News 09.02.12 TRADE REACTION


‘Government must consider outbound too’


AGENTS HAVE criticised the secretary of state for culture, Olympics, media and sport, after he suggested to TTG that agents should focus on promoting domestic tourism this year.


Jeremy Hunt said: “The travel


industry is brilliant at promoting what is going on abroad and now is the time to promote what is going on at home,” However, Advantage chief


executive John McEwan said the government needed to recognise the value of outbound tourism and take a more “holistic approach” to the industry. “The government needs to


recognise outbound, inbound and domestic tourism as a whole,” he said. “They should look at the value of the outbound market and the contribution that it makes to the economy.” Dave Clayton, managing director of Global Travel Group, said: “Travel agents would be better placed spending their time and effort promoting overseas holidays, because there are better margins than in domestic breaks.” “If an agent wants to try to


increase their sales, I would advise them to increase their overseas sales, because the booking value is higher,” he added.


Phil Hindle, assistant manager at


Somerset-based Cathedral City Travel, agreed: “I don’t think the UK market is priced competitively. People are always concerned about the weather and the quality and level of service is too low. There is a limited interest in domestic tourism – people will take a lot of persuading to holiday in the UK.” Celia Lemos, owner of Gallivant


Travel in Essex, added: “People tend to book directly for domestic holidays because it’s so easy. It’s not something that we would promote often.”


04 09.02.2012 Sophie Griffiths


Abta steps up its attack on £5m domestic TV ad


ABTA HAS


written to senior members of the government over concerns about a marketing


campaign which


promotes domestic tourism over holidays abroad. Jeremy Hunt (secretary of state for culture, Olympics, media and sport), John Penrose (tourism minister) and James Beresford (chief executive of VisitEngland) have been addressed in a letter that “stressed that consumers should have the right to choose which holiday represents the best value for them”. This comes after VisitEngland launched a £5 million marketing campaign to promote holidays at


home during 2012. The TV advert will be


unveiled on March 7, and will feature celebrities watching a family rushing to get ready for their flight, at an early hour in the morning. Beresford said: “A celebrity will


EXCLUSIVE TTG


then say something along the lines of: ‘You can’t enjoy the Queen’s Jubilee while you’re in France.’” The ad campaign was unveiled at a 2012 tourism summit in London where Hunt also urged travel agents to promote domestic tourism, in a year which he said will prove “a great opportunity for the travel industry”. Speaking to TTG, Hunt said: “Every-


one loves going abroad for their holiday and we are not trying to stop them, but this is the year when agents have the opportunity to promote


what is going on at home.” He urged the whole


travel industry to get behind the Olympics and the Paralympics and to push domestic events and attractions this year.


“The travel industry is brilliant


at promoting what is going on abroad, but now is the time to promote what is going on at home,” he said. “We are going to have a real turning point in domestic tourism in the UK – it will herald a renaissance,” he added. When quizzed over whether April’s planned increase in Air Passenger Duty could hamper these plans, Hunt replied that agents should not look at the “challenges”, but at the opportunities.


“I hope it [APD] won’t put people


off. This is not a period where it is easy to cut any taxes or duties,” he said. “APD is still less expensive to the


travel industry than the imposition of VAT on air fares would be.”


■‘I disagree with persuading people not to travel abroad’; TTG Talk, p23


GLOBAL ADS: VisitBritain is launching the next phase of its global campaign today, using images to highlight all that is “great” about Britain in a bid to attract overseas tourists to the UK in 2012. VisitEngland will launch its own national TV campaign on March 8.


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