ITT 2010

— Posted Thursday 10th June 2010 by Neal Baldwin under Stuff worth knowing

For those of you not lucky [?] enough to attend this week's Institute of Travel and Tourism Conference in sunny Benidorm, we thought we'd take a couple of minutes and give you our thoughts on proceedings now we're back in Blighty.

As always, the event attracted the great and the good. ITT has long had a reputation as being the event for travel's big hitters, as well as being a bit of a drinking club. And once again anyone unfortunate enough to spill some of the free beer or wine on offer would probably have found it splashing the shoes of assorted CEOs or MDs in attendance.

Networking has always been a massive part of the ITT, and with a high quality guest list it is often the place where the real deals in the business are done. But that alone isn't enough to make the annual getaway worthwhile - all conferences need quality content too.

For an ITT audience, we reckon the focus should be on the 'bigger picture' stuff when it comes to designing the programme. And unsurprisingly, the speakers who worked during the two days were the ones who provided genuine insight. Infantryman-turned-MP Col Bob Stewart, with his unique take on 'twisting the rules of engagement', was the undoubted star, closely followed by design guru and future-thinker Nick Talbot. Both weren't afraid to suggest radical ideas and both were well received.

On the other hand, it looks like Ruby Wax certainly shouldn't have given up the day job for a career in psychotherapy (her session seemed an unscripted ramble), while the pro-aviation rantings of London City boss Richard Gooding just defied logic. Still, you can't have total success.

Perhaps most refreshing was the fact that the ITT managed to get everyone to Benidorm in the first place. Sure, the five-star surroundings of the Asia Gardens hotel helped, but we saw plenty of the industry's top brass living it up on the Strip. Four million Brits pass through Alicante every year and a good proportion end up in the Spanish high-rise capital - any event that keeps the bosses in touch with what normal people do for holidays has got to be considered worthwhile.