Home Archive Trade body AITA to close

Trade body AITA to close

UK trade body AITA has announced that its March AGM will be its last and that the association will be wound up immediately afterwards. The committee believes the lack of support from the industry, which has resulted in the trade body running at a loss since 2010, has made AITA’s position untenable.

At the end of 2012 AITA commissioned Love Bytes Research to develop a ‘state of the industry’ report to gauge the needs of AITA members and the industry as a whole. The aim of the survey was to assess how three years of declining membership numbers could be addressed.

Respondents said that they considered the three most important functions of AITA to be raising industry standards, lobbying and organising networking events. 64% of respondents felt that an adult trade association was needed but only 32% believed that AITA was an effective voice for the industry.

An official announcement from AITA stated: “With the limited resources available to AITA, it did not come as a surprise to learn that the majority of current members felt that AITA is underperforming in its provision of key services when considering their relative importance. It is clear that this cannot be addressed without a significant injection of cash. AITA has significantly reduced its running costs over the last three years, however with corresponding decreasing subscriptions it has been running at a significant loss since at least 2010. Due to the lack of ongoing support for AITA from the general UK adult industry, and after much deliberation, the committee believes that it is no longer tenable for AITA to continue after the end of the membership year (March 31st) and all committee members will resign on that date and the company closed down. The committee would like to thank all members for their support over the years. As individuals they will continue to work to support the UK adult industry where they can, offering ongoing advice in their particular area of expertise and continuing to network at adult industry events.”

ETO looks back at AITA’s impact on the industry in the March issue and we would very much like to hear your views on its closure. You can comment on this site, use the ETO Facebook page or email [email protected]