p16 Columnist Sept25 22/9/09 17:28 Page 16
news comment
ttglive.com
Kane Pirie Travel Republic
“Today, more people have
the confidence to organise
their own holiday – now is the
age of independent travel”
I
ndependent travel is not a new holiday market for the independent traveller.
phenomenon. Fashionable young English Good job too, given the dominance Thomas
gentlemen were swanning around Europe Cook and Tui have enjoyed in the package
and enjoying “the Grand Tour” as early as holiday sector since their respective mergers.
1660. That is 200 years before Mr Thomas Cook Second, the internet. Holiday shoppers can
offered the first organised overseas tour in 1855. scan through airline websites and hotel websites
It was another 100 years or so later that comparing product and picking what they want.
the tour operator industry really flourished. They can compare the market in as many hours
Its golden years were between 1950 and 1990 on the web as it would have taken days in the
as Britain recovered from the Second World pre-internet age. But who wants to spend
War and people with ordinary levels of hours surfing the web?
income could afford what was once a People want to get the best deal
rare luxury of a foreign holiday. as quickly as possible. Hence the
For almost 40 years the market emergence of “search & select”
was broadly static. Tour operators websites designed to enable efficient
chartered flights and comparison shopping, such as Travel-
pre-booked accommodation supermarket or Travel Republic.
in vast quantities. Pack- Such models have to appeal to the
ages were adver- travel providers and customers.
tised in rochures None of this is lost on the big two,
and distributed which now own the largest bed banks
via shops on the (Hotelbeds and Hotels4U/Medhotels).
high street Independent travel accounts for 27
where agents million holidays sold (60% of the mar-
could earn good ket) offers customers more choice, flexi-
commission. bility and better value.
That long-standing status But it is also about confidence. When my
quo is now in turmoil. Although parents took me to Majorca in the 1970s, they
still vast, with 20 million package wanted the package deal, with coach transfer
holidays sold each year, the mar- and a friendly rep. It made them feel safe.
ket has peaked and is now fated Today, more people have the confidence
to slowly erode. But why? to organise their own holiday. Now really
First, the ferocious success is the age of the independent traveller.
of no-frills airlines such as
Ryanair, easyJet and others Kane Pirie is managing director of
has opened up the short-haul Travel Republic
16 25.09.2009
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