“We’ve been wanting to sell more European river cruising for a long time, and this weekend has opened our eyes to it” CATHEDRAL CITY TRAVEL’S PHIL HINDLE ON ACE’S RIVER EXPO, P12
AUTUMN STATEMENT
SWEET SPOT: Some Thomas Cook branches have been on the receiving end of chocolates and flowers from customers, Iain Ailles, chief executive of mainstream for Thomas Cook & Ireland said. “Although it has been a very challenging week, it has been a very positive week,” he said. Ailles added that messages of support from suppliers and partners had been “overwhelming”.
of the company’s marketing department and said the ad was removed as soon as he saw it. A banner advert on First Choice’s own website read: “No worries about your holiday company AND no worries about what you’re spending” and in smaller print: “Unlike a holiday company we could mention, you don’t need to worry about the way we run our business”. Tui’s head of marketing Jeremy Ellis defended the First Choice message, saying it is meant to reassure clients. “The aim was to reassure our customers that we are not facing any sort of financial difficulty. In the past there has been consumer confusion between our brands and our competitors. So this was meant as a brand reassurance message and to clarify any confusion between the two separate companies,” Ellis said.
■The TTG Analysis: How Thomas Cook can fly high again, p10-11
commentator who has been in the media has said that everything is bonded and safe. The resounding message has been that bookings are safe and any made in the future will be too.” He added: “There has not been a
negative effect on the trade as a whole. It hasn’t undermined the industry like the failures in the past.”
‘APD rise is bad news for business and tourism’
THE TRAVEL industry has been urged to keep fighting against an Air Passenger Duty increase despite the government confirming a “double- inflation” rise in the tax from April 2012. The Treasury said the planned increase would go ahead, which will lead to an estimated 10% rise in APD from April 1 next year. This would mean that a family of four travelling to Australia in economy would have to pay £374 in APD – up by £34 on the current level of £340. Full details of the new APD rates will be released by the government on Tuesday (December 6) when the Treasury gives its response to the APD consultation held earlier this year. Amanda Wills, managing director
of Virgin Holidays, said: “It’s vital the travel industry as a whole keeps up the pressure on the government regarding this lopsided tax.” Darren Caplan, chief executive of the Airport Operators Association, added: “This is not the end of the road, it’s just the start. We are
ATOL REFORM
CAA rapped for delay to ‘public education’
AGENTS HAVE accused the CAA of leaving consumers confused over Atol reform, after it admitted it would not start educating the public about the reforms until late 2012, writes Sophie Griffiths. The CAA said it wanted to target people booking holidays for summer 2013, and would start educating consumers from November next year. However, Keith Butterfield, managing director of Number One
beseeching the government to cancel the planned increase. This is shocking considering the increases we’ve already had.” Mary Rance,
Wills: pressure is vital
UKinbound chief executive, said: “We
can’t comprehend their failure to understand the damage it will do to tourism. “The government cannot claim to
support tourism when it is making decisions such as this.” Simon Buck, chief executive of the British Air Transport Association, called the move “bad news for British business and tourism”. The “double inflation” rise in APD was confirmed in documents released following George Osborne’s Autumn Statement in Parliament on Tuesday. The government is also expected
to give details of changes to the structure of the duty which could help destinations such as the Caribbean which have been disproportionately affected by the current four-band system.
Travel, said consumers and agents should be educated together. “It should be about protecting the consumer, not about confusing the consumer and the travel agent at the same time,” he said.
Chairman of Aito Agents Oliver
Broad added: “Agents can explain it to a lot of customers, but there are a good number they can’t reach.” A spokesman for the CAA said the industry had given it a “strong steer” that they did not want customers coming into their shops from April 1 and being disappointed if their agent did not understand the scheme.
IN BRIEF
■ALL LEISURE IS ON TARGET All Leisure Group is expecting to hit its profits target of £2.6 million for 2011 despite higher oil prices and a “challenging” market. The cruise and tour operator group, which owns Voyages of Discovery, Swan Hellenic, Hebridean and Discover Egypt, said its underlying pre-tax profit for the year ending in October 2011 would be “in line with market expectations”. But it admitted that winter trading was “extremely challenging”.
■AITO ECO-WINNERS ANNOUNCED Tenerife Tourism, Tribes Travel and Adventure Alternative were the winners of Aito’s sustainable tourism awards last week. Tenerife won the “Aito Affliates Green Award” while Tribes Travel took top prize in the “Most Innovative Sustainable Tourism Initiative” and Adventure Alternative scooped the “Roger Diski Community Project” for its work in Nepal.
■TRAVEL 2 BEATING FORECASTS Travel 2 has been trading “ahead of expectations” despite the challenging economic conditions, its managing director Andy Freeth has said. He said business is up 11% for the month, well ahead of the forecast of 5%. TTGreported last week the details of its new luxury product called “Simply Luxury by Travel 2”.
■AMERICAN SEEKS PROTECTION AMR Corporation, the parent company of American Airlines, has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection from its creditors. The Texas-based company said it expected the airline to continue to operate throughout the bankruptcy process. American, which has a transatlantic joint venture with British Airways, said that all bookings and tickets will be honoured and business will continue as normal.
■FEATURE OF THE YEAR TTG’s deputy features editor Katherine Lawrey won Travel Trade Feature of the Year at the British Travel Press Awards this week for a feature she wrote about an Alaskan cruise with Princess, which was published in December 2010.
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