ttglive.com Global Travel Group Conference • March 7-8 • Leicester Marriott
From left: moderator Jeremy Skidmore; Travel 2’s Gordon McCreadie; Kuoni’s Amanda Darrington; and Cosmos’s Hugh Morgan
SUMMER CAPACITY. Shift as Spain fills up
CAPACITY MAY have to be switched back to the eastern Mediterranean this summer as Spain fills up, according to Cosmos Holidays’ managing director. Hugh Morgan said Spanish destina- tions such as the Balearics and Canaries were “doing extremely well and will continue to do well”. “We could reach a saturation point
around July and August when capacity will have to switch back to the eastern Mediterranean,” he said. “Turkey has had problems because it has put prices up tremendously, although Greece is coming back and Cyprus is also seeing growth.” Morgan said Sharm el Sheikh was
“an area of concern” following Egypt’s political crisis, but that “dramatic” hotel price reductions would help the resort to regain business.
FINANCIAL CRISIS. ‘Discipline with cash is the key to survival’
AGENTS NEED to save cash and cut costs to get through the current market, according to the UK boss of Stella Travel Services. Chief executive Andrew Botterill said the market was “tough but would improve” and agents needed to make sure they were in a financial position to survive until business picked up. “My advice is to keep costs under control and conserve cash,” he said.
“If you’ve got cash and costs are under control, you can wait for the market to recover. It can be difficult, but with discipline you will do okay.” Botterill added that he expected business in 2011 to “not be much better than last year”. “January was an encouraging start
but February was a disaster. Hopefully March, April and May will get better,” he said.
He also said there could be an intro-
duction of subsidies by the Egyptian government on flights to Sharm. “You can pick up a four or five-star hotel for £14 a night in Sharm because the hotels are empty,” he said. Amanda Darrington, Kuoni’s national sales manager, said holidaymakers had short memories when it came to des- tinations affected by political crises. “Look at what happened in Thailand
last year with the red shirts. Now it is selling off the scale,” she said. Travel 2 sales and marketing director Gordon McCreadie said the operator had seen “phenomenal” Dubai sales but the overall market was booking later. “Australia has come back, Canada is
stronger, particularly for touring, and we’re seeing a South Africa bounce as hotels bring prices down,” he said.
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