p18 Column July3 30/6/09 13:40 Page 18
news comment
ttglive.com
Kane Pirie Travel Republic
“Serious commentators were
queuing up to assure us 2009
would be a bloodbath beyond
our wildest nightmares”
I
am sick of all the bad news spin and are booking later than the year before, but
general gloom. It is time to cheer up and when was the last time this was not so?
breathe a sigh of relief, because the In the wider economy the housing market
worst has not actually happened. In all seems to be levelling off and the stock market
probability, it is already behind us. is far from its low point. Even the chancellor’s
Roll back the clock to September 12, 2008. expectation the UK will emerge from recession
The XL Leisure Group went under, followed later this year, derided at the time as madness, is
within days by Lehman Brothers. The global now increasingly seen as a reasonable prediction.
economy rapidly fell into the grips of a mass Looking forward, the trends are positive.
panic attack. Supposedly serious commentators People love to holiday and the market is
were cheerfully adding to the frenzy by massive.
banging on about a depression worse There is room for us all and
than the 1930s. They were queuing several different business models
up to assure us 2009 would be a that have been proven to work:
bloodbath beyond our wildest online agents, bed banks, tour
nightmares. From what I operators, and so on.
could see, most market As the UK population increasingly
participants were left enjoys more free time and higher
trembling into their disposable incomes, travel is
spreadsheets of perfectly placed as a growth sector.
doom, and no Sure, no business has an automatic
wonder. entitlement to play and each business
Back to June must offer the customers something
2009: what over and above the competition if they
has actually plan on sticking around. But if there were
happened? Sadly, no challenge – where would be the fun?
a few companies have I appreciate there are on ongoing issues in
gone to the wall, but generally the industry that need to be addressed, and
due to specific reasons rather than that the market remains difficult for us all.
from tough market conditions. But let’s declare the economic crisis as
Most travel businesses disclosing dead and buried, and get on with making
their numbers are down only sure our customers have a fantastic holiday
10-20% year-on-year and are this summer. They deserve no less.
successfully weathering the
storm. There seems to be Kane Pirie is managing director of
some concern that customers Travel Republic
18 03.07.2009
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