History of the SPAA

Founded in 1921 by a small group of passenger steamship agents, during what was an era of rapid growth in emigration from Scotland to North America, the Scottish Passenger Agents’ Association is today the World’s longest established travel organisation of its type, with an enduring reputation for objectivity and tenacity in defending the interests of its Membership, and the wider travel community within Scotland and beyond, and well-recognised integrity. In 1923, with the aim of ‘providing the opportunity for Scottish Agents to meet or renew the acquaintanceship of their Principals’, the Association’s Council conceived the Scottish Passenger Agents’ Annual Dinner which, in February of 2010 celebrated its 80th Anniversary; and ‘the Dinner’ remains one of the UK travel sector’s most prestigious occasions.
 

 

In 2010, the SPAA represents all of Scotland’s major travel agents within its Membership, working increasingly pro-actively with a growing group of Associate Members – our Principals – to address the issues and meet the challenges of the constantly changing travel marketplace, thereby protecting the interests of our mutual clients throughout the nation and beyond.