5 2
Trading up over Easter weekend
Ben Ireland
ben.ireland@
travelweekly.co.uk
Agencies have reported “strong” Easter sales, bucking the trend that saw a wet Easter lead to a slump in high street footfall.
Retail analysts Springboard
Insights said bad weather caused total shop visits to fall 2.4% between Good Friday and Easter Sunday, compared with 2017. It said this was largely due to high street footfall, which dropped 9.6% on Good Friday and 6.9% on Easter Saturday. It revealed that while shoppers
stayed away from high streets, shopping centres and retail parks saw a rise in visits. But sales at Miles Morgan
Travel were “significantly up” on last year’s Easter bank holiday weekend. Managing director Miles Morgan said: “Sales were strong, well over our expectations for the week and weekend. Easter is always challenging, so I’m really pleased trading is significantly up. “Given the majority of our shops closed Monday and had shorter
Oxford Street: Shop visits fell 2.4% over the Easter weekend
hours on Friday, we smashed it.” Hays North West managing
director Don Bircham, who said Saturday was the busiest day of the weekend, added: “We had a phenomenal start to 2018, which continued right through the Easter weekend.” A Tui spokesman said its retail
stores “had done well”, while Barrhead Travel chief executive Sharon Munro said retail parks and shopping centres were at the “forefront” of its growth strategy, but it still backed its high street agencies. Homeworking group Travel Counsellors saw Easter sales 13% up on 2017. Chief commercial officer and UK managing director Kirsten Hughes said: “The unprecedented weather will have affected many businesses, but as travel counsellors work from home they have been available come rain, wind or shine.” It follows industry analyst GfK
figures that showed trade bookings for summer 2018 are up 5% year on year to the end of February, with
season-to-date revenue up 8%. › Comment, page 34
3
Ingo Burmester, chief of UK source market
STORIES HOT
Burmester takes on Cook UK role
Amie Keeley
amie.keeley@
travelweekly.co.uk
Thomas Cook has named Ingo Burmester as chief of UK source market, taking over from Chris Mottershead.
Burmester was formerly chief of
hotels and resorts, having joined the business in 2017 from Tui where he was managing director of Robinson Club. Cook said he would continue
to look after hotels and resorts alongside his UK role for the time being, while Mottershead would focus on his group-wide role as chief of product and operations. The company started its search
for a new UK boss in February, after a U-turn by Andrew Flintham. Flintham was due to start as managing director on March 1, having left his role as commercial director of Tui last October. But at the end of February, Tui named him as its new UK & Ireland managing director, following Nick Longman’s departure. Cook said Burmester had
“transformed” Cook’s hotels and
“The appointment brings experience of hotels and tour operating to the UK”
resorts business, reshaping its leadership team and securing an alliance with Swiss company LMEY Investments to acquire hotels for its own-brand portfolio. Burmester will look afer the UK
travel agency and tour operating business, reporting directly to group chief executive Peter Fankhauser. “I am grateful to Chris for his
achievements in the UK over the past three years and look forward to what can be achieved when he puts his attention on such a critical group-wide role,” said Fankhauser. “Ingo’s appointment brings
experience of hotels and tour operating to the UK, to help further embed our differentiated offer within this important market. “The changes position Cook
well to accelerate the execution of strategy for profitable growth.”
5 April 2018
travelweekly.co.uk 5
PICTURE: REUTERS/ HANNAH MCKAY
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