ITT chairman Steven Freudmann said questionnaires received following this year’s conference in Sorrento had given overwhelming backing to the formula. “The response has been absolutely fantastic, it was massively popular with our members,” he said.

Former chancellor George Osborne was a keynote speaker at the conference, held this month in Sorrento. A total of 83% of delegates said the conference had met their expectations “fully”, while 15% said it had met them “partly”.

“Politicians are continuing to prove very popular,” Freudmann said. “Osborne’s approval rating, with 81% saying he was ‘very good’, was beaten by Lord Michael Cashman, whose speech on Brexit received an 88% approval rating.

“It was an overwhelming vote of confidence in the politicians that attended and an endorsement that we need to engage with them,” Freudmann said.

Among the speakers, top ratings were given to Pierfrancesco Vago, executive chairman, MSC Cruises and Soren Hartmann, chief executive, Der Touristik Group.

Freudmann added the venue – The Hilton Sorrento Palace – had also received a high rate of approval.
“We had to turn people away in the two weeks before,” he added.

ITT is now searching for next year’s destination, which Freudmann said was more of a challenge than in the past. “It’s becoming more and more difficult to find a five-star hotel with a conference centre, preferably in a resort and with direct flights,” he said.

He added that ITT would definitely pick a short-haul destination. “It will be within Europe, [that] message was loud and clear.”