NEWS — CONFERENCE REPORT
Travel Weekly’s
Lee Hayhurst (left) chairs a panel
comprising, from left: Andy Harmer,
Gordon McCreadie, Martin Alcock and Gary Anslow
Agents are told they need to emphasise the added value they offer over online rivals to tap into market growth. LEE HAYHURST reports from the Global Travel Group Conference at Carden Park Hotel, Chester
In the wake of a steady, if unspectacular, 2015 peak selling period, most sectors are confident there is scope for growth. However, a panel debate on
travel trends at the Global Travel Group Conference agreed that agents would need to promote the added value they offered against price-driven online competition. Gary Anslow, Monarch Travel
Group sales director, said: “There’s definitely growth in the market. “January last year was phenomenal. This year, that peak has flattened out. That has been a trend now for a number of years and I think that will continue. “We have taken capacity out of the market, while others have added it back in. But January remains a peak selling period.”
Cruise trends Speaking before figures were released showing a 4.8% fall in the number of UK cruisers last year, Clia UK & Ireland director Andy Harmer said: “We are at a point in the development of cruise as a global industry where we are adding a lot of new ships. “What’s great is a lot of these new ships are being built for the UK. But cruising has become much more global and a lot of capacity is now going to other markets. “When people book their cruise has changed a lot over the past few years. But in 2014, about
40% were booked at least nine months in advance. So that’s a positive trend.
“Cruise still It’s so easy
to sell someone the wrong
accounts for only one in eight package holidays booked. If we reach half that, that’s a quadrupling of the UK market, which is achievable, but is going to take a long time.”
holiday on price; in short-haul it’s hard for agents to add value
sector so affected by external events, getting excited about being 4% up in February is not a great way to run a business.” Anslow
added: “The risk,
if you compare only with the prior year, is that panic sets in. So if
Greatest potential Gordon McCreadie, sales, marketing and commercial director of long-haul and luxury specialist Travel 2, said it was away from the mass market that agents had the most potential to show their value. “In the mass market, you
struggle to get customer loyalty, whereas in our sector, agents add value because customers find it difficult to buy online,” he said. “The easiest thing in the world is to sell someone the wrong holiday on price. In short-haul, it’s hard to add that value.” Martin Alcock, director of
Travel Trade Consultancy, warned against reading too much into year-on-year comparisons. “It does not give you a sense
of how the industry is performing in the long term,” he said. “In a
12 •
travelweekly.co.uk — 26 March 2015
January is slow, the assumption is there is something wrong and we need to do something on price.” McCreadie said: “We have tried
hard this peaks to hold our prices. For a lot of our competitors, it seems the only route to market is to slash prices.” McCreadie was asked how agent/ supplier relations were developing in an era in which agents are able to cut out operators. “Agents will always do what’s
best for their business,” he said. “Agents are our only customer.
We want agents to flourish and prosper because if they do, we do. “Agents are getting far better at choosing their partners wisely at a consortia and individual agent level.”
Agency initiatives Travel 2 recently launched its agency ‘wall’ initiative, offering a branded point-of-sale display,
which was likened to partnerships being forged by rivals. This led to claims that Travel 2
was copying ideas, prompting McCreadie to quip: “It turns out walls were created by Kuoni; I don’t know what held up your agencies before. “That [the wall] was driven by
agents. They wanted something that was Travel 2-branded because we are not a consumer brand. “We are realistic to know that
rarely does someone come in and ask for a Travel 2 holiday, because we don’t promote direct to customers.” Anslow said Monarch had to
take a more balanced approach. “Our trick has to be to be as competitive as we can in every sector the consumer wants to buy from,” he said. “That drives our business model.” Anslow, who previously worked in the drinks industry, drew a comparison with the way in which pubs have adapted in the face of competition, changing consumer demands and regulation. But he said travel agents had a clear advantage over landlords. “When you buy a pint of Foster’s,
you don’t give the barman your email address, your preferences or the amount of money you have got to spend every year. No other industry has that information to hand. Use it effectively and you are in a good position.”
CONFERENCE REPORT
Global Travel Group 2015
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71 |
Page 72 |
Page 73 |
Page 74 |
Page 75 |
Page 76 |
Page 77 |
Page 78 |
Page 79 |
Page 80 |
Page 81 |
Page 82 |
Page 83 |
Page 84 |
Page 85 |
Page 86 |
Page 87 |
Page 88 |
Page 89 |
Page 90 |
Page 91 |
Page 92 |
Page 93 |
Page 94 |
Page 95 |
Page 96 |
Page 97 |
Page 98 |
Page 99 |
Page 100 |
Page 101 |
Page 102 |
Page 103 |
Page 104