It may never happen. But ABTA is holding a Master class session on Sunday 27 November (the Learn Day) at the ABTA Travel Convention between 11:25 - 12:10 on how travel businesses can prepare for a flu pandemic.

Although the travel industry has become well experienced in dealing with major catastrophes, which have put off holidaymakers from travelling, UK travel companies have so far not faced the possibility of how they would cope if large numbers of their own staff became ill.

Panellists Keith Betton from ABTA, Andy Cooper from the FTO, Paul Sizeland, from the Foreign Office, Debbie Hindle from BGB and David Perl from Docleaf will go through the important issues of what and where bird flu is; what the likely scenarios will be if the bird virus became a human virus; how Government will respond and what travel companies should be doing now.

Ends

19 October 2005

For further information, contact Frances Tuke, ABTA Corporate Affairs, tel. 020 7307 1903.