This week ABTA kicked off its annual travel convention. With past convention destinations of Abu Dhabi and Tokyo a distant memory, ABTA Chief Executive Mark Tanzer dreams of a brighter future.

We listened to his opening remarks from the event and thought we would share 3 things we learned.

The resilience of the industry

From Brexit, to a global pandemic and everything in between, the industry has had a bumpy road. The pandemic especially forcing international travel into a mini ice age, with nearly three key seasons written off. And whilst there still no certainty things are starting to thaw.

Huge intent to travel

ABTA’s most recent customer research shows intention to travel for this winter and for the next twelve months is heading back to pre-Covid numbers. Mark goes on to remark that maybe the love of travel has been even more intensified and there is huge excitement.

A call for sustainability

Meeting sustainability challenges is not just a political necessity but also a commercial one. Customer confidence to travel is returning, but part of that confidence to travel is to travel with a good conscience. And it’s not just consumers demanding high sustainability standards, but employees and residents in destinations too.

In summary Mark was cautiously upbeat, however reminds the industry that there is still a lot of work that needs to be done before we see pre-pandemic buoyancy. But the travel industry is still standing and by acting now there is a rewarding future ahead.

To listen to the full talk please click here.