NEWS SPECIAL REPORT
Hays Travel staff in Sunderland enjoy a pizza lunch courtesy of Carnival Cruise Line
Hays hails high sales H
ays Travel has reported strong trading despite the cost-of-living crisis, with cruise bookings
growing in popularity. Chair Dame Irene Hays said there
had been “no decrease” in passenger numbers during a period which has seen soaring inflation and a succession of mortgage rate hikes. Hays Travel’s direct debit scheme
had played a crucial role for some customers, Hays said, while others were spending money saved up during the pandemic. Hays said: “There’s no question
that certain parts of the population are challenged, but [other] people who have significant savings off the back of Covid are spending more and travelling more frequently, so we’ve seen no decrease in passenger numbers in spite of the cost-of-living crisis.” She said the direct debit scheme
“makes travel affordable”, adding: “We believe it has made the difference [for some customers] between going on holiday or not.”
16 6 JULY 2023 Hays Travel chief operating
officer Jonathon Woodall-Johnston said another trend was all-inclusive holidays becoming more sought-after, with the cruise sector in particular reaping the benefits. “People are wanting more value
for money,” he said. “We’ve seen a significant increase
with cruise. I think it’s the value for money that cruise offers.”
Slice of the action Hays spoke to Travel Weekly on June 14 while Carnival Cruise Line ran a ‘takeover day’ at Hays Travel’s head office in Sunderland. The day featured training, as well
as fun activities, pizza and drinks. Iain Baillie, the line’s vice-president
of international sales, described Hays Travel as “absolutely integral” to its success and said the two businesses had a “great relationship”. “We see Hays as market leaders in
what they do and they’re absolutely integral to the forward-growth plans we have at Carnival Cruise Line,” Baillie said.
Some people with significant savings off the back of Covid are spending more and travelling more often
The takeover was the brainchild
of Carnival Cruise Line’s senior account manager for international sales, Gemma Ashworth, and Hays Travel’s cruise commercial assistant manager, Phoebe Thompson. Agents started arriving at
8.30am, with the first 100 to attend receiving a goodie bag. Ashworth said: “The idea was to
do something fun for everyone – not just the people who sell Carnival day to day, but every part of the machine, because everyone is involved in us being successful. “So we wanted to do something
that everyone could get involved in – we wanted to bring the Carnival fun to Sunderland.”
Ship visits The line’s director of international sales, Luke Smith, outlined the brand’s approach to working with the trade, pointing out the importance of upcoming ship visits. He said: “We’ve just launched the
ship visit programme for this year. We’ve got six ship visits across the UK with about 240 agents coming on across those visits, so we’ll make sure we’ve got dedicated allocation of spaces for people like Hays Travel to make sure we’re getting the right agents that are fully supporting us.” Hays added: “We believe these
takeover days at head office are just as important as the presentations that take place for our retail conference. “It’s really important that our
creative people, our product people and our cruise back-office people all understand the personality of the brand and what distinguishes one brand from another.” Hays said the agency wants cruise
bookings to account for a third of business in the next couple of years (Travel Weekly, June 22).
travelweekly.co.uk
Agency credits cruise growth as Carnival Cruise Line holds ‘takeover day’. By Andrew McQuarrie
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