ABTA Travel Meet at Costa Navarino Set to Kick Off on Monday

Panorama of Costa Navarino.

The UK’s largest travel association, ABTA is ready to talk tourism during this year’s convention to open in Greece, on Monday, October 12, at luxury resort Costa Navarino, in the southwest Peloponnese.

Over 500 delegates are set to attend the annual meeting, which kicks off with a welcome party in the historic town of Pylos, hosted by the Region of the Peloponnese. Delegates will get a taste of Greek culture and history, local cuisine, folk dancing and traditional music.

This year’s sessions will focus “Risk and Resilience” and will address the best ways to plan for and offset risks to ensure the continued success of the travel industry and individual businesses.

First-day highlights include economist Justin Urquhart Stewart’s eurozone predictions, professor Ian Goldin’s exploration on the impact of globalisation, and Google’s Industry Head for Travel, Ruairidh Roberts’ ideas on “Living in a Borderless World”.

Day 2 features inspirational speaker Eddie Obeng speaking about making “Order out of Chaos” and author/rock climber Andrew St George offering his insight on how to respond to unforeseen circumstances.

Delegates will also have the chance to attend interactive workshops, participate in diverse networking events such as a football match, “Meet the Media” happening, a nightly convention bar and the host party on Tuesday night, sponsored by the Greek National Tourism Organisation (GNTO).

ABTA Chief Executive Mark Tanzer

“We have attracted an extremely high calibre of speakers to do justice to the incredible facilities on offer at Costa Navarino and our thanks go out in advance to our hosts, the Region of Peloponnese, and our co-hosts, the GNTO, as well as all of our UK sponsors, for making the convention possible,” ABTA Chief Executive Mark Tanzer said.

“I look forward to meeting up with delegates to discuss industry issues and how businesses can thrive in a fluid and dynamic world, as well as enjoying the fabulous Greek hospitality provided,” Mr Tanzer added.

The ABTA Travel Convention, considered to be a leading tourism sector event, is expected to attract over 500 UK travel agents/ABTA members, representatives from Google, Yahoo, TripAdvisor as well as travel writers from international media.

Representing some 5,000 retail outlets and offices, with 1,200 members, ABTA has been active for over 60 years ensuring the sustainable and successful growth of tourism-related businesses.

GTP will be at the ABTA Travel Convention to keep you updated.