NEWS — HOT STORIES 2
Royal president Michael Bayley with Anthem
godmother Emma Wilby
Royal sales team aims to visit 13,000 agents a year
Hollie-Rae Merrick in Southampton
Royal Caribbean International’s new head of retail has pledged the line will reach up to 13,000 agents a year following a restructuring of its sales team.
Speaking at the inaugural sailing of new ship Anthem of the Seas, Alexander Johnston told Travel Weekly that two new regional sales managers were being appointed, bringing the total to eight, and boosting the sales team to 26. One of the new regional sales managers will focus on Ireland, while the other will focus on London as part of a fresh strategy to target the capital and other affluent areas.
Johnston, who joined the line
six weeks ago from The Jockey Club, said the new structure would ensure every major account would receive a monthly visit from a regional sales manager, and the team would make up to 3,000 visits to agent partners every year. “The support we are now giving is a demonstration of how important the trade is to us,” he
said. “We need to make sure it is getting the support it needs.” Johnston added that the team
would have a strong retail focus, and said initial signs had been positive. “If my team isn’t dealing with someone who works in a shop, then it isn’t doing its job,” he said. “We’ve seen an instant response from agents we may not have visited for some time.” Johnston was speaking during the launch celebrations for Anthem of the Seas,
which included the official naming by travel agent godmother Emma Wilby, of Thomson in Elgin, who was selected following a competition run in Travel Weekly. Meanwhile, rival line P&O Cruises chose an unusual way to promote its new ship Britannia, taking out an advert in this week’s Travel Weekly to congratulate Royal on its new arrival (page 33). ❯ Anthem’s launch, page 16
Liability for click-through sales tipped to delay PTD
Ian Taylor
Agreement on the final version of a revised Package Travel Directive, anticipated this week, appeared set to be postponed as Europe’s Council of Ministers and the European Parliament failed to agree on treatment of ‘click-through’ sales. These fall under the definition of Assisted Travel Arrangements (ATAs) in the draft directive, covering sales where a consumer clicks from a flight-booking site to a partner to book accommodation or car hire. Airline association Iata, European online travel agency association Ettsa and other groups issued a last-ditch appeal for a postponement last week. Calling for change “before it is too late”, the associations wrote to the council, parliament and European Commission, urging them to “rework the text substantially”. The letter labels the directive “ineffective, confusing and unenforceable”, claims it will “affect trust in the online marketplace”, force companies “to remove targeted consumer discounted offers” and “add
unwarranted costs”. Ettsa members include Expedia, Opodo, ebookers and eDreams.
Iata director-general Tony Tyler said: “The PTD contains a number
of elements which essentially rule out the offer of click-through services. “It makes it more difficult for businesses to transfer from one website to a partner. We’re not against consumer protection but it has to be done in a practical way. We expect to see a delay and it sent back.” But Abta head of public affairs Stephen D’Alfonso said: “I’m
still reasonably confident we’ll have a directive by July 1. ATAs will continue to exist in the directive one way or another. Click-throughs will be in this directive – all three institutions have agreed to that.” D’Alfonso added: “Abta and other organisations have been lobbying on this for years, and this fight will go to the wire.”
23 April 2015 —
travelweekly.co.uk • 5 3
“We are
demonstrating how important the trade is to us”
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