NEWS YOU NEED TO KNOW 4


Tunisia stresses security as Tui resumes flights


Ian Taylor ian.taylor@travelweekly.co.uk


Tunisian authorities insist the country is safe for holidaymakers as Tui resumed flights from the UK this week following Thomas Cook’s resumption in February.


Tunisian officials were in


London last week to meet UK security representatives. Communications chief Khalifa Chibani told Travel Weekly: “There is an intensification of security, with the presence of officers in resorts,


on beaches, in hotels, in leisure centres, on roads used by tourist coaches and at all places that attract visitors. We have mobile patrols on the coast and securing the outskirts of tourism resorts, with additional forces on standby.” Tui put Tunisia on sale in


January for the first time since June 2015 when 38 of its customers, including 30 Britons, were killed in a terrorist attack in Sousse. The Foreign Office relaxed its


advice against all but essential travel to Tunisia last July. At an inquest into the deaths in January 2017 the coroner described the


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Tui started flying to Hammamet from four UK airports this week


Tunisian police response to the attack as “at best shambolic”. Chibani insisted things had changed, saying: “Our security forces are ready to face any threat. Latest Foreign Office advice


notes: “The Tunisian government has improved protective security in major cities and tourist resorts...but security forces remain on a high state of alert.” Restrictions on electronic


devices on aircraft departing Tunisia to the UK have been in place since March 2017. Tunisia remains in a state of


emergency and the Foreign Office still advises against travel to parts of the country including border areas with Algeria and Libya. Thomas Cook resumed flights


to Tunisia from Birmingham, Manchester and Gatwick in February, added Glasgow in April and will add Stansted and Newcastle this month. Tui resumes flights this week


to Hammamet from Birmingham, Bristol, Gatwick and Manchester. Tunisia hopes to attract 80,000


UK visitors this year – a fraction of the 440,000 who visited in 2014.


5 Hotels ‘save nothing by selling direct’


Ian Taylor ian.taylor@travelweekly.co.uk


Travel agencies are as cost-effective a sales channel for hotels as selling direct, according to a new report seen exclusively by Travel Weekly this week.


Hotels that seek to boost direct bookings at the expense of agencies and online travel agents (OTAs) risk having lower occupancy rates with “no measurable” cost savings, the report said. The findings led the European


Technology & Travel Services Association (Ettsa) to suggest the main reason for hoteliers to push direct sales “is to reduce transparency for consumers”. The Hotel Distribution Costs


study by economics consultancy Infrata suggests selling direct is no cheaper for hotels than indirect. Infrata found a mere 0.03%


difference in “net profit contribu- tion” between direct and indirect channels, based on an average daily room rate in Europe of €112. The study looked not just at


costs such as agents’ commission, 6 travelweekly.co.uk 3 May 2018 When “the billboard effect”


“The widely held belief that direct distribution is cheaper than indirect is debunked”


but also at the costs of customer acquisition, customer services and technology development. Report author Ian Lowden


said: “When cost, revenue and consumer behaviour dynamics are modelled, it’s clear the cost of moving indirect bookings to ‘direct’ is marginal for the hotel.”


of hotels being displayed on OTA sites is added, the report concluded: “Hotels benefit from being listed on OTAs.” The study was commissioned by


Ettsa, which represents OTAs and global distribution systems. Ettsa secretary general


Christoph Klenner said: “The belief that direct distribution is cheaper than indirect has been debunked. “It seems the major incentive


for hoteliers to push direct sales is to reduce transparency and comparability for consumers.”


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