NEWS ROUND-UP NEWS IN BRIEF


Sarah Harraghy set to leave Celebrity at end of the year


Celebrity Cruises’ commercial sales director for the UK and Ireland, Sarah Harraghy, will leave at the end of the year due to personal reasons but will remain a consultant to the operator in 2017. She joined in August 2015.


Thomas Cook plans to open a Discovery store in Belfast


Thomas Cook plans to open a Discovery store in Belfast by the end of the year. The first of 25 of its new high-tech Discovery stores opened at Westfield shopping centre in London this week. Two more will open this year.


Just a Drop celebrates 200th project at WTM


Water charity Just a Drop celebrated its 200th project at World Travel Market this week. The project, in Makueni County, Kenya, brings clean water, sanitation and hygiene training to more than 13,000 people.


Former Inghams and Lingus stalwart Roy Dawson dies


Former Inghams sales manager Roy Dawson, who dedicated his working life to travel, has died. Dawson, who was 87, started his career in the early 1950s as a steward with airline BOAC and also worked for Erna Low, British Eagle and Aer Lingus. For details of the memorial service, email his nephew Alan Berry at alanjimberry@btinternet.com.


COMMENT: “The cinema industry, from being close to extinction, is now one of the most innovative sectors” Steve Dunne, page 26


Travel Weekly holds inaugural Touring & Adventure Showcase


Agents urged to capitalise on touring and adventure


Robin Searle Villa Park, Birmingham


Touring and adventure holidays are no longer a niche product and agents should capitalise on growth in the sector to grow their bottom lines, according to experts.


Speaking to more than 100 guests at the inaugural Travel Weekly Touring & Adventure Showcase in Birmingham last week, G Adventures managing director Brian Young said: “This is a sector that might once have been regarded as niche but it’s growing exponentially and it is now part of the mainstream. “The independent sector is


recognising this growth and realising they need to get on board. “This product is what cruise


was 10 to 15 years ago, and we’re now starting to see a migration from packages and cruises into the small-group tours sector as people want to see iconic destinations in an authentic way.” Stuart Douglass-Lee, head of long-haul product at Saga Holidays, said the response to the operator’s decision to start selling through the trade in 2014 showed


Co-operative Travel to report 30% growth at conference in Portugal


The Co-operative Travel Consortium will celebrate growth of more than 30% this year as it holds its first overseas conference this weekend. The consortium, part of Midcounties Co-operative


Travel, will host its fourth annual conference in the Algarve, Portugal, from November 11-13. The event will include a panel


debate on the state of the industry with Simon Garrido, head of trade


8 travelweekly.co.uk 10 November 2016


there was an appetite among agents to build their knowledge and sales in the sector. “We have a massive database and the worry was that we would dilute that database by going through the trade and lose margin,” he said. “That hasn’t been the case at all.


It’s been fantastic and the trade has brought us new business.”


sales, Monarch Holidays; Steve Campion, managing director, Holiday Discount Centre; Paula Nuttall, group membership director, The Vertical Group; and Bruce Martin, managing director, Ginger Juice. Martin will also hold a separate


session on social media skills. Alistair Rowland, general manager of travel services at Midcounties Co-op Travel, will


TALL ORDER: Agents arrive for the first Touring & Adventure Showcase


Touring & Adventure Showcase in numbers


86 travel agents 17 suppliers


Young said he was encouraged by moves to communicate with


the trade as a sector, with Travel Weekly’s Touring & Adventure


supplements and the Showcase event in Birmingham offering a platform to demonstrate the breadth of product on offer. “Events like this and the supplements are starting to bring the sector together,” he said. “We each offer something unique so we need to educate agents on what we do and how to sell us. We have a growing sector and a growing group of agents who


want to be part of it.” › Full report from Touring & Adventure Showcase next week


give a business update and head of consortium Alison Holmes will update members on the past year and plans for the year ahead, including a focus on technology. She said: “The consortium has


again enjoyed a strong year and is 30% up over last year.” The consortium has 39 member companies, including retail shops, call centres and homeworking businesses.


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