p9 WTM Conf June12 10/6/09 18:35 Page 9
news conference report
ttglive.com
WTM Vision Conference
June 4, 2009 ■ Portland Place, London
World Travel Market’s inaugural Vision conference was
SUSTAINABILITY.
held in London this week, attracting industry leaders
Travellers loth to
from across the UK. Martin Ferguson reports
pay to be green
Lates revival yet to start
HOLIDAYMAKERS want to
take green holidays but
most are not prepared to
THE LATE-bookings market for this summer Travel’s sales of Spanish holidays had suffered, pay the price.
has yet to kick in, according to the boss of The despite making up 35% of total bookings, but Jane Ashton, Tui
Co-operative Travel. bookings to Turkey and Egypt were strong. Travel’s head of sustain-
Speaking to delegates at the World Travel “Medium-haul, non-eurozone destinations, able development, said
Market Vision conference, Mike Greenacre, such as Turkey and Egypt, have been the big just one in three people who booked with Tui
The Co-operative Travel’s managing director, winners. Spain has so far been a loser, but I’d opted to contribute to carbon reduction schemes.
said he was “less optimistic” about late bookings expect it to recover slightly with late bookings.” Speaking at the WTM Vision conference,
than two months ago. More positively, Greenacre said the collapse Ashton (pictured) said travel companies had to
“We have not yet seen the lates market of XL Airways last year was continuing to keep concentrating on environmental issues as
kick in. It is the most crucial part of the package encourage consumers to stop packaging their well as coping with the recession.
holiday market,” he said. own holidays and return to “Green issues are still being discussed at board
Greenacre had previously independent agents. level despite economic concerns. Our customers
been encouraged by research “About 7% of our retail shop will expect business as usual on that front.
carried out in January by his bookings are customers that “Even if customers don’t verbally demand
firm which found 80% of its last year made their own sustainability, they still expect it and value it.”
customers still had to finalise arrangements on the web or
holiday plans, fuelling hopes direct,” he said.
for strong late bookings. “This year they have booked
VEHICLE RENTAL.
But he blamed continuing with our retail shops citing the
Car shortage hits fleets
economic uncertainty for the financial security they believe
lack of late sales. our brand has to offer. Some of CAR RENTAL firms face a vehicle shortage for the
“People are struggling finan- these bookings are reverting remainder of the year as global car production
cially and many face uncertain to the traditional package and continues to slump.
times in the jobs,” he said. some are dynamically packag- Julia Kemp, head of leisure sales in the UK for
He revealed The Co-operative ing using our Atol licence.” Avis, predicted demand would outstrip supply
this summer and create a fleet management
headache for car rental firms.
RECESSION.
“There simply won’t be enough supply this
Global travel and tourism recovery tipped for 2010
summer. We must encourage early bookings to
make managing the fleet easier,” she said.
GLOBAL travel and tourism will shrink by 3.5% manager, said: “The general industry consensus
this year, a study has forecast. is that 2009 will be tough for travel and tourism, ■ Family car-hire guide, p46
Euromonitor International predicted air travel with falling consumer demand.
and hotels would suffer more than most sectors. “Overall, most regions are contracting,
WTM Vision in brief
The hotel sector is set to shrink by 3.6% and especially North America and Latin America,
take four years to recover, while air travel will whereas the Middle East, Africa and Eastern
More than 140 delegates attended the inaugural WTM
decrease by 2.3% and take two years to recover. Europe are faring slightly better.
Vision Conference, which was set up to expand the
World Travel Market brand throughout the calendar
Euromonitor’s forecast for 2010 predicted “However, the downturn is likely to be
year. It will be an annual event giving the industry
worldwide travel and tourism will return followed by a slight recovery in 2010.
access to high-calibre speakers and up-to-date
to growth, but at much lower rates than “We expect 2% growth driven by constrained
research and analysis throughout the year rather
pre-recession estimates. demand and incentives from the trade and
than just in November when the WTM show is held.
Caroline Bremner, Euromonitor’s research governments to boost overall tourism flows.”
12.06.2009 09
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