‘Confidence boosted by list stability’ Samantha Mayling


Agents attributed growing consumer confidence and sales over the bank holiday weekend to a lack of major upheavals in the latest traffic light update. Seven countries including Canada


were added to the green list by the government last week while Thailand and Montenegro joined the red list. No countries moved to amber. Steve Cox, sales manager at


Premier Travel, reported an increase in bookings, adding: “Forty-five per cent of last week’s business converted on the Friday and Saturday, which is really encouraging, especially as Saturdays have tended to be a quieter day.” He said consistent updates every


third week were giving clients more confidence, “especially considering there weren’t any major changes in the key European holiday destinations this time”. Sara Dunham, The Midcounties


Co-operative’s chief officer for travel, reported “a boost in bookings and enquiries for September and October 2021” with interest in Malta, Croatia and Majorca as well as mainland Spain, the Balearics, Canaries, Greek islands and Cyprus. Retail division Your Co-op


Travel saw an increase in bookings on Friday, a “stronger Saturday” and “a small shift towards summer 2021 bookings” last week. “People are definitely feeling more confident,” Dunham added.


Hays reports profit but ‘summer not as we’d wanted’


Lucy Huxley


The UK’s largest travel agency made a profit in August but admitted it had “come to expect” to be disappointed by the government’s traffic light list updates. Hays Travel owner Dame Irene


Hays told Travel Weekly: “It wasn’t the summer we wanted, and we’re nowhere near where we were in 2019, but August was stronger for us.” Highlighting the “innovation of


seacation cruises” out of the UK, she said: “The number of people we’ve sent on ‘seacations’ – people who’ve never cruised before, have


4 2 SEPTEMBER 2021


tried one and come back and booked a cruise for next year or later this year – is massive. “It’s got our customers’ appetites


whetted for the future.” Commenting on last week’s traffic


light update, Hays said she had hoped Turkey would come off the red list and that there would have been some information on the medium-term prospects of travel to the US. “We were disappointed about


Turkey but pleased there were no other major destinations taken off the amber or green list,” she said. “We’ve just come to expect that there’s going to be an element of disappointment


There was a collective


sigh of relief from potential customers which led to a flurry of activity


Steve Witt, co-founder of Not Just


Travel, said: “There was a collective sigh of relief from customers and potential customers which led to a flurry of activity.” Nearly 60% of the homeworking


group’s bookings were for 2021, which Witt said proved “there is still huge demand to get away this year”. Kelly Cookes, leisure director at


Advantage Travel Partnership, said the update had a minimal effect with


few key destinations affected. Of last week’s bookings, 29% were for September. She said testing, and the pre-return test in particular, was the “biggest deterrent” reported by the consortium’s members. Barrhead Travel president


Jacqueline Dobson said 2021 departures were “not yet where they need to be but gradually increasing” with the autumn half-term popular. Westoe Travel owner Graeme


Brett reported “mini peaks” following each traffic light update. “People are booking last-minute, in a three-week cycle or for next summer,” he said. The Travel Network Group and


Gold Medal both unveiled marketing campaigns in anticipation of growing confidence and sales this month.


Dame Irene Hays is disappointed Turkey did not come off the red list last week


with these announcements.” Hays expects Turkey and the US


to be added in the autumn, but said that would be “too late” and that many Turkish hoteliers would shut as a result, “which is such a shame for their economy”. Looking back on the summer,


Hays said short-haul bookings “increased significantly” from July 1 and had represented 49% of bookings since August 1. That compares with 23% long-haul, 23% cruise and 5% domestic holidays. She said that while most July


bookings were for this summer, just 27% of bookings made in August were for summer 2021, with 40% for summer 2022 and 2% for 2023. A further 21% last month were for winter 2021 and 9% for winter 2022. These forward bookings are


“much higher than they would otherwise be”, she said, adding: “So there’s still reticence [to book] but we’re very, very pleased.” She reported a higher percentage of long-haul bookings in 2022, and


clients spending “up to 18% more”. i Interview, page 6


travelweekly.co.uk


PICTURES: Shutterstock/Hakan Tanak; North News & Pictures


Page 1  |  Page 2  |  Page 3  |  Page 4  |  Page 5  |  Page 6  |  Page 7  |  Page 8  |  Page 9  |  Page 10  |  Page 11  |  Page 12  |  Page 13  |  Page 14  |  Page 15  |  Page 16  |  Page 17  |  Page 18  |  Page 19  |  Page 20  |  Page 21  |  Page 22  |  Page 23  |  Page 24  |  Page 25  |  Page 26  |  Page 27  |  Page 28  |  Page 29  |  Page 30  |  Page 31  |  Page 32  |  Page 33  |  Page 34  |  Page 35  |  Page 36  |  Page 37  |  Page 38  |  Page 39  |  Page 40  |  Page 41  |  Page 42  |  Page 43  |  Page 44  |  Page 45  |  Page 46  |  Page 47  |  Page 48  |  Page 49  |  Page 50  |  Page 51  |  Page 52  |  Page 53  |  Page 54  |  Page 55  |  Page 56  |  Page 57  |  Page 58  |  Page 59  |  Page 60