THE PRESIDENT'S DINNER

VENUE: The Dorchester Hotel, London

DATE: Tuesday 9th October 2007

In October ITT returned to The Dorchester Hotel in London for the annual President’s Dinner. This enormously popular and successful occasion was attended by senior people from across the travel industry.

After a sumptuous dinner, ITT staged its own tribute to the BBC series ‘Mock The Week’, when three stand-up comedians – including Ian Stone, one of the most sought-after comedians on the stand-up circuit - poked fun at the world of travel.

Guest of honour, The Rt Hon Charles Kennedy MP was the after dinner speaker. He praised the politically ecumenical nature of the travel industry, citing ‘Comrade’ Lord Peter Snape as a prime example.

Kennedy went on to explain the similarities between politics and travel – apparently most MPs are keen to become experts in foreign travel themselves. The most outstanding example of their fervour was in 1995, when parliamentarians from around the world showed extraordinary enthusiasm for taking part in a fact-finding tour of South Africa… and it was purely coincidental that the Rugby World Cup was being staged at the same time!

Seriously, Kennedy believes the main similarity between travel and politics is that the consumer is king. People don’t buy holidays without thinking carefully about them first and asking a lot of questions, and it’s the same with the voting process. He also thinks that one of Britain’s most valuable attractions for overseas visitors is tradition. At the same time, the British people love to broaden their horizons by travelling abroad, which creates a good mix that is tremendous for the country. Kennedy praised the travel industry as a whole because it plays such an important role in making this happen.

However, he ended by saying that where travel and politics part company is in the difference between doing what you have to do and doing what you want to do. Politics deals with what people have to do. The travel industry deals with what people want to do which, to a politician, is a great luxury.

Click here to view the electronic photo album.

Click here to view individual photos of the event.