p5 news mar20 18/3/09 20:32 Page 5
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news
In brief
■ Virgin Holidays to axe 40 jobs from UK office
Anger at Treasury
Virgin Holidays has confirmed up to 40 jobs have
been slashed from across the business in order
to cut its costs by 7%. The long-haul operator
revealed last week that it had undertaken a
“thorough” review of costs in order to meet the
challenges posed by the economic downturn. refusal to budge
Virgin Holidays currently employs around 600
staff in its UK office in Crawley.
Government reply slammed as ‘bitterly disappointing’
C
O
and ‘flippant’. Lee Hayhurst and Chris Gray report
■ TTA set to reject Triton membership
STO
VER
A formal announcement is expected “within
R
Y
days” that TTA will not be joining super INDUSTRY bosses have angrily slammed Amanda Wills, managing director
consortium Triton. However, Worldchoice, which government insistence that plans for reforming of Virgin Holidays, added: “The
the TTA bought last year, and which is a founding APD are justified because they are “simple”. banding may be simple, but it certainly isn’t fair.
member of Triton, will remain a member. TTG launched its Fair Fares campaign in “The government has chosen administrative
Worldchoice is also expected to announce details January by starting a petition – now signed by ease over doing the right thing. It’s bitterly
of its own conference, thought to be in the UK, 2,300 people – and writing to chancellor Alistair disappointing and illustrates that those with a
and there will be a Triton conference “in a form Darling. thorough understanding of our sector should
never seen before”, an insider said. It sought to highlight how basing the tax on have been consulted from the outset.
bands based on the distances from London to “The economic consequences to the
■ Ryanair ‘would lose UK screen-scraper cases’ other capital cities would seriously disadvantage traveller and overseas communities of banding
Travel software company Multicom has claimed some destinations, particularly the Caribbean. destinations with non-comparable distances
court rulings in Spain and Germany mean But the Treasury has now replied to TTG together are not ‘simple’.”
Ryanair would be set to lose any legal actions and said that while distance bands will leave Andy Cooper, FTO director-general, said: “This
for screen-scraping against agents in the UK. some countries “disappointed”, they were is a flippant response to serious concerns. It will
The Bristol-based company, which supplies “administratively simple”. damage countries dependent on tourism.”
online booking software to agents, made the Dermot Blastland, Tui Travel UK managing Aito chairman Derek Moore added: “The gov-
claim after court rulings in favour of Atrapalo, director, said this response was “complete tosh”. ernment has admitted it has fallen back on ad-
a Spanish online travel agency in Barcelona, “It’s not simple: hundreds of thousands of ministrative convenience rather than fairness.
and CheapTickets in Frankfurt. people will be affected by this. The most sensible Their own words highlight the unfairness of it.”
thing is to base it on sectors and aircraft type,
■ Abta offers tips to beat the recession but that would be a tax on aviation which is ■ Help us fight the government – sign up at:
Abta has developed an online tool kit to help illegal, so it has to be a tax on the passenger.” http://petitions.number10.gov.uk/APDtax
members survive the recession. It includes
tips on cost-effective marketing, risk
management, cost saving and staff motivation.
The tool kit suggests members offer flexible
working, reduce or eliminate overtime and
be transparent with staff about the company’s
financial outlook.
■ Tipto visits nine UK cities on spring roadshow
Tipto is holding nine roadshows between March
and June, with an average of 90 agents at each.
The next is on March 24 in Dunstable, with others
in Norwich, Edinburgh, Plymouth, Portsmouth,
Sheffield, Hull, Ashford and Cobham.
■ Club Med Bali kicks off global revamp
Club Med Bali, Nusa Dua, on the south-east coast
of Bali, has reopened with a new spa, new luxury
suites, and improved dining and activity options.
The revamp is part of a global renovation CIMTIG AWARDS WINNERS: British Airways and Tui Travel were among the winners
programme. praised for their “response-based marketing and advertising activities” at this year’s
ttglive.com
For the latest news, reviews and comment
revamped Cimtig Travel Marketing Awards, for which TTG was trade media partner.
from the travel industry, visit ttglive.com For the full list of winners, and more pictures, go to thetravelmarketingawards.com
20.03.2009 05
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