p10-11 Youtravel Oct 9 7/10/09 21:26 Page 11
ttglive.com
in-depth
MARKETING.
Greece urged
to be proactive
GREECE is in danger of being overtaken by
growing destinations such as Egypt and Turkey.
Triton Rooms’ Andy Stark, who spent 20
years working overseas for First Choice, said he
had watched Greece slip back in the last decade.
“It has done nothing particularly wrong but
other gateways such as Turkey and Egypt have
been developing and it hasn’t been quick
enough to hold its business,” he said.
“Greece is driven by where carriers are
going, places like Zante, Crete and Rhodes. The
shame is that people have missed out on some
of the other islands because you can’t get there
without a boat and you can’t get a boat because
operators can’t get the insurance. A massive
amount of Greece is therefore unavailable.”
Stark added: “And from a health and safety
perspective a lot of places we used to sell can’t
be advertised now for basic reasons, like the
Geoff Andrews, Chetan Patel balcony isn’t high enough.”
UK Travelshop Chadwell Travel Stark, who lived in Crete for five years, said
“At the most, next year is going “I am optimistic about next year; the Greek tourist board did not do enough.
to be 10% better than this year. it will be better than this year “The Greeks seem to have gone back into
The issues are going to be the same as those and margins will creep up. This year everyone themselves and it needs a governmental push
which have hindered us this year such as late had to drop margins to fight for business. Last to get Greece back to its glory days; it has a lot
bookings and a strong euro, which I can’t see year we were facing a huge lack of confidence of work to do.”
changing. An election might help.” but next year people will be more confident.” UK Travelshop group general manager Geoff
Andrews agreed Greece has to change, adding:
Victoria Sanders, Andy Stark, “It needs to go back to grass-roots. The Greeks
Teletext Holidays Triton Rooms need to go back to promoting the small islands.”
“The late market is going to “Anyone who didn’t go on holiday Phil Norris, sales director at A2B Transfers,
continue. We’ve got a few things this year will go next year. If said the key to success for Greece was to have a
to keep an eye on as potentially impactful such as people went for a UK holiday this year they will strong regional flying operation.
the World Cup and oil prices. I think UK holidays be gutted and want to go away. It’s important “If a UK region loses a Greece flight people
will continue to be popular. If you look at to watch your business costs, keep a very close will simply fly somewhere else from that airport,
holiday cottage bookings for next summer they eye on what you’re spending and what is they won’t travel to London to get to Greece.”
are up on last year. There will not be as much coming in. People will travel next year and I
all-inclusive but self-catering will do better.” expect to see a slight step up.”
Chris Roche, Phil Norris,
Travel Republic A2B Transfers
“I can see self-catering and all- “2010 will be somewhere be-
inclusive doing well and I believe tween level and 5% up on 2009.
the UK will do better than this year. Price will be January, February and March will be better but
the winner and websites will leverage different will be undermined by a worse May and June,
marketing channels to acquire customers as which will even things out. People are still after
cheaply as possible. The key will be conversion value for money. In terms of transfers we will
and the biggest factor there will be price. Cus- do well numbers-wise. Customers are booking
tomers are still looking for absolute value and I shuttles this year, downgrading from a taxi, and
think our margins will be similar to this year.” in a perverse way this has helped our numbers.” Santorini: the Greek tourist board “must work to revive the glory days”
09.10.2009 11
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