Hotelplan and T
ravel Weekly hosted key
agent and supplier partners on their annual VIP ski trip. Lucy Huxley and Stu Parish report from Grindelwald in Switzerland
L 10
eading suppliers and agents discussed how to sustain the industry’s upward momentum after a strong
first quarter. Here we report on their key perspectives...
. . . ON THE SKI MARKET Joe Ponte, Hotelplan: “This season has been great. The pandemic reset customer purchase patterns. We have customers calling for lates but we don’t have [holidays to sell] and we’re not going to add capacity. By having fewer customers, you can give them a better experience and then your prices stay up – and it also means customers are now looking to book further ahead to get what they want next season. We’ve also taken on a conservative chalet programme after competitors pulled theirs, which has gone really well.”
6 APRIL 2023
Simon McIntyre, Iglu Ski: “We have seen customers taking two or three trips this season, and early bookings for next year are really promising. People are getting the message that the ski industry has changed.” Richard Sinclair, Sno Group: “Ski is definitely back. The bottom 10% of the market has gone away, which is great as that’s where there was no margin, and it’s re-educated the customer that you need to pay a certain amount to go skiing. This year is 15% better than our best-ever year.” Alex Herrmann, Switzerland Tourism: “Most of the bigger markets for Switzerland came back in the summer of 2022, but the UK didn’t return until December. It was the last of the big markets to return but has absolutely helped drive a sensational December for us. Skiing is really important but Brits are also looking
at Switzerland for snowshoeing and winter hiking, which is something that sets Switzerland apart from other Alpine countries.”
. . . ON VALUE John Sullivan, The Advantage Travel Partnership: “We based our turn-of- year campaign on value, not price, as for the first time we heard people saying that prices were too cheap. But they are buying on value and trading up, if anything. They are buying more all-inclusive, which includes cruise. They are happy to spend more as long as the value is there.” Connie Georgiou, Silversea Cruises: “People finally seem to be realising the value of cruise. You can stay in a London hotel for £280-£300 a night, and then breakfast is on top. Compare that to what you pay per day in cruise and what’s included and the value is just incredible.” Iain Baillie, Carnival Cruise Line: “We’ve added in more capacity than 2019, which was a record-breaking year. We have a ship coming over from Costa [Cruises] and another in production in Germany, so we are looking forward to a really strong year and the value of a cruise, where
so much is included, is definitely a consideration. We’ve been encouraged by the performance of the UK market and there’s been a heavy split towards the trade. We’ve found we have got a lot of new agents working with us.” Sullivan: “An agent is a real value proposition in itself and we’ve seen so many people come back to agents because of Covid-19. In the third week of January, 47% of our members’ business was from new customers. Now we’ve got these new customers, the question is, how do you keep them? But it’s a really nice problem to have. It’s down to value and service.” Nicki Tempest-Mitchell, Barrhead Travel: “Fifty-five per cent of our business this year is new to Barrhead. People are seeing the value of an agent. Online, we’re 300% up versus 2019, and we’re 200% up on cruise over 2019, I’m sure because of the value. The duration mix has changed. Sixty per cent of people are holidaying 10 nights and above, so for us, holidays are high on people’s agenda and will not be the thing to go in the cost-of-living crisis.” Sam Conway, Mail Metro Media: “Eighty
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