FRONTLINE CONFERENCE Classic Package Holidays hosts its first festival-style gathering. Andrew McQuarrie reports from Turkey


Shaun Morton (seated, left) and Si Morris-Green


Classic Package Holidays thanked agents for their bookings over the past year and recognised the top- performing businesses during a ceremony at Titanic Deluxe Golf Belek.


The winners


Northern Ireland Hays Travel


London, Home Counties and Essex Premier Travel


Southeast Triangle Travel


Scotland Barrhead Travel


C


lassic Package Holidays’ new B2B director told agents that the business is “all


about you” during the operator’s inaugural overseas ‘festival’. Si Morris-Green said the trade- only company had “massively” increased its number of agent partners over the past year, with the figure now at more than 4,000. “We’re making sure we’re listening and you guys [agents] are at the forefront of every decision we make,” he said, adding: “It’s about giving you the tools to sell to your customers.”


Growing portfolio Classic Package Holidays, which marked its fifth anniversary last month, has built up its portfolio to more than 5,000 hotels while working with 18 airlines. The Maldives and Thailand have been added to the recently introduced long-haul options, yet one of the key developments has been the popularity of city breaks. “Cities are a massive trend for us,” said Morris-Green, citing Amsterdam as a stand-out performer. He urged agents to make the most of the growing tendency among


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travellers to take two or three trips a year, with “flexible durations” emerging rather than the traditional one or two-week holiday. Bookings of four nights, nine nights and 11 nights have become increasingly common, he said. He added agents should make


sure they are advertising shorter durations in particular because a significant market has developed. Shaun Morton, chief executive of On the Beach Group, parent of Classic Package Holidays, said it had been a “good year” for the travel industry despite consumers battling with the cost of living. People are prioritising holidays over other expenditures, said Morton, but they are focused on getting value for money. “That does not just mean they’re looking for lower prices,” he said. “People are trading up to get a five-star all-inclusive when it makes sense for price.” Morton suggested another recent


trend has been the “polarisation” of lead times. “We’re seeing the very early bookers coming out fast, and some real demand for lates,” he said, adding that bookings between those points had become “subdued” in the past two years.


Northeast and central Seaside Travel


Midlands Millington Travel


Northwest Althams Travel


Seaside Travel’s Nic Park and


Robert Coatman


Best consortium Hays Travel Independence Group


Top homeworking agency InteleTravel


Best UK performance (small business) TTNG Retail


Best UK performance (large business) Hays Travel retail


Best newcomer Now Lets Travel


THE VERDICT


NIC PARK Seaside Travel You couldn’t get a more friendly, lovely


bunch of people. There’s no agenda, they’re just sweet. You want to do what you can for them with sales – not because you have to, but because you want to. Some tour operators can’t do the short-haul and long-haul, so it’s good they’re investing in both – we want choice and they recognise we need value for money because that’s what people want.


MATTHEW BREEN Ramsay World Travel, Perth


I thought it was absolutely phenomenal. Not only was it quite


eye-opening, but it also gave us a keen insight into Classic’s brands and partners. It does appear that Classic Package Holidays is moving in a very positive direction.


GEMMA PERRY Gemma The Holiday Fixer, homeworker


It has absolutely exceeded my expectations. I haven’t done many trips before, and I’ve loved every minute of this. Being a homeworker can be quite lonely but it’s lovely to have come out here and met agents with similar values. I’ve built contacts and deeper relationships with suppliers, and developed more knowledge of this area [Belek] as well as its prices.


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