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Trade: Tourist office grateful for support
The Tunisian National Tourist Office thanked the trade for its “tremendous support” following last week’s massacre. Sami Tounsi, trade manager
for the tourist board, expressed his sorrow and sympathy for the families affected by the tragedy. He highlighted the
importance of tourism to the destination, which attracted almost 500,000 Brits last year. Tounsi said the country had
Bookings: Rising Tunisia market shattered by massacre Former West Midlands Co-operative
Travel manager Suzy Evans lost her brother, father and son in the tragedy
Year-on-year package bookings to Tunisia slumped 68% on June 27, the day of the massacre, and 95% the following day. GfK figures revealed that on June 28, only 74 passengers booked for summer 2015, compared with 1,615 on the same day last year. Tunisia ended the week 30%
down on 2014. For the summer season-
to-date to the week ending June 27, Tunisia accounted for
The year-on-year fall in bookings on the day after the massacre
95%
Rui Imperial Marhaba
Operators struggled to reach clients in Tunisia booked by agent partners because they didn’t have their contact details, according to Jet2holidays. The operator had customers in the Soviva Resort Hotel, next to the Riu Imperial Marhaba. It repatriated 562 customers over the weekend, including some who had travelled with other operators. Commercial director Steve Lee, who had a team of 200 working 24/7 in the UK to deal with the situation, said there were
4.1% of the UK package market – 0.3 percentage points up on 2014. Passenger numbers were
14% up year on year, against 4% for the overall market, due to Tunisia’s good value and security concerns in other destinations. In the peak travel period,
Tunisia was expecting departures in the first two weeks of August to be up by more than 20% on last year.
been wounded by the attack but vowed it would work hard to put its house in order. “Tourism is the lifeblood of the Tunisia economy; the livelihoods of two million people are in jeopardy,” he added. “More than £350 million has been lost to the Tunisian economy. “We will not let [terrorists]
defeat the values of freedom, tolerance and democracy Tunisia has begun to embrace.” The attack comes three
months after 22 people, including tourists, were killed at the Bardo Museum in Tunis. The UK is the second-
largest European market to Tunisia and 90% of bookings are made through the trade.
Communication: ‘We need to improve’
challenges contacting customers in resort on Friday. “The mobile networks were in
meltdown, and although we had reps on the ground, they couldn’t get to everyone.
“Some people had fled and a good proportion of bookings came via our trade partners, so we had to get in touch with agents for customers’ contact details.” Lee said Jet2 had a “very
good response from agents” but admitted it would have been harder over a weekend if agencies
had been shut. He added: “We will look at ways to improve lines of communication.” Derek Moore, chairman of the Association of Independent Tour Operators, added: “Some agents have a reluctance to provide customer data to operators, so it will be interesting to see how they balance this in these situations.” About 400 Jet2 clients remain
in Tunisia. The company has cancelled all flights and holidays until July 5, and offered clients full refunds or alternative destinations.
2 July 2015 —
travelweekly.co.uk • 5
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