NEWS —AMADEUS ROUND-TABLE
Julia Lo Bue-Said, Advantage
WHAT CHALLENGES DO YOU FACE?
Christian Gleave “Agents are going to have to become concierge- type providers offering
whatever the customer will ever want, such as concert and sporting event tickets – and that’s where the specialisation will come in.”
Nick Marks, Baldwins Travel
Jimmy Martin, Jimmy Martin Travel
up what to spend their money on, fearing the bubble might burst. “People still want a holiday,” she said. “It’s one of the last things they will give up. There is increased consumer confidence.” Cristian Gleave of Review
Travel said consumers were rationing themselves. “Businesses are doing well but no one’s giving big pay rises so it’s one big luxury a year now,” he said. “People have credit card bills
and large mortgages and wages haven’t caught up.”
Role of independent agents Independent agents are seeing a resurgence as customers seek the knowledge and reassurance of booking with an expert. Martin said: “Customers have got too much information. They’re confused. People come in to the shop, they’ve been online for three nights, and in 10 minutes they spend £2,000 with you. “Customers are seeing that
massive amount of information and complexity that agents have always dealt with and they
ummer impacted mass-market bookings Mass market has been a
John
Sullivan: ‘Pricing drove
demand’ Operators were selling two-week
deals for less than £200 in school holidays. Pricing was driving demand but not mass demand. Spain has done well and
increased average selling price; Greece had more visitors, but at the expense of prices.
bit more difficult but, looking ahead to 2015, we are seeing growth in all sectors and mass market is 7% up. If you look at other sectors, luxury has remained robust, with a year-on-year growth of 5%. Luxury cruise continued
to grow, as did niche cruise, but mass market was more challenging. We estimate cruising is about minus 5% when you include mass market. Long-haul has been really
robust and it’s nice business to have. The margins are good and discounting is nowhere near as extreme.
want someone to filter it.” Esom said he was shocked at
how poor online retailing systems are in travel compared with the grocery and retail sectors. “Consumers are getting better and better experiences with groceries and non-food, but most travel sites are so poor.” Steadman said: “Customers
want a personal recommendation, and want to know your staff have been there. Customers don’t want to have to package the holiday themselves. They are scared of putting components together.” Agents also said customers
were starting to realise it is not necessarily cheaper to book online anymore as web rivals face spiralling internet marketing costs. Beagrie said: “Online is just another intermediary and they are trying to get a value proposition over and above price, because otherwise they go bust. The predicament they have is that they are not in front of the customer.” Colin O’Neill added: “It goes back to caution. That’s working in our favour. Now, because funds are limited, customers are going to make sure they get the best advice so the ultimate choice is the right one.” Regal Travel’s Helen Tustin said:
“People still need to be sold to and I think they still don’t want to pay with their credit cards online.”
James Beagrie “We are sitting on a gold mine – some fantastic technology. The difficulty
we have as a business is my own adoption of it, the speed of adoption and then embracing the change as it evolves.”
Jackie Steadman “What’s scary is the investment required to get the technology.
That’s why we need consortia like Advantage because they can help. We haven’t got the resources.”
Helen Tustin “It’s still the challenges of competing against Tui, Thomas Cook and online discounters.”
Ken McLeod “In the corporate market mobile is absolutely critical, especially
when it comes
to care and responsibility for the traveller themselves.”
11 December 2014 —
travelweekly.co.uk • 13
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