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Panellists, from left: Miles Morgan, Miles Morgan Travel; Helen Caron, Tui; Sophie Dekkers, easyJet; and Mark Tanzer, Abta


Margins in family market tipped to feel pinch in 2018


The outlook for the year is positive, say industry leaders, but the mainstream market could be ‘a battleground’. Ian Taylor reports


Margins may be squeezed in the mainstream family market in coming months, leading industry figures have warned.


Abta chief executive Mark


Tanzer reported members’ annual turnover at a record high of £37 billion, but told a Travel Weekly Business Breakfast at the end of last year: “You can’t just look at the top line. There has been a squeeze on margins.” He said 2017 had proved “better


80 travelweekly.co.uk 4 January 2018


than I imagined”, but added: “At a certain point you have to recognise there is going to be a change, that different segments [of the market] will move in different ways and the industry needs to adapt.” Tanzer was speaking at the


launch of the Travel Weekly Insight Report 2017-18 at the Deloitte


head office in London. Alastair Pritchard, Deloitte UK lead partner for travel, insisted: “The outlook is positive.


Everything in the research [for the report] suggests people will go on holiday, but they are starting to change habits. “The proportion [of UK consumers] planning a seven-night overseas holiday in 2018 has risen four points year on year, while demand for 14 nights is down. We see growth in appetite for two and three-star hotels and continued demand for all-inclusive holidays in the lower-income bracket. “The fall in sterling is clearly


driving up costs, and there is a perception that people want to go to a safe destination. That will


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