The Guild of Travel Management Companies annual conference starts this weekend in Dubai.
All the great and good of the business travel agency community will be there, plus a few dastardly suppliers promoting their wares.
It will be my first GTMC conference, and assuming swine flu doesn’t grip the Middle East by Saturday it’ll be my second visit to Dubai.
I was both over and underwhelmed by my first trip to the Emirate. It is truly awesome in the old sense of the word.
To see structures like the Burj Al Arab hotel, The Atlantis, The Palm and “The World” was very surreal.
It demonstrated what can by done with infinite amounts of cash and labour.
But it came across as a place with no soul. And knowing the conditions suffered by the poor buggers on the construction sites leaves a bitter taste.
The conference is bound to generate some vibrant discussion, what with all that’s going on at the moment.
We’ve climate change, swine flu, the global recession, an airline crisis, GDS negotiations, ongoing security issues…the list goes on.
I’ll be filing stories from the conference on www.ttgbusiness.com and posting updates here and on my twitter (travel_hack).
Looking forward to being hosted by the ever generous Jumeirah Group and Emirates Airlines.
