President Angela Walsh closed this year’s Irish Travel Agents Association (ITAA) annual conference, in Antalya Turkey, at the weekend by paying tribute to the Association’s former chief executive Pat Dawson; her predecessor as President, Paul Hackett; and former board member Con Horgan.
Ms Walsh said in her closing speech: “I would like to recognise and thank our previous CEO, Pat Dawson for navigating us through the last 3 years which was undoubtedly one of the most challenging and unprecedented times that our industry has ever faced. Thank you also to our previous president, Paul Hackett, for his guidance, openness and willingness to share.”
Ms Walsh said the ITAA must also fully support the next generation of travel agents: “As your president it is my goal to build on this culture of inclusion, culture of learning from each other and embracing change. The challenges that we will continue to face as an industry will always be there and we need to lean into the wisdom that is available to us from our previous board members, like Con Horgan. Coupled with this wisdom we need to encourage younger members to step up and we, the ITAA need to create a space where these younger members will feel valued and included.”
