As travel reopens retaining current and engaging new staff is one of the most pressing challenges facing the industry. ABTA will be running events throughout March, April and May which will help travel companies display their commitment to development and training for both new and existing staff. 
 
The events include presentations and practical demonstrations from leading experts in Crisis Communications, Claims Handling, Digital Marketing and Complaints Handling and they are open to all with ABTA Members benefiting from discounted attendance rates. 
 
Eve Coburn ABTA Head of Events said:

“We are very conscious of the pressures facing the industry as travel restarts, particularly the need to retain and attract good quality staff. The ability to offer good quality training is an extremely attractive incentive and our events consistently achieve high satisfaction rates, offering practical informed advice and training from leading experts in their field.”

The upcoming training events include:

• Crisis Communications in Travel – 30 March. ABTA’s practical training day will prepare you to effectively manage your communication strategy in a crisis. Learn what the media want in a crisis, how to produce an effective media message and prepare your spokespeople, how to manage the immediate response when a crisis hits and maintain communication during and post-crisis and how to effectively manage social media to protect your reputation.
   
• Claims Handling in Travel – 31 March. Designed for travel businesses of all sizes, this practical training day will take a deep dive into three key areas of litigation: breach of contract; accident on holiday and personal injury claims; disclosure and evidence, including hearing preparation and trial. Leave with a full understanding of your legal obligations and the steps to take in handling and responding to a claim.
   
• Digital Marketing Masterclass for Travel – 7 April. This new advanced-level training day will explore the latest strategies, tactics, tools, tech and trends in digital marketing – including SEO, PPC, social media, content and video. Learn how to cut through the noise and enhance your digital know-how and how to deliver successful online campaigns that drive traffic, deliver leads and boost sales. 
   
• Complaints Handling Training for Travel – 11 May. ABTA's popular training will give you the crucial tools and skills to help you deal with complaints effectively across a variety of channels including email, phone and social media. Learn how to manage challenging customers, best practice for evidence gathering and reporting, hear how industry peers deal with complaints and how to overcome the common challenges you face. Get an introduction to Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR), learn how to prevent complaints and hear real-life examples.

Additional training days to be released shortly include:

• A Beginner’s Guide to the Package Travel Regulations 
• A Guide to Travel PR Campaigns 

Further detail on the events, plus registration and rates can be found at abta.com/events 

Notes to editors
 
ABTA has been a trusted travel brand for over 70 years. Our purpose is to help our Members to grow their businesses successfully and sustainably, and to help their customers travel with confidence. 
 
The ABTA brand stands for support, protection and expertise. This means consumers have confidence in ABTA and a strong trust in ABTA Members. These qualities are core to us as they ensure that holidaymakers remain confident in the holiday products that they buy from our Members. 
 
We help our Members and their customers navigate through today's changing travel landscape by raising standards in the industry; offering schemes of financial protection; providing an independent complaints resolution service should something go wrong; giving guidance on issues from sustainability to health and safety and by presenting a united voice to government to ensure the industry and the public get a fair deal.
 
ABTA has around 4,000 travel brands in Membership, providing a wide range of leisure and business travel services, with a combined pre-pandemic annual UK turnover of £40 billion. For more details about what we do, what being an ABTA Member means and how we help the UK public travel with confidence visit www.abta.com.