NEWS CONFERENCE REPORT
ITT 2016: Cook’s retail estate, terrorism and tourism as a force for good were among themes of the conference. Lee Hayhurst and Amie Keeley report from Tel Aviv, Israel
Chris Mottershead (left) faced questions from Richard Carrick
Mottershead: Cook’s 800 shops are an opportunity
The boss of Thomas Cook admitted there is an imbalance in its distribution mix but said there were no plans to close shops.
Facing questions from former
Airtours colleague Richard Carrick, Cook UK and Ireland managing director Chris Mottershead said 35%-40% of Cook’s business comes from online sales. Asked whether this meant the company was “overweight” on shop distribution, Mottershead said: “I think that’s fair but that is the opportunity. That’s not a negative.” He added: “I don’t think there’s
a certainty on anything. We have to distribute where our customers wish to purchase. “Whether that’s retail shop or online or over mobile, I think that’s their decision not mine.” Mottershead said there were no
plans to lose the group’s 250 The Co-operative Travel stores when its joint-venture ends in September. But he did admit that if any of its
800 shops were not “worthwhile” the company would take action. Shown a picture of a Cook
“We need to improve [our shopfronts], to give the best first impressions to buyers”
shopfront, Mottershead admitted they lacked inspiration, adding: “We need to improve, to make sure we give the best first impressions to all of our customers. That is something we are looking at.” He also said more work needed to be done on Cook’s website and
that the site was being reviewed. Mottershead was upbeat about the future, saying there is “no limit to growth”, despite admitting the company had ceded ground to competitors in recent years. “There is potential for growth,
but what we have been guilty of in the past is letting competitors take the market,” Mottershead said. “We’ve got strength and quality
holidays to be able to take that back. We need to be a stronger competitor. We’ve tended to roll over and fall back. That’s not going to happen from now on.”
‘The world is safer than media suggests’
The world is not as unsafe as the media portrays, but our “emotional” fears are being exploited by terrorists, ITT delegates heard. Richard Fleming, head of consultancy Control Risks, said: “The
world is not in nearly as bad a shape as observations of news media would have us believe, but we are preoccupied with risk and going through a period of extreme volatility.” Fleming said it was extremely important for tourism that
China remain “strong”; that western governments had “massively underestimated” Russian president Putin; and that US president Obama had “less enthusiasm” for Israel than any of his predecessors. He added: “Terrorism is a persistent threat but it’s manageable.”
Poon Tip: Tourism should redistribute the world’s wealth
The greatest challenge facing travel is how to ensure that more of the value created by tourism remains in the country of a destination. G Adventures chief executive
and founder, Bruce Poon Tip, told the conference that just $5 in every $100 spent is retained by the local economy. “That’s the problem, but at the same time it’s the greatest opportunity we have in the industry today,” he said. Poon Tip said tourism was the biggest source of revenue for the 40 poorest countries in the world, meaning the industry has an opportunity to do real good in those destinations. He said the travel industry
was booming, with global tourist numbers predicted to rise to 1.8 billion by 2020 from one billion in 2012. Poon Tip said: “As people
are going to the most in-need countries in the world, what if going on holiday was your way of giving back? If your money could stay in the local economy, travel could be the greatest way of wealth redistribution the world has ever seen.”
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travelweekly.co.uk 16 June 2016
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