Brexit, fires in Australia, floods in Venice, smog in Delhi, company collapses such as Thomas Cook, the Ethiopian Airlines crash and an ever-changing business environment were cited as challenges faced by the travel industry this year by Jono Vernon-Powell, AITO council member and moderator of the AITO overseas conference.
However, he was quick to emphasise the positives that are emerging, such as long-haul flight times shortening and strides made toward making space tourism a reality.
Derek Moore, AITO chairman, highlighted the conference hashtag #AITOWTF with "WTF" standing for "what's the future?" as well as the cheeky double meaning.
"There are challenges from year to year, there are always challenges, always difficulties, we're in a volatile unpredictable world," Mr Moore told delegates. He said the conference will seek to answer the questions, offer helpful advice and seek ways to answer the questions of what the future holds and how the industry can find solutions.
The conference then focused on the ongoing success of the Polish tourism industry.
During the panel discussion, Iwona Bialobrzycka representing the Polish National Tourist office, said that joining the EU, the Schengen zone and the Open Skies policy have all helped tourism to the country's tourism industry. She said these three factors have led to improved infrastructure and an increase in visitor numbers, with people seeking different experiences apart from the traditional Greek, Spanish and Italian holidays. The UK market is important with figures at 500,000 visitors from the UK annually, with that figure on the rise. Additionally, he said that a large proportion of his customers seeking to explore their Polish heritage were inbound tourists from the US, making up 45% of his customers.
Alan Rooney from The Cultural Experience reiterated Ms Bialobrzycka's comments about drawing new visitors to Poland because of its rich history including WWII and earlier historic events, as well as good food. He described the offerings for visitors to Poland as "rich pickings".
John Tangney from Tangney Tours said that a large proportion of his customers are religious tourists, as well as visitors seeking adventure, such as white-water rafting.
