The European Travel Commission here postponed its Trans-Atlantic Travel Marketing Conference scheduled for Jan. 16, pending further development and funding of a new marketing scheme for the U.S.

“We have developed plans for an `Operation Recovery` promotion in major U.S. markets for 2002,” said Einar Gustavsson, director for the Americas for the Icelandic Tourist Board and U.S. chairman of the 31-nation ETC. “The board wants to develop those plans further, so that we can announce them in detail at the conference.”

A new date will be set following a board of directors meeting in Brussels, Belgium, in mid-January.

This is the second time the ETC has postponed the event, which was originally scheduled for Oct. 25 as a forum on the impact of European Union`s common euro currency.

Following the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, the conference was retooled—under the theme “What Must Be Done to Rebuild U.S. Travel to Europe”—to address an estimated 30% drop-off in transatlantic traffic.

“We are still very much in a crisis,” Gustavsson said in a statement. “And we know that the transatlantic industry is looking to ETC ... for leadership and action.”

——-