NEWS TRAVEL WEEKLY BUSINESS CONTINUED FROM THE BACK
families’ prices, also introduced last autumn, are available on Amadeus, saying: “We’re open to what any airline wants to make available. We have direct-connect capability with Lufthansa, [so] it is not a question of capability.” Yet there appears no end to the stand-off since the DCC was imposed, with some leading travel management companies, including the Advantage Focus Group and ATPI, following a policy of non-cooperation with the carrier – albeit still making bookings when clients require. Magesh said: “We hear [booking] volumes are affected, but I can’t comment on what we see. We would love to talk to Lufthansa, but how long this continues is really for them [to decide]. The only resolution will come from sitting around a table.” She insisted: “The end consumer has a choice. The traveller can go online and they can go to the airline. But in many markets they choose to go to an agent or OTA. There is value in third-party distribution, which is why they make that choice.” Magesh dismissed the idea
that new technology providers could easily displace GDSs – part of the thinking behind Iata’s New Distribution Capability trials. She said: “It’s easy to build an API [connection to a website]. Kids all over the world are building apps. But a GDS is not just a graphic-user interface and some content. A lot of expertise goes into it and new IT providers are going to struggle to replicate that. It’s not about the next great widget. “You can’t see the rule engine, the algorithms built from years of experience and scale. Why does everyone use Google? It’s the algorithms and scale, and the two driving each other. I don’t think it’s possible to replicate what we do unless you can replicate our business model and experience.”
TRAVLAW BIG TENT EVENT 2016: Experts discuss the impact on bus
Terror: ‘Good advice is key as more attacks inevitable’
Travel companies should be prepared for fresh terror attacks in destinations, but should not fear a downturn in overall bookings.
That was the view of an industry
panel at Travlaw’s Big Tent Event in London. Travel writer and broadcaster Simon Calder described the killing of tourists in Istanbul on Tuesday of last week as “absolutely awful”. He said: “What happened will
have all sorts of repercussions for people in Turkey and for the industry. It does look like a dangerous world.” But he argued: “The number of people who travel abroad [from the UK] has increased 60% in 20 years, while the numbers who come to grief have remained pretty constant.” Asked why the number of
attacks appears to have increased, Abta chief executive Mark Tanzer said: “We have built mass tourism in parts of the world that are volatile and unstable. It’s not just that we have 24-hour news media.” Questioned about Foreign Office
(FCO) advice, such as that against all flights to Tunisia following the beach massacre last June, Tanzer
78
travelweekly.co.uk 21 January 2016 But Tanzer said: “The Foreign
Office is adamant they don’t make political decisions. They look at the level of disruption and the feasibility of restrictions.” Calder added: “It is demonstrably the case that if you are a tourist in Egypt or in Tunisia you are targeted because you represent the best way for terrorists to succeed. In Paris, people were harmed as bystanders rather than as tourists. That is demonstrably different to tourists being targeted.” He also pointed out how quickly
CALDER: ‘You should say holidays are as safe as you can make them’
said: “The FCO is pragmatic. They weigh decisions very carefully and don’t change travel advice easily. We’re obviously involved, and it’s with a heavy heart they make a decision like that over Tunisia.” Moderator Chris Photi of White Hart Associates pointed out that the recent security scare in Brussels and the massacre in Paris in November did not prompt the same FCO reaction as the beach killings in Tunisia.
global media attention shifts, arguing: “The sharper the focus on a particular location, the less attention is paid to last year’s situations. Remember Ebola?” Calder said: “The travel industry should not be on the back foot. It should say, ‘We’ll sell you holidays as safe as we can make them’. We all have to tolerate some risk.” Tanzer identified “keeping up
the level of consumer confidence” as the biggest single issue for the sector. He said: “We need to give good-quality information to consumers. It is going to be choppy water. This isn’t going to change.”
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