SPECIAL REPORT GLOBAL TRAVEL ROUND-TABLE
CLOCKWISE
FROMRIGHT: Emma
Casburn, Richard
Abery, Kevin Whiting and Darren Vurnum
GALA DINNER: Global award winners show off their prizes
h service, graft and a fluffy duck
and focused on service. I do home visits, one-to-ones.” It is this attention to customer
service, she says, that helped her retain her affluent Thames Valley customers when the business moved from the busy London commuter town of Twyford to the smaller village of Sherfield on Loddon. Richard
Elvin, of Global Flights, agreed about the need to adapt to a rapidly changing market. “We have had one of the best winters for many years,” he said.“It’s a forever changing market and you need to adapt to survive. We live in a 24-hour world. If you use an internet- based company, anyone can just go online anytime and book. “There was a time when travel agents were closing at the same rate as pubs because they just could not compete. “It’s going to become harder and more difficult for people like us. You have to find a niche and work very hard to make a living.”
“We will be scaling back
Building trust – and fluffy ducks However, Elvin’s rather pessimistic forecast that the big corporates will continue to expand at the expense of small agencies was countered by experienced agent Wendy Slack of Global Travel. She said her 37
our mobile sites; there’s too much content on them and mobile’s not converting”
years in travel had seen her establish herself as the person the people of
Crowborough, East Sussex, think of when
they think about holidays.
“A lot of what has been said is about the trust element,” she said. “People trust me. The down side is I’m on duty 24/7. “People will approach me all the time and ask what would it cost to go to such and such a place, so I’m often jotting down notes when I’m in the queue in the supermarket.” Slack said her agency relies on
the traditional high street shop window complete with window cards, but also has a “fun window” featuring a sunglass-
wearing fluffy duck display that’s kept topical. This has become a draw for local children – and even for a dog brought along by one visitor specifically to see it. Slack said she was surprised and delighted by the number of young customers who use her. “I will do their cheapy holidays and then they will come back with girlfriends or boyfriends and want to do more,” she said. “We really try to shop around to get them the very best deal.” Slack took over the store from
its previous owners, whom she said were struggling, but within two years business was up 50%. “We try to get out in the
community as much as possible,” she added.
Low-cost carriers and mobile time-wasters One of the big changes the more experienced agents have seen is the impact the changing airline sector has had on the industry, fuelled by the advent of low-cost flying and online travel agents. Wiggins-Turner and Abery
agreed the world is shrinking due to the entry of new carriers, but customers using price-driven
online competitors are being stung by hidden charges. Elvin added: “There is a
generation of people who accept that as the norm. They have grown up with this low-cost airline mentality. They know nothing else.” Vurnum said this works to his
advantage as clients venturing beyond the Mediterranean for the first time often credit him when they receive services that airlines and hotels include the price. “It’s great because they get back and think we’re gods,” he said. One significant area of change that Vurnum says he has struggled with is mobile which, he said, had sparked a rise in the number of timewasters. He said that since he made his
websites mobile-friendly a year ago, he gets a lot of what he calls ‘Hawaii Five-0-ers’ – people who see a destination featured on TV and instantly request a quote. “You go back with a quote and they say ‘no thanks, it’s far too expensive’. Sundays are the worst. We will be scaling back our mobile sites; there’s too much content on them anyway and mobile’s not converting.”
16 June 2016
travelweekly.co.uk 35
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