Travel Trade Gazette 24.05.2012 TTGDIGITAL.COM


Daniel Pearce Brand director


Diamond Jubilee and Euro 2012 around the corner – not to mention another sporting event taking place in the UK this summer that you might have heard about – surely it’s only a matter of time before growing consumer confidence rubs off on their willingness to buy a holiday. Isn’t it? It wasn’t quite a feelgood factor that swept the


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Barclays Travel Forum earlier this week. The seventh edition of the event, which always seems to capture the prevailing mood of the travel trade, was a rational view of where we are at as we approach the halfway mark in 2012, punctuated by a series of video interviews with industry leaders – see pages 8-9 – and instant polls of the senior audience of 300 from across the industry. Only 27% of those present thought that the Diamond Jubilee and the Olympics would have a positive impact on outbound travel this year. And just 39% said they were only “somewhat more optimistic” about how the trade was faring this year compared to last.


“It’s only a matter of time before growing consumer confidence rubs off on their willingness to buy a holiday. Isn’t it?”


Yet two out of three were optimistic about how their own business would perform in 2013. The pressure is on individual agents to find their own feelgood factor – and some truly are getting caught up in the events of this summer, with branches of Barrhead Travel, The Co-operative Travel and Thomas Cook among those opening on the bank holidays (see news story, page 5). Not every travel business needs to give up its bank


holidays to capitalise on the consumer positivity – plenty more are decorating their shops and running Olympic-themed events. How’s your business going to generate its own feelgood factor?


It’s easy to get in touch – you can email me dpearce@ttgdigital.com – or tweet me at twitter.com/danielpearce


41 04 NEWS.


14 TTG Interview: Virgin Atlantic’s Steve Ridgway on launching a luxury product in a recession 16 City: Analysts and industry heads on why All Leisure’s purchasing of Page & Moy is “a good fit” for the group 18 Cruise: Compagnie du Ponant has confirmed that the line’s newest ship will be sailing into “unchartered waters” 20 The week in travel: Thomson laces up for Euro 2012 matches, while Premier is offering teddy bears for Jersey bookings 22 Luxury Travel: Delegates at the TTG Virtual: Luxury conference last week were shown ways to drive their businesses through specialising and creative marketing 24 Business Travel: London City airport is refocusing efforts on the business travel community


26TALK.


27 Allan Lambert on making sales this summer: “Knowing that families are going to want to be part of the Jubilee and Olympics means we can tailor our offering to include them”


34 28TOOLKIT.


28 Technology: How Click Travel became a major player 31 TTG On Tour: Join us for a fun evening of training in June 33 Marketing: How to, and how not to, appeal to more mature travellers 34 Good Business: Who is running the British 10K in aid of Abta LifeLine? 36 Training: Win spa goodies and tickets to attend the Travel Brits 38 Mystery Shopper: Altrincham agents are pitted against two web companies on a wedding request


41 FEATURES.


41 On Our Radar: Why Barbados’s The House is becoming more elegant and St Lucia’s Jazz is so much fun 43 Weddings & honeymoons: Tips on earning commisssion from wedding photography, weddings in Malta with Belleair Holidays, and arranging a surprise wedding abroad 50 Fam in Five Minutes: Naomi Campbell on a weddings fam to Mexico with AMResorts


60GETAWAY.


TTGina on how to keep a hairdo looking shipshape, plus win a Vietnam fam trip with Emirates Tours


24.05.2012 03


ave you got the feelgood factor yet? With the


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COVER IMAGE: Corfu, courtesy of Ionian Weddings. Photographer David Elgee


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