EDITOR’S COMMENTS
NEWS Hot Stories
04 – Indies report no Cook backlash; PTD makes click-through ruling; Advantage resolves live-chat issues; Egypt continues Red Sea flights aid; agents urged not to waste fam trips
News Digest
08 – CBE for Wills; MSC boosts UK team; Cosmos Tours appoints sales manager; South Africa tightens entry restrictions; homeworker opens store
Big Interview 10 – Tim Locke, on Mark Warner
Conference Report
12 – Full coverage from Clia’s ninth Selling Cruise Conference
Awards Preview 14 – See who made the shortlist for Agent Achievement Awards 2015
NEWS YOU CAN USE
Product News 19 – Excite targets UK agents
Operator News 20 – Funway starts California drive
Aviation News 22 – Jet2 adds 12 Edinburgh routes
Cruise News 24 – Hurtigruten’s Antarctic growth
DESTINATIONS Croatia & The Balkans
43 – Your guide to the natural beauty of Croatia’s Istrian peninsula 49 – Sail along the Dalmatian coast
Caribbean
55 – 10 of the Best: hotel rooms with the most exceptional views 59 – Isles that sparkle in summer
JOBS AND CLASSIFIED
62 – Vacancies and business services TRAVELWEEKLY BUSINESS
News
68 – Thomas Cook interim results 69 – EC plans digital single market 70 – Analysts assess Cook fallout
Cover photo: Phil Nuttall (front), The Cruise Village, with, from left: Lynn Narraway, Clia UK & Ireland; Phil Evans, Cruise Nation; Nikki Edwards, Tailormade Cruise Holidays; Andy Harmer, Clia UK & Ireland; Claire Brighton, Advantage Travel Partnership. Photo: Phil Gammon
ALL ABOUT YOU
Letters 26 – Cook crisis; Olympic Holidays
Comment 28 – Giles Hawke: cruise v rail
All For You 32 – Fams, Kindles and a Fiat car
Readers’ Lives 36 – Helen Tustin, Regal Travel
Mystery Shopper 40 – See who excelled in Exeter
LUCY Editor-in-chief HUXLEY
Apology will help renew faith in sector
T
he public apology by Thomas Cook chief executive Peter Fankhauser over the deaths of Christianne and Bobby Shepherd will have come as a great relief to all in the industry. It is clear the move came painfully late – following the guidance of Cook’s legal advisers – but Fankhauser’s genuine remorse over the handling of the tragedy will have gone some way to restoring public faith, not just in his company, but in the industry as a whole. The fallout continued as Travel Weekly went to press, but
hopefully the apology will prove a step towards allowing everyone to move forward – and enables the industry to demonstrate that the health, happiness and wellbeing of customers remains its primary consideration.
High achievers On a far more positive note, it was a great privilege not only to moderate the Clia UK & Ireland Selling Cruise Conference once again last weekend, but also to meet the record number of agents who filed into the theatres on the three host ships. Clearly, getting to explore Royal Princess, Anthem of the Seas
and Britannia was a massive draw. But the business sessions were also packed and delegates ranging from first-timers to Clia Cruise Masters seemed truly enthused by what they heard. Many of those agents appear in the shortlists for this year’s
Travel Weekly Agent Achievement Awards, published in this week’s issue (page 14). The fact that the event sold out two months in advance is testament to the quality we have to celebrate.
lucy.huxley@
travelweekly.co.uk WHAT LUCY DID THISWEEK 1
2 3
Spent a brilliant few days in Southampton moderating the Clia UK & Ireland’s Selling Cruise conference.
Was delighted to see the meeting of Cunard’s three Queens in Liverpool hit all the national news headlines on bank holiday Monday.
Took my kids for a brilliant day out to a medieval festival and siege at Arundel Castle. Great fun!
28 May 2015 —
travelweekly.co.uk • 3
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