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US specialists’ sales soar after Virgin goes direct
Jennifer Morris
jennifer.morris@
travelweekly.co.uk
US specialists are reaping the benefits after Virgin Holidays decided to stop selling through the trade.
USAirtours, which stopped all
direct-sell promotions in 2004 to become trade-only, is celebrating making more than £1 million in sales in a single week for the first time in its 34-year history. The operator confirmed it had
taken more than 1,000 bookings for destinations in the US in the week commencing January 9 – up 22% year on year – with California fly‑drives and Florida villa holidays proving most popular. Founder and chief executive Guy
Novik said USAirtours expanded its reservation team by a fifth in anticipation of a jump in business following Virgin Holidays’ announcement in October that it would stop selling through agents. “As a result of Virgin Holidays’ decision, more than 130 new
USAirtours’ sales topped £1m in a week for first time
agencies having started selling us in January alone,” said Novik. “Ordinarily, we would see growth in sales of 5%-7% in January, but we are just scratching the surface and intend to pick up as much of their business as we can get.” Novik said he “respects Virgin
Holidays’ decision” to go direct, adding: “The Virgin brand is very powerful. There are already a lot of airline operators that sell direct, but there is still a huge market for the services of a local travel agent.” US and Caribbean specialist
Funway Holidays reported a 44% year-on-year increase in sales in the first two weeks of January. Managing director Stephen
Rhodes said: “Some of it is due to Virgin Holidays going direct; however, they are being very aggressive price‑wise and working hard to retain repeat customers. “But it’s also down to the Caribbean and Mexico being good alternatives to Tunisia and Egypt for winter sun.” Rhodes said sales were up 33% to the Caribbean, 48% to Mexico and 45% to the US on the same two weeks last year.
X Factor winner Louisa Johnson stuns Globes guests
Stars turn out for best Globes yet
Amie Keeley
amie.keeley@
travelweekly.co.uk
Dame Edna Everage, Piers Morgan and The X Factor winner Louisa Johnson took centre stage alongside the industry’s favourite suppliers at the Travel Weekly Globe Travel Awards.
More than 1,000 guests
attended last week’s event at the Grosvenor House hotel in London. Rumours of who the celebrity
co-host would be circulated ahead of the event, but nobody expected outlandishly‑frocked diva Dame Edna, who was besieged by fans as she made her way to the stage
to join co‑host Lucy Huxley, Travel Weekly’s editor-in-chief. Good Morning Britain host and
Daily Mail columnist Piers Morgan also joined the event to present the Consumer Awards, sponsored by Mail Brands UK. Attraction World was once again the biggest winner on the night, taking home three awards, while Kuoni, SuperBreak and Emirates won two each. There were also big prizes up for grabs for guests on the night.
Cruise.co.uk managing director Seamus Conlon won a trip to Vietnam in a competition with Wendy Wu Tours, and Caroline Weir, of Thomas Cook Metro Centre in Gateshead, won a place on the pre-inaugural celebrations of Royal Caribbean’s Harmony of the Seas. Weir will be the first agent to experience new slide Ultimate Abyss. She will then be flown to Florida for the official naming ceremony before heading to Los Angeles to visit the set of Rydell High from hit film Grease. The Globes sparked a social media frenzy with more than 3,800 tweets and Instagram posts sent during the evening using the TWGlobes hashtag, which were liked or retweeted more than 2,000 times. Travel Weekly managing director Stuart Parish said: “The Globes keep getting bigger and better every year, reaffirming their status as the most‑coveted awards in our industry. “Agents and suppliers are at the heart of our industry and so I’d like to say thank you to everyone involved in helping to make this
year’s event such a huge success.” › Globes 2016, pages 14-18
21 January 2016
travelweekly.co.uk 5 3 STORIES HOT
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