INSIDE THIS
WEEK Contents
NEWS Hot Stories
Tui ‘won’t risk being too direct’; leaders warn against Brexit; trade turnover hits £32bn; fundraising agent Keevil pushed to limits; meet Ant and Dec on Britannia
Round-up
Visions helps after Elixir fails; Liverpool proposes new and bigger cruise terminal
WIN! Face to Face
A Cannondale carbon-frame bike worth £500 from Mark Warner page 40
Fritz Joussen, Tui Group Charity Special Report
Get dirty for Just a Drop challenge Talk Back
EU referendum; Egypt; fraud; Liverpool
NEWS YOU CAN USE Product Sunhotels, SeaWorld, Travel 2
Operator Mark Warner, SuperBreak 14 16 18 08 04
23 25
Cruise Uniworld, P&O Cruises, Hurtigruten 27 Destination Qatar, Visit Orlando
29 Aviation Aer Lingus, Birmingham, Flybe 32
FRONTLINE Comment Giles Hawke: staying relevant 36
Readers’ Lives Alison Holmes, Co-op Mystery Shopper Guildford, Surrey
DESTINATIONS
Middle East 10 of the Best: Family hotels for all kids 48 Qatar: Pause & Play in this stopover spot 53
INNOVATION REPORT The Travolution Innovation Report 2016 is available for download now page 68
Indian Ocean Sri Lanka: Hot spots to visit on the island 58
BUSINESS NEWS Back page Agent numbers top 66,000 70
WHAT
LUCY DID THISWEEK
25 Feb
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Lucy Huxley Editor-in-chief @Lucy_Huxley
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1
Travelled to Saga Travel’s stunning offices in Folkestone for a great meeting with the team.
Spent the day in Wigan with Shearings and SuperBreak’s Graham Balmforth, preparing something for the Travel Brit Awards!
Hosted a fascinating Travel Weekly Executive Dinner with Tui chief executive Fritz Joussen, just days after Peter Long stepped aside leaving him in sole control.
25 February 2016
travelweekly.co.uk 3
who spoke at a Travel Weekly dinner and declared the group’s UK shops “in a very strong position to go forward”. Joussen emphasised his belief in the future of the package
A NOTE FROM THE EDITOR Reasons to be cheerful W
holiday and Tui’s integrated model while encouraging independent agents by recognising “a risk of being too direct”. He gave a fascinating account of the process leading
to the merger of Tui Travel and its major shareholder to form the group at the end of 2014 – but judge for yourself (page 14). A second comes from an exclusive Travel Weekly analysis of official figures showing a 12% year-on-year rise in travel agent and tour operator turnover in 2015, a 15% increase in agency staff, compared with 2013, and a rise in the number of agencies to more than 4,000 (back page). These figures defy the prophets of doom who have been
proclaiming the travel agent ‘dead’ for a decade and a half. Less-heartening news came from the currency markets
where the pound fell to a seven-year low against the dollar amid uncertainty about Britain’s future in the European Union (page 5), and with the failure of small Turkey specialist Elixir Holidays (page 8) – the latter a reminder of the danger of focusing on a single destination. The EU Referendum on June 23 promises several months
of uncertainty. Yet agents can take heart not only from the generally healthy state of bookings for summer 2016, but also from the Post Office Holiday Money Report showing price falls in European resorts mean UK holiday favourites remain cheaper than a year ago, despite sterling’s weakness.
e report two heartening pieces of news for agents this week. One comes from Tui chief executive Fritz Joussen
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