NEWS SPECIAL REPORT
Adventure travel, cruising and Brexit were among themes of a 2018 predictions round-table hosted by Travel Weekly and Club Med. Amie Keeley reports from Club Med Val Thorens Sensations, France
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Round-table industry experts
Giles Hawke, chief executive, Cosmos John Sullivan, head of commercial, Advantage Travel Partnership Sandra Corkin, managing director/owner, Oasis Travel Brian Young, managing director EMEA, G Adventures Iain Baillie, vice-president, UK and international sales, Carnival Cruise Line Richard Downs, chief executive, Iglu
Carl Burrows, managing director, Collette Colin Stewart, director, UK and Ireland, Air Europa Nick Marks, co-owner, Baldwins Travel Richard Calvert, chief executive, Shearings Leisure Group Ruth Hilton, UK sales and business development director, Trafalgar Maria Whiteman, managing director, Saga Holidays Yann Richard, agency sales manager for UK and Ireland, Club Med Estelle Giraudeau, managing director, Club Med
What’s in stor
Industry bosses and agents predict consumers will shun ‘fly and flop’ holidays in favour of adventure travel in 2018.
The growing trend towards
adventure and touring offers an opportunity for agents as customers seek expert advice for complex experiential holidays. Nick Marks, co-owner of
Baldwins Travel, said: “We will sell more adventure holidays next year. “The number of people saying
they want to do something more exciting and challenge themselves has grown. Fly and flop is slowing.” He said there was a misconcep- tion among customers that adventure holidays are expensive. “We need to get staff on fam trips because they’re not always confident selling adventure holidays,” Marks added. Trafalgar UK sales and business
development director Ruth Hilton and Cosmos chief executive Giles Hawke said customers want VIP
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travelweekly.co.uk 4 January 2018
“It’s about arranging something clients can’t do on their own, like dining in the Vatican”
experiences they cannot get if they create a holiday themselves. Hilton said: “It’s not fly and
flop anymore, it’s about getting something out of your holiday and giving customers something they can’t do on their own, like dining in the Vatican.” Hawke said: “People want every- thing a tour offers: a VIP experience they can’t create themselves. And they will pay for that.” Brian Young, G Adventures’ managing director for the EMEA region, said the Association of Touring & Adventure Suppliers (Atas), launched last year, had been “phenomenally successful”. “The Atas Conference [in
October 2017] woke agents up to
the fact that they’re missing a trick with this sector. To some extent they’re still playing catch-up.” He said the operator had seen sales increase by up to 50% after engaging with agents on its products. “You have to get people out to see the product because as soon as they see it they become
Calvert: EU workers do
The chief executive of Shearings Leisure Group said recruiting staff this year would be “tough” as more European workers leave the UK following Brexit. Richard Calvert said 2018 was “looking better” on the tour operating side of the business but he had concerns about Shearings’ UK hotels division following the UK’s decision to leave the EU. “We employ 1,600 people from
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