INSIDE THIS


WEEK Contents


NEWS Hot Stories


WIN!


Thomas Cook axes price parity strategy; Balearics summit on booze crackdown; Agency has online identity hijacked; Operator expansion ‘may spark price war’; Trade cagey despite good start to year


A ticket to music awards in Gold Medal’s Get Me to the Brits competition page 40


Round-up Bedsonline adds 3%; Dickson gains MBE 08


Special Reports Travel Weekly’s 2019 charity target Face to Face: Chris North, Vertical Clia Winter Forum, Gloucestershire


10 12 14


Expert reviews eight TV ad campaigns 16 Talk Back


19 Sunday Times; Virgin Atlantic; Cook


NEWS YOU CAN USE Product Newmarket, Isango, Sandals Operator Funway, On The Go, If Only Cruise Virgin Voyages, NCL, Carnival


FRONTLINE Comment Steve Dunne, Digital Drums


04 21


22 30


A NOTE FROM THE EDITOR


year’s resolutions, the travel industry will be bracing itself for another eventful year. The run-up to Christmas was dominated by uncertainty


Another eventful year ahead A


s the dust settles on another festive period, the tinsel is packed away and we’re all still sticking to our new


over Brexit, and trading in the coming weeks will give us an idea of whether that anxiety is likely to suppress peaks sales. As the masthead on this week’s edition suggests, 2019 is also set to be an eventful year for Travel Weekly, as we celebrate 50 years since we were first published, as Travel News. We’ve got some exciting plans for the year ahead, including a regular look back into our archives – starting this week on page 36 – and a renewed focus on our fundraising efforts as we aim to raise ‘50 for 50’ in our golden jubilee year (page 10). Going back through the archives is always a fascinating and entertaining experience – whether it’s being reminded of companies or brands that are no longer with us or seeing how the industry leaders of today took their first steps in travel. It also serves to highlight how the travel industry


has battled headwinds ranging from the oil crisis that dominated January trading 45 years ago to the financial crash that cast a shadow over the peaks 35 years later. Our industry has often been forced to respond


32


Readers’ Lives Laura Garner, Hays Travel 34 This Week in… 1974, 1994 and 2009 Mystery Shopper Glasgow


36 44


DESTINATIONS


Canada Okanagan Valley: Emerging wine region 46 Spring: Canada without the crowds


54


FRONT COVER Hays Travel’s Laura Garner enjoys life on the ocean waves on an NCL cruise from Miami PHOTO: STEVE HOCKSTEIN


Greece & Cyprus Sporades: Classic charm awaits clients 59 Food: Discover best dishes in the region 63


BUSINESS Travel Weekly Business Breakfast


Insight Annual Report is launched WHAT


LUCY DID THIS WEEK


Jan 3 72 1


2 3


Lucy Huxley Editor-in-chief @Lucy_Huxley


Took my daughter, nieces and dad to the London International Horse Show at Olympia for a Christmas treat.


Did three parkruns over the Christmas holidays to try to get rid of all the naughty Quality Streets before the Globes!


Celebrated my son’s 13th birthday. 13?! I can’t believe I have a teenager. It seems only last year I was buying him a toy digger.


3 January 2019travelweekly.co.uk3


to challenges at home and abroad, but it has traditionally discovered resourceful and innovative ways in which to adapt and thrive. As we celebrate our 50th birthday, we look forward to continuing to work for and alongside you all, and wish you a happy new year.


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