ITAA Conference – ‘Leading Teams and Selling Dreams’

The very impressive Hotel Fuerte El Rompido in the gorgeous little fisherman’s village of El Rompido, in the Province of Huelva, was the location for this year’s annual ITAA conference in October 2022. The theme for ITAA members and trade partners was ‘Leading Teams and Selling Dreams’ and no better location to commence that journey as delegates arrived to soak up Huelva sunshine and sample some amazing sea food, local vino and incredible hospitality.

Conference moderator, Eoghan Corry (Air and Travel) got the business side of things under way with a very warm welcome from Paul Hackett (ITAA President) followed by our trade partners from Andalucía Tourism, Huelva Tourism and the Spanish Tourist Office. Our theme of ‘Leading Teams and Selling Dreams’ was delivered by Debbee Dale (Managing Director Debbee Dale Development).

Jenny Rafter (Head of Global Leisure Sales Aer Lingus) brought all delegates up to speed on new transatlantic routes with the reintroduction of Bradley International Connecticut and the all new and first for Ireland with a direct service to Cleveland, Ohio bringing their number of direct North American routes from Ireland to 16.

Kevin Cullinane (Group Head of Communications DAA) apologised on behalf of the DAA for the events in Dublin Airport this year to all agents and their mutual clients. The message was loud and clear, we are sorry. The good news is that the airport is enjoying an incredible volume of passengers every day and the operational issues experienced, have been rectified.

The conference concluded with an ITAA Working Groups update which included: Public Affairs – Events – Membership engagement and communications – Airline – Sustainability – Regulatory (including CAR update) and a very lively panel discussion