What an upbeat few days it’s been at the World Travel Market this week! If the buzz around the halls and meeting rooms was anything to go by, we have an extremely vibrant and thriving tourism sector right now.

I was pleased to be able to get together with tourism ministers and business leaders from across the world to talk about the UK overseas travel market, to meet familiar faces and also get to know new contacts.

It was also great to see so many ABTA members and Partners, particularly at the ABTA business briefing on Monday. At this, colleagues talked through the main findings from our latest Holiday Habits report, which you can find at www.abta.com/holidayhabits2023-24, and we explained how to make the most of the ABTA brand in your marketing. Our latest research shows that 76% of people believe it’s either essential or important to know they’ve booked with an ABTA member to feel confident taking a holiday abroad; displaying the ABTA logo will help consumers decide to place their business with you.

World Travel Market has finished now, but there’s a lot happening elsewhere in ABTA, including the launch of our latest Future Travel Coalition bookings survey.

We’ve been running this survey for a few years now to gather evidence on how businesses are faring, in light of the challenges of recent years and current economic environment. The questions cover a range of topics including booking levels and recruitment.

We’re encouraging as many members as possible to fill in the survey. It won’t take long to do and the information you provide helps to support our lobbying activity and engagement with politicians and other stakeholders. Find out more about the survey here.  

Mark Tanzer, Chief Executive