travel spending with some crystal ball gazing for what this might mean for travel in 2024.

Unleashing travel’s new potential
Garry Wilson, Chief Executive Officer, easyJet holidays
Sangita Myska will explore travel’s new potential in a face-to-face interview with Garry Wilson, CEO of easyJet holidays. The discussion will touch on the key topics for this year’s business sessions, from transformative technologies and climate change to nurturing talent. We will also hear about easyJet holidays’ plans for 2024 and beyond.

Harnessing transformative technology for competitive advantage
Jeremy White, Senior Innovation Editor, WIRED
With the rise of generative AI and generative search, many industries are trying to figure out exactly how these potentially powerful tools can afford their businesses an edge in the current tech landscape. Through analysis and case studies of existing usage in sectors both within and external to the travel industry, Jeremy White will explain the strengths and weaknesses of what Bill Gates calls "the most transformative technology any of us will see in our lifetimes”.

ABTA LifeLine
Trudie Clements, Director, ABTA LifeLine
The Director of ABTA LifeLine will outline this year’s Convention LifeLine initiatives.

Advanced AI and the Future of Work
Inma Martinez, Technology pioneer and AI scientist advisor
Is AI going to take over people’s jobs and displace entire professions to oblivion? Or is AI going to enter the workplace as a tool to transform how we carry out our tasks and processes? Is AI the creativity-killer? These and other aspects of advanced AI overwhelm the current agendas for both governments, regulators and CIOs in the sectors where blue-collar jobs are for the first time challenged by AI such as Generative AI. Inma Martinez will take us across the many variants and interpretations of this societal challenge and share the current measures that are being studied across the international landscape.

How AI will disrupt the travel industry
Joao Gonzaga, Chief Digital Officer, DER Touristik Group
Generative AI and other emerging technologies stand at the forefront of revolutionising the travel industry. Chatbots such as ChatGPT and Bard can now help users in the trip discovery phase, ensuring travellers make informed choices. Biometric technology promises smoother airport transits, reducing time and increasing security. These innovations will further enhance personalisation, predicting travellers’ preferences and tailoring experiences to individual desires. Furthermore, sustainable technology offers eco-friendly travel options, addressing the increasing demand for responsible tourism. In this session, Joao Gonzaga will explore how together, these advancements are not just reshaping travel; they're setting the blueprint for its future.

Talking…Business transformation
Nisha Botevyle, UK & Ireland Country Director, Sabre
Phil Gardner, Chief Commercial Officer, Ambassador Cruise Line
Joao Gonzaga, Chief Digital Officer, DER Touristik Group
Simon Powell, Chief Executive Officer, Inspiretec
Digitalisation has been a constant source of inspiration, concern and advancement for the travel industry over the last 30 years. This panel of experts will debate how the latest wave has the potential to transform how the sector operates, communicates and positions itself to overcome any new challenges and embrace the opportunities ahead.

New data insights
Justin Reid, Director of Media, Destinations, Hotels and Growth, Tripadvisor
Using Tripadvisor’s vast data lake of over 480 million monthly users, which in August resulted in 236 million trip plans and searches from the UK market alone, Justin Reid will provide an in-depth look at the destination hot spots and cooling off regions across the globe for UK travellers from 2021 looking into 2024, to show where TripAdvisor’s users are focusing their holiday spend.

Time management for mortals
Oliver Burkeman, Best-selling author and journalist
A typical human lifetime is only about four thousand weeks long. And we certainly feel the urgency: we’re obsessed by our lengthening to-do lists, our overfilled inboxes, and the ceaseless struggle against distraction. Yet conventional approaches to time management simply exacerbate the sense that we’re hamsters stuck on ever-accelerating treadmills. In this talk, Oliver Burkeman explores the radical and actionable alternative of embracing our limitations as a path to enhanced creativity, productivity, peace of mind and meaning.

Business sessions
Wednesday 1 November
09:50-14:00

Welcome to day two
Sangita Myska, Moderator
Award-winning journalist and broadcaster, Sangita Myska will welcome delegates to day two of the business sessions and set the scene for another day of insightful content.

Face to face with Darrell Wade
Darrell Wade, Co-founder and Chair, Intrepid Travel
In this interview, Darrell Wade and Sangita Myska will discuss the critical issues facing our planet and the pivotal role that the travel industry can play in making a positive impact in the world of travel and beyond. Drawing on Darrell’s experience of founding Intrepid Travel – now the world’s largest travel B Corp – they will discuss accelerating the pace of climate action, as part of the Forward Faster initiative; preserving biodiversity; communicating sustainable travel credentials effectively and more.

Talking... Climate change
Dr Elif Balcı Fisunoğlu, Acting General Manager, Türkiye Tourism Promotion and Development Agency
Susan Deer, Director of Industry Relations, ABTA
Andrew Swaffield, President, Virgin Enterprises
Kelly Jackson, Managing Director, The Travel Corporation
This session will continue the conversation around Tourism for Good, recognising the need for the industry to be resilient and able to withstand future shocks and challenges. We’ll examine the potential impact that climate change and rising temperatures will have on the travel industry and the importance of collaboration to expedite progress on climate action.

Stand up, stand out
Cally Beaton, Podcaster, business mentor and broadcaster
No stranger to being creative in the face of adversity, Cally has held senior management positions at some of the biggest media companies in the world - including MTV, ITV and Paramount. Cally will share with us what she has learnt from her many years at the top of the entertainment industry and look at how it can help us equip ourselves and those around us to thrive in a fast-evolving world. A walking, talking advocate for coping with change and reinvention, and doing “one thing every day that scares you”, she will take you through the story of her professional and personal life to date, and help you find the courage, honesty and motivation to be able to get the most out of your own. This is a motivational talk with a difference, as she debunks the ‘having it all’ myth and looks at what it takes to get comfortable with being uncomfortable, engaging and retaining talent around you. Whatever challenges you are facing and whatever your reason for change, the process doesn't have to be limiting; it can instead be daring to do things differently and in a way that creates meaningful and positive change.

Talking…Talent
Cally Beaton, Podcaster, business mentor and broadcaster
Lucy Clifton, Managing Director, Flight Centre
Mark Duguid, Managing Director, Kuoni
Tricia Handley-Hughes, UK & Ireland Managing Director, Inteletravel
Moderated by: Jo Rzymowska, Owner, Jovolution 
Jo Rzymowska will be joined by a panel of industry experts to explore strategies for attracting and retaining talent and creating a more diverse workforce. The industry is constantly changing, and travel businesses will need to ensure their employees have the skills they need to succeed in the future. This session will look at how to prepare employees for this changing landscape and identify the skills required to develop future travel industry leaders.

ABTA’s Travel Confidence Index
Graeme Buck, Director of Communications, ABTA
As a prelude to our panel discussion on Travel in 2024, Graeme Buck, Director of Communications at ABTA, outlines the key findings from ABTA’s new Travel Confidence Index – developed to assess how confident consumers currently feel about international travel, and why.

Talking…Travel in 2024
Matthew Callaghan, Director of Customer and Operations, easyJet holidays
Torey Kings-Hodkin, Head of Sales, Royal Caribbean International
Ailsa Pollard, CEO, dnata Travel Group UK & Ireland
Alistair Rowland, CEO, Blue Bay Travel
Moderated by: Lucy Huxley, Editor-in-chief, Travel Weekly Group
Lucy Huxley, Editor-in-chief at the Travel Weekly Group will be joined by a panel of industry leaders to talk about the new potential that lies ahead for the travel industry in 2024. Lucy will facilitate the discussion and invite questions from the audience.

Back from the brink: how travel can save lives
Simon Parker, Travel writer, author and filmmaker
Simon Parker looks back at how the travel and tourism industry has fought back from the brink since early 2020, via some of the adventures he's embarked upon, and the inspiring people he's met along the way. When borders closed in March 2020, Simon's career vanished, almost overnight. In order to survive, he had to think outside the box. In the past three years he's met dozens of people all over the world, who too have unleashed new potential during, arguably, the most challenging period in our modern history. Simon’s first book, Riding Out, was a 2022 bestseller. He will be joining us directly from Miami, having just cycled 4,500 miles across the USA in preparation for his next book, Fractured States.

Closing remarks
Alistair Rowland, Chair, ABTA
The Chair of ABTA will highlight the key takeaways from the business sessions and thank all those involved in delivering this year’s event in Bodrum as he brings the 2023 Travel Convention to a close.