Speaking at the Elite Conference for Independents, Neil Basnett said it was a “huge disappointment” that many members had failed to come.
A total of 36 travel agents from about 21 different businesses have attended this year’s conference in Cadiz, compared to up to 69 members of staff from 56 suppliers and other businesses.
While he admits that the consortium is not the only one suffering from a malaise, he added the overseas events may need to become biennial with a domestic event taking place in the intervening years.
Basnett said: “I confess that it remains a huge disappointment to me that many of our members do not value the worth of our conferences and sadly it is predominantly the same members who attend each year.
“I always announce the dates of our conference as early as possible so that our members can make plans and arrange their diaries.
“Naively I would have hoped that conference for the majority of our members should be seen as a work priority and the dates should be penciled in as soon as they have been announced to enable attendance.
“Similarly, it disappoints me that attending a conference such as this is seen often as merely an expense for the business rather than an investment in it.
“Whatever the outcome, we will remain positive as we believe that our conferences have always been not only worthwhile but have been such enjoyable events.”
Basnett said to try and encourage more members to attend he had arranged supplier sponsored places, but members still balked at the cost of the flight with one telling him: “I could have a holiday for the cost of that.”
Previously Elite has opened up the conference to any independent agents in a bid to encourage more to come.
However, he admitted the trend was not limited to the consortium, with Abta’s own conference numbers falling from more than 2,000 delegates “in the not too distant past” to between 500 and 600 now.
Basnett added: “Since they (Abta) changed its concept to The Travel Conference, it has just not been relevant to most independent travel agents, nor to tour operators, whilst the content that is most relevant to those companies is discussed at conference’s such as our own and also Advantage’s.”
