ITT Conference 2008

Video: Ian McCaig reflects on this morning's session

2008-06-11T14:09:00.004+01:00

Kevin caught up with the lastminute.com chief executive shortly after his discussion with TW Group publishing director Simon Ferguson, and asked whether there was anything else he'd like to have covered...

There's a player featuring all the video we've shot over on Travel Weekly's ITT Conference page.

Ah, the mass queening...

2008-06-11T12:17:00.005+01:00

It's various ITT bods performing Queen's Don't Stop Me Now, intercut with the Cadbury's 'airport race' ad.

Trevor Harding does the "whoa, whoa, whoa explode" bit, which you can argue is to this song what "tonight thank god it's them instead of you" is to Do They Know It's Christmas.

So, all has become clear on the 'mass queening'. Well, to an extent.

In closing, Steven Freudmann adds -

There are elections coming up, so use your votes wisely...

Great stuff.

A hard act to follow...

2008-06-11T12:07:00.002+01:00

...but ITT chairman Steven Freudmann has to close the conference after an awesome speech by Ken Robinson.

But he rounds things off in the usual fashion, thanking all the speakers ("and what a way to finish with Sir Ken"), sponsors, organisers DellarDavies, and us, the TW Group!

Thanks, Steven!

And of course, Tim Hames, Times deputy editor and the moderator of the conference.

That's all for now. More titter-tatter later.

Ken Robinson on creativity - specifically, ours...

2008-06-11T11:24:00.002+01:00

Ken Robinson asks for a show of hands

- How creative are you, on a scale of one to ten?
- How intelligent are you (same scale)?

For creativity, one hand goes up for ten; a few for nine; it peaks at eight; and after that it's downhill all the way.

For intelligence, two hands go up for ten (Kevin leans over to say that one was Steven Freudmann), and the curve proceeds in much the same way.

The follow-up question is whether you gave yourself different marks for each quality - and that demonstrates, says Ken, that we've divorced creativity from intelligence.

Interesting that he goes on to talk about how creativity can build compelling services around a product on the Starbucks/coffee model. Implications for travel, particularly in the agency space?

Sir Ken wooing a receptive audience

2008-06-11T11:10:00.002+01:00

Hugely entertaining address by innovation and creativity guru Ken Robinson.

Almost nothing to do with the travel industry, per se, but hey, it's the last session of the conference and it's time to wind down.

He raises a few fascinating points, however:

Most companies are operating as if they are still in the industrial revolution and need to think differently about human resources.

His focus, quite rightly, is on education.

Companies need to address how they inspire staff to release the inner creative talent within.

It's deep and meaningful stuff, interspersed with rather funny anecdotes and one-liners.

Paraphrasing here:

A child is in a class, sketching something on a piece of paper. The teacher asks what it is the child is drawing. The child responds: "It's God." The teacher suggests to the child that no-one has ever seen God. "Well, they will soon when I've finished this," quips the child.

And a personal favourite:

I wanted to find myself, so I thought I'd go to India, where I thought I might be.

Schott nuggets: travel trends and cruise terminology

2008-06-11T10:58:00.005+01:00

Ben Schott isn't directly relevant to travel throughout, but he is fantastic ("it was my idea, not Steven's," clarifies Tim Hames afterwards).

He reeled off a list of new travel trends, a few of which I noted down...

Staycations
Euthenasia tourism ("not necessarily something you can market," he admits)
Procreation vacations
Girlfriend getaways
Hedonism (including 'gun breaks')
Dark tourism
Gadget tourism (Ben knows someone who went to the US to buy the new iPhone)

Another interesting nugget on cruise terminology: a ship is said to cruise on a coast, off a port or other town, and in a body of water. I'll pass that on to our subs...

Ben Schott on Dubai

2008-06-11T10:14:00.004+01:00

Quoting Samuel Johnson on the Giant's Causeway, author Ben Schott has this to say about Dubai:

Worth seeing, yes, but not worth going to see.

Cue gasps and a general that-was-not-very-amusing feeling from the delegates.

I thought it was quite funny, myself.

To be fair to John Legg...

2008-06-11T09:20:00.002+01:00

Some of the sample radio advertising spots he plays get a great reaction from the crowd, particularly a prostate cancer warning fronted by Ricky Gervais.

It may even have got a bigger laugh than Ferguson and McCaig's verbal sparring...

He's going on to talk about 'long term campaigns with multiple touchpoints', using Hoseasons as an example. This may be more compelling...

Doesn't 'mediastacking' make radio ads a harder sell?

2008-06-11T09:01:00.006+01:00

John Legg, who is busy pitching the magnificence of radio to us, uses a real life example of 'mediastacking':

I walked into my son Pete's room. He had his phone in his hand for access to girlfriend, his electric guitar on his lap, his laptop on with and IM conversation happening in one of seven open windows, and the radio on in the background. And he was doing his homework.

Hmm. I bet he was feeling receptive to the ads on the radio.

You'll hear no argument from me over the pleasure of radio, but as an advertising medium it surely suffers from the same problems that blight all push advertising.

It can, as John points out, carry very powerful creative - but is anyone listening?

Rail's just nicer: you've heard it before, but it's only going to get louder

2008-06-11T08:49:00.003+01:00

Eurostar commercial director Nick Mercer:

Customers love the journey. The journey is a part of the holiday. For those who don't like flying because of the airport environment, there is an alernative that allows people to really enjoy themselves as they take their journey.

Fresh? Not a bit. Hugely relevant in the context of yesterday's talks from John Grant and (especially) Andrew Cornish? You bet...

High-speed rail development in Europe - the 'five-year plan'

2008-06-11T08:44:00.006+01:00

Nick Mercer opens with two statements that have a hint - just a hint - of contradiction:

When you look at invesment in rail, you're looking at thirty to fifty year timescales...

...rail is a mode of transport for the 21st Century...

Surely it's all about agile development cycles and public betas these days?

I jest. Mercer goes on to gives us an overview of the high-speed links opening up in Europe, and it's an interesting picture.

Now

- Paris to Frankfurt and Stuttgart
- Barcelona to Madrid

Next year

- Brussels to Amsterdam
- Brussels to Cologne

In five years

- Italy to France (under the Alps)
- Spain to France (under the Pyrenees)

So in the next five years you'll be able to travel on high speed rail to most of the countries in western Europe. It is a shame we aren't seeing similar development in Britain.

Any delegates whose client base is in the north of the UK, or over in Ireland, will no doubt be saying Amen to that last part...

Google let off lightly, methinks

2008-06-11T08:29:00.003+01:00

In short, Google’s trademark bidding policy change is fundamentally “detrimental” to companies like lastminute.com. It’s there to drive revenues for them.

McCaig, who has - let's face it - "ranted" about this issue on a number of occasions, plays it quiet this time.

There is no talk of backing down as yet and McCaig's beef is purely one based on "principle".

More to come here, we suspect.

Background and coverage on the Travolution site.

Why, why, why

2008-06-11T08:07:00.004+01:00

McCaig ponders the way lastminute.com and other travel websites treat visitors in terms of user experience:

Do I need to have a website structured in the same way?

Do I need to display products in the way we do?

The answer to both is clearly "no".

So thankfully, he says, websites will change massively in the next few years and the way people use them to find travel products.

Bring it on...

McCaig on differentiation in online travel

2008-06-11T08:02:00.000+01:00

The online travel experience is 'mind-numbingly similar' across various lastminute and its competitors, says Simon. Where will differentiation come from?

"There are customers and markets out there, and brands to serve them." responds Ian. "I don't distinguish between our sort of business and traditional travel business - to the consumer they're all brands."

But the key is to be "about leisure as well as travel," which he says lastminute clearly is, citing big sales on theatre and festival tickets. "Lastminute.com is about a 'broad leisure experience' rather than a travel experience," he says.

And for other players?

For Thomas Cook or Thomson it's about using their content, and turning their asset ownership into a better proposition for consumers. For expedia it's less about the brand, more about being an efficient process machine. I'm confident lastminute as a brand still has a lot in it in terms of differentiation.

McCaig quotoid #2

2008-06-11T07:53:00.004+01:00

Monkeys will fly out of my backside before I go into details of my P&L, sorry Simon.

Responding to a question from TW Group boss Simon Ferguson about lastminute.com's financials.

As much as we wish to see flying monkeys this morning, we are also happy to wait...

Ian McCaig quotoid #1

2008-06-11T07:51:00.002+01:00

Not every brand is the perfect brand to attract consumers in every sector – there are some interesting possibilities in the future.

And he’s talking about Travelocity. Hmmm.

Great intro for McCaig...

2008-06-11T07:45:00.002+01:00

He's practical, he's principled, and he's migraine-free...

A reference to Peter Owen, who pulled out of yesterday's session on change citing a migraine.

Ready for day two...

2008-06-11T07:41:00.001+01:00

Simon Ferguson and Ian McCaig are about to take the stage...

Watch out for the 'mass queening'

2008-06-11T07:37:00.003+01:00

According to Tim Hames, there's going to be one on the big screen later.

Help.

By bizarre coincidence

2008-06-10T21:46:00.003+01:00

On the same day that Peter Owen quit as CEO of XL Leisure Group, it has emerged this evening that SilverJet has found a potential buyer following its apparent collapse a few weeks back.

Owen was until recently chairman of the business class-only airline.

This will undoubtedly fuel more speculation tomorrow, during the final day of the conference.

More ITT Purple Podness from Travolution

2008-06-10T20:31:00.002+01:00

The second of three special editions of The Purple Pod from the ITT conference in Cyprus, produced in association with Puregenie.com.

Featuring in this episode are Roberto da Re (Dolphin Dynamics), Ian Brooks (Puregenie.com), Arjo Ghosh (iCrossing), Francesca Ecsery (Cheapflights) and Paul Evans (Lowcostbeds).

There is always a big story at ITT - Peter Owen quits

2008-06-10T18:30:00.004+01:00

And the 2008 event has suddenly sprung into action...

Peter Owen, who mysteriously pulled out of this morning's session alongside bosses from Kuoni and Stella Travel Services, has quit the XL Leisure Group citing personal reasons.

Steve Barrass stepped in at the last minute this morning to take Owen's place but this twist will reverberate around the conference room tomorrow that's for sure.

Full story here.

Video: AWTE members Gail Craig and Karen Gee on women in travel

2008-06-10T17:30:00.003+01:00

You may have seen us filming this outside the AWTE reception yesterday. Thanks to Gail and Karen...

Half price Prescott

2008-06-10T12:15:00.003+01:00

[Courtesy of Amazon]

Signed copies available later, apparently. We're off to, er, join the queue.

In fairness, Prezza did pretty well in his slot and ended a good morning session.

Prescott tackled on supporting travel vs taxing airlines

2008-06-10T11:47:00.005+01:00

A question from the audience for Prezza. How can you help promote travel and tourism when you're hammering airlines to the point where people are paying more for the tax than the seat?

His answers:

Look at the stability of the economy - the more stable the economy, the more people will buy luxury items
The Government can't do anything about the price of oil

Possible caveats...

Uh... downturn?
No, but it can reduce the tax burden

On Gordon Brown's disinclination to smile...

2008-06-10T11:32:00.000+01:00

Do you check whether the pilot's smiling before he takes off?

Old seaman at heart

2008-06-10T11:20:00.007+01:00

Prezza gets a huge round of applause from delegates for an emotional segment of his speech where he reminisces about his days as a steward on Cunard.

It's "fantastic" that Cunard is still registered in the UK and flying under the red ensign, he says.

He thanks Carol Marlow, president and managing director for Cunard who spoke in the previous session, for ensuring his old company is still steaming across the seas.

Bless...

Stop moaning about green taxes...

2008-06-10T11:20:00.004+01:00

...compared to the rising oil price, the increase to your costs is infitessimal, says JP. Technically true, perhaps; but scarcely reassuring.

The Millennium Dome: a triumph, apparently

2008-06-10T11:15:00.002+01:00

Prescott tells us the Millennium Dome was a huge success: Labour took a poisonous piece of land, developed it, and now it's a concert venue that brings tons of cash into London.

Is my memory playing tricks on me... wasn't there some stuff in the middle? Some less positive stuff?

John Prescott: change, eggs and connecting with people

2008-06-10T11:06:00.000+01:00

Prezza says he understands change and its uncertainties, adding "just ask Gordon Brown." His biggest change?

My biggest change was losing my security after being hit by an egg. I now realise that I didn't have bodyguards weren't to protect me, they were to protect the public from me.

...and we get more on the incident later...

When I was hit by the egg, I responded by promptly following Tony's advice and connecting with the electorate.

I think we should be told

2008-06-10T11:00:00.006+01:00

"I've been mistaken for Les Dawson a number of times," says Prescott.

It is understood that no-one had ever seen them in the same room. But it is purely coincidental that Prescott's career took off at around the same time as the great comedian passed away in 1993.

Here comes John Prescott... and it's a full house

2008-06-10T10:59:00.004+01:00

Standing room only... there are a few empty seats in front of the blogging desk, but that might be down to the sound of typing.

Shipbuilding might be a problem - but not for the UK cruise market

2008-06-10T10:48:00.003+01:00

There is an interesting tension, says Tim Hames to PSA director William Gibbons in the questions after this morning's cruise session, between the 'sky is the limit' view of cruise and the limited number of places that build cruise ships. Might there be a capacity bottleneck from that quarter?

"All sorts of complexities are involved in building a ship," admits Gibbons (still more in building one of these futuristic ones, I'll wager, which we get another look at on the screen). But it's not we in the UK who need to worry: "If we look at the UK market in terms of capacity constraint, we're getting more US ships coming over ... we're getting a lot of capacity from existing ships - so we are growing. It's the American market that is at risk of slowing down."

An interesting follow up question? Okay: how long-term a view is this?

The most popular pages on cruise websites?

2008-06-10T10:33:00.004+01:00

Not the booking engine or food menus, oh no.

It's the webcams!

Here is the fantastic P&O Cruises webcam page.

[Obviously not as good as ours]

And a UK perspective

2008-06-10T10:23:00.003+01:00

Where Brits like to cruise to:

Med (40%)
Caribbean (19%)
Northern Europe (18%)
Atlantic Islands (7%)
Others (17%)

And who is going?

Silver Surfers
Happy Families
Suburban Couples

Average age of the UK cruiser is now 53. It's coming down.

Cruise Factoid-a-rama

2008-06-10T10:16:00.003+01:00

2007 - 16.5 million cruises sold
Sector growth rate of 8.2% over the past five years
315 cruise ships
410,000 beds
"Big Two" trouser £3 billion in net income between them
4 million passengers in Europe in 2007
1.35 million from the UK
Parity in passenger numbers between Europe and North America

On the potential cost of the new corporate manslaughter law...

2008-06-10T10:05:00.002+01:00

Rhys Griffiths apologises for what will inevitably be a gloomy session on the new corporate manslaughter law, and its implications for health and safety culture in travel companies.

Talk about 'promoting a good health and safety culture' may not raise delegates from the post-coffee break torpor - it's all rather top-line stuff, and the session picks up when questions and answers allow us to drill down into some practical examples.

Griffiths throws out some striking numbers though. Great Western was fined £1.5m for the Southall rail crash in 1997 - that's 0.2% of its then turnover. Under the new law, it would have been hit with 5% of turnover, which comes to almost £40m. If there are aggravating circumstances, the fine could rise to 10%, and you can do that math on your own...

Peter Stewart: euphemism of the day

2008-06-10T10:04:00.001+01:00

Peter Stewart fields a question on management of records during a session on the new corporate manslaughter law and its implications for health and safety culture:

If there is something that you think will be the smoking gun that will damage you, you are better off not retaining it.

It gets a big laugh. That said, Stewart goes on, it can be helpful to retain documents if they aren't excessively smoking or gunlike - being able to demonstrate an active improvement of health and safety standards is a good thing.

"So if you only had one finger in the till, rather than your whole hand..." joshes Tim Hames.

We're live on camera!

2008-06-10T09:56:00.002+01:00

Don't forget to click on the webcam widget on the right-hand side here to see what's happening live!

It's also here:

Web TV provided by Ustream

And this is why airports welcome low cost carriers with open arms

2008-06-10T08:41:00.004+01:00

Low cost carrier does not necessarily mean low spend passenger

[Andrew Cornish, managing director of Manchester Airport Group]

Price of oil. Environmental challenges. Okay, so nobody thought the LCC debate dominate the early sessions, but never mind.

Barrass hits back at the 'low-costs develop routes' theory

2008-06-10T08:32:00.003+01:00

I spoke too soon on John Grant's session - here comes a bit of bristling. In the next session XL Leisure Group director Steve Barrass, to whom we have to give kudos for stepping in at five minutes' notice, says:

We give low-costs too much credit. Have you been to some of the airports low-costs have opened up? They're one, two hours outside the destination. I'm sorry, but that's not 'route development'.

It's not a bad response... but surely very, very basic route development is development nonetheless?

Been hearing all this stuff for 20 years

2008-06-10T08:22:00.003+01:00

Says Andy Cooper of the Federation of Tour Operators, commenting on how people always say the consumer landscape is changing.

What's different now, he asks?

Kuoni's Nick Hughes steps in:

The ability for consumers to be bombarded with options and price compare in their homes.

People are increasingly becoming aware that there is more of offer there, in terms of service levels.

Instead of thinking about the brochure product and what sells well, Kuoni is thinking about the consumer instead.

The Kuoni view

2008-06-10T08:10:00.003+01:00

Nick Hughes of Kuoni, opening his part of a roundtable discussion, says:

The companies that have the real clarity of who they selling to and the focus to make sure they put together services and products that meet the requirement will be the ones that are successful.

The companies that lose that focus and can’t articulate why a consumer should buy a product from them will struggle.

Sorry, but it’s pretty grim stuff so far.

John Grant: it's not that tour operators are irrelevant, it's that they're inactive

2008-06-10T08:01:00.008+01:00

This is less bristling than I expected in John Grant's session - I wish there had been some questions. Kev is right that it was gloomy, but I don't think Grant has delivered an attack on tour operators so much as a potted history of passenger aviation, followed by a plea for operators to get involved.

He's not dismissing them as irrelevant, he's saying they are relevant and bemoaning their low visibility.

At the beginning of the next session Stella's Keith Stanley says "the leadership of the industry is up for grabs," citing with approval Grant's take on the historical power of airlines and the importance of tour operators "taking a seat at the table."

Where are our fireworks? Grab me or Kevin if you want to post a take on the first session on here...

Take note, everyone

2008-06-10T08:01:00.005+01:00

Serious issues for the industry, according to Keith Stanley of Stella Travel Services:

Growth of new markets (for example, outbound China in 2009 surpass from Germany). Securing new inventory is absolutely vital to continue growth.
Global economy. Companies need to be well capitalised. Stick to the fundamentals of business.
Consolidation. Need stronger businesses to sustain themselves and take advantage of the assets available now and in the future.

And to paraphrase, if you do not pay close attention to these issues, you will not be around in two years time.

Moving deckchairs on the Titanic - if you're a tour operator

2008-06-10T07:45:00.003+01:00

John Grant of Airport Strategy and Marketing lays down a gloomy perspective to the tour operators in the industry in the opening session.

LCCs have stolen an advantage over the charter airlines simply by wooing airports with their brash, “teenage”, lucrative (in terms of how much revenue they pass on) ways.

But their ability to attract funding from regional development authorities has put pressure on existing charter airlines wedded to traditional locations.

The LCCs – such as easyJet, Ryanair, WhizzAir and Jet2 – are wielding an enormous amount of power by having an influential relationship with airports in order to create new routes and products.

Tour operators do not have this level of influence.

It is the LCCs that are driving innovation in terms of product differentiation, rather than tour operators and charter airlines.

For too many years the power has been with the LCCs, acting as “bullies” to the airports, but “tour operators have a real role to play in the market which will be welcomed by airports around the world”.

Nice upbeat start to the conference, then.

On the future of low-costs and charter airlines..

2008-06-10T07:33:00.004+01:00

Europe has largely avoided a direct confronation between low-costs and charter airlines/tour operators, says Airport Strategy and Marketing boss John Grant. But...

'Will at some stage a carrier launch a service form the west coast of ireland to the US? Or from Portugal to northern Brazil? The answer is most likely yes. At that point, the future of charter airlines will start to look very unstable'

Trevor: the Mugabe of ITT?

2008-06-10T07:23:00.004+01:00

Tim Hames has already produced what I suspect is going to be the most quotable moment of the morning:

Trevor Harding's Robert Mugabe-like grip on the ITT presidency continues... despite evidence of mass intimidation and a chorus of interantional disapproval

The comparison doesn't hold, of course - Mugabe sucks at golf.

Let the blogging begin

2008-06-10T07:09:00.004+01:00

Here's how it looks from where we are...

...and here's how we look from where everyone else is...

First Purple Pod from Travolution

2008-06-09T21:13:00.003+01:00

Here just a few hours and we've recorded the first of our special editions of The Purple Pod from Travolution, sponsored by Puregenie.com.

This edition features Keith (ex of the Abta parish), Ian Brooks (Puregenie.com) and our very own Penny Wilson.

TW starts taping, delegates start socialising

2008-06-09T18:12:00.007+01:00

Just shot our first couple of video pieces. First up, an introduction to the conference by Travolution editor Kevin May and TW Group editor-in-chief Penny Wilson.

Second, we pulled some AWTE members out of the group's Sunset Reception to ask about the status of women in travel and the benefits of belonging to the organisation (pic below).

Look out for both mid-morning tomorrow - thereafter we should be able to get video to you on the day we shoot it.

As you can see in the background, delegates are already enjoying themselves. Not pictured: Stella Travel Services bosses Andrew Laurie and Keith Stanley being politely turned away from the AWTE bash...

We're here...

2008-06-09T17:04:00.003+01:00

After a four hour flight and an hour or so travelling to the resort by coach, most of the recent arrivals seemed to headed off for a shower sharpish - though not before a welcome glass of champagne.

Here's how the evening looks...

More later...

48 hours and counting

2008-06-07T06:11:00.002+01:00

....well, for most of the TW team.

Your live bloggers - Nathan Midgley and Kevin May - will be flying to Cyprus on Monday morning, on the 9.30am Cyprus Airways flight from London Heathrow to Larnaca.

Joining them will be Travel Weekly's chief reporter Juliet Dennis and news editor Michelle Perrett.

Top bods Penny Wilson (our new ed-in-chief) and Simon Ferguson (publishing director) are in-resort from Sunday night.

Also singing around the TW campfire will be Penny Akam (events), Jackie Anderson (head of TW sales), Charlotte Davies (head of Travolution sales) Jo Rix (TW sales), Kirsty Sales (TW jobs).

If you wish to meet with any of us or feature on TW Television or the Travolution Purple Pod, email over the next few days to set up a meeting.

Session preview: Ian McCaig in conversation with TW Group's Simon Ferguson

2008-06-06T10:18:00.009+01:00

Lastminute.com CEO Ian McCaig will be making his first appearance at an ITT conference this year. He'll be interviewed on stage by TW Group publishing director Simon Ferguson.

Says Simon:

Ian's a great character, and has strong views on the industry and the outlook for travel. Both he and lastminute.com will provide great material for delegates: lastminute.com perfectly represents the huge change the industry has gone through- dotcom start up, to Plc, to VC-backed American ownership as part of Sabre/Travelocity.

Ian comes from a non-travel background, and has driven lastminute forward in the post-Brent Hobermann days. I'll be asking him what the future holds for lastminute; whether their pure-play dotcom status is a weakness in today's multi-channel market; Ian's views on the travel landscape; and expect some fireworks when we discuss the Google trademark issue - Ian's been in the vanguard of protesting aganst this.

If you have questions you'd like Simon to put to Ian McCaig, anonymously or on the record, please post them below.

And if you want a quick primer on Ian's thinking, hit the links for some relevant stories from the Travel Weekly and Travolution archives.

All work and no play? Not for this ITT board member...

2008-06-06T10:13:00.001+01:00

The conference is not all work and no play. We have heard from one ITT board member who says that ITT networking can be beneficial not only to your business life but also your personal life.

He met his intended through the ITT, proposed to her at the 2007 ITT Conference in Gran Canaria, and asked her father for her hand while on Maspalomas Beach, celebrating with pizza takeaway, cava and melon from the melon man.

This year’s conference marks one year of engagement. The is wedding set for June 2009 but both will attend next years conference as long as it is beginning of June!

So, name the ITT director?

The Aphrodite on a map

2008-06-01T09:00:00.000+01:00

It's a big place...

View Larger Map

Purple Pod specials from ITT

2008-05-31T10:01:00.005+01:00

As part of TW Group's blanket coverage of the ITT conference in Cyprus, Travolution will be there in force.

Keep an eye out for three special editions of the Travolution Purple Pod podcasts, produced at the conference in association with the leading online travel recruitment firm, PureGenie.com.

These will be available as always by adding this feed to your RSS reader or via iTunes [NB: link opens your iTunes application].

If you are attending and want to feature on the podcast, email me ahead of the event.

Kevin May, editor, Travolution

The packs are here... and session one looks as provocative as they come

2008-05-30T12:14:00.004+01:00

Travel Weekly and Travolution delegates have started receiving their packs - mine landed this morning.

Inside are details of all the business sessions, and the first, led by Airport Strategy and Marketing Ltd managing director John Grant, has our mouths watering:

An overview of markets shows that tour operators are not sufficiently proactive in route development. In fact, it's the low cost airlines who are leading the way in opening up tourist routes - tour operators are merely following their lead.

While the focus of the session will be forming 'successful working partnerships' rather than crossing swords, we're sure there will be some differences of opinion from tour operators.

Should make for an interesting Q&A. Kevin (May, Travolution) and I are going to be live blogging from all the sessions, and I expect us both to have RSI by the end of this one...

If you don't have a pack yet - or, worse still, aren't going - there's a breakdown of the business sessions on the ITT site.

More good word-of-mouth about the venue...

2008-05-29T17:28:00.000+01:00

I hate to harp on about the hotel, but look what gets an approving mention in Maureen Hill's column for Travel Weekly this week...

TUI Travel business development executive Ian Dines visited us immediately after his return from an educational in Cyprus. [He] was especially impressed with the Aphrodite Hills Hotel. Its service, he said, was second to none.

"Take my request for an iron. I wanted to iron a shirt that had got crumpled in my suitcase, so I rang reception. Barely had I done so than a lovely lady appeared in my room to iron it. And she insisted on ironing all my clothes!"

InterContinental Aphrodite Hills Resort: what the web says

2008-05-15T17:11:00.000+01:00

I'm sure some delegates will have been before, but I've been sifting through some online reviews of the venue for the ITT Conference 2008.

Here's the summary of what TripAdvisor consumer reviewers thought:

...and the opinion of TW Group Gazetteers.com's pro researchers:

Beautifully appointed quality relaxation facilities with exclusive spa on site in addition to health club and spa. Superb eateries and terraces combining modern and classical themes. Other facilities include a 'village square' with shops and restaurants, tennis courts and separate tennis academy.

...and the opinion of Gazetteers.com's travel agent reviewers:

It is remarkable, no faults whatsoever. I would recommend this hotel to anyone. The staff were excellent and the choice of food was superb! (5/5)

Just returned from a fabulous week at the IAH. Staff were excellent throughout. Breakfast excellent and a good choice of evening dining. (5/5)

Not so good for children and teenagers, TripAdvisor's reviewers reckon - but I shouldn't think that will affect any of us.

Three, two one... ITT Conference 2008 blog is go

2008-05-14T09:53:00.000+01:00

Welcome to TW Group's ITT Conference 2008 blog. Explanation is probably redundant, but I'll be following the run-up to the event, live blogging from Cyprus, and doing a bit of debrief afterwards.

I'll be adding photos and videos, and hopefully getting some guest posts and comments, along the way.

Right now the conference is just under a month away, but as press day kicks in at TW Towers it still feels quite distant. At least there's plenty of time to pore over the programme and delegate list (.xls), both up on the ITT website.