NEWS


STRICTLY SAMBA: Brazilian actress Juliana Paes joins Strictly Come Dancing professionals Anton Du Beke (centre) and AJ Pritchard in a reimagined samba-style safety video to mark Virgin Atlantic’s new route to São Paulo, which will start on May 13, 2024. The airline has also launched a service to Bengaluru (Bangalore) in India, which will take off from March 31, 2024, and announced its return to Dubai after a gap of more than four years with flights from Heathrow resuming on October 28. Chief executive Shai Weiss said: “From our entrance into South America to our expansion in India and the growth of our premium sun portfolio, there is something for all of our customers to experience.”


Late sales surge despite lack of cheap deals and threat of strikes


Juliet Dennis and Ian Taylor


The trade has reported surging late sales despite a lack of traditional cheap summer deals and the threat of industrial action throughout the peak season. Travel agents say there has


been no sign of a slowdown in sales as the market enters the lates period prior to the school summer holiday. Bookings by Advantage


Designer Travel co-owner


Amanda Matthews agreed, saying: “Late bookings are very strong. If anything is going to affect sales it’s the lovely UK weather, but it depends how long that continues.” Hays Travel North West reported


STORY TOP


Travel Partnership members for travel in the next 12 weeks have continued to rise and last week represented 46% of sales. Chief commercial officer Kelly


Cookes reported “strong demand for late bookings” as well as for 2024. “There is a mixture of people


continuing to book for this summer and getting ahead for future seasons,” she said, adding that members weren’t seeing “any impact” of fears of strikes.


travelweekly.co.uk


strong sales “for all seasons” despite prices being up on average £100 per person year on year. “Liverpool is performing


well with easyJet services this summer and the introduction of Jet2 for


summer 2024,” said managing


director Don Bircham. Triangle Travel general manager


Sarah Kenton said some clients wanted to book late because they felt it provided “more certainty” that flights would go ahead in the wake of last year’s airline cancellations. But she noted a lack of cheap


deals normally associated with the lates market. “The discounts have disappeared.


Pricing is way over what most people are expecting,” Kenton said, adding: “Clients sometimes feel they’re buying [at] an inflated [price], therefore they’re considerably more demanding as they search for the perfect holiday.” Kenton said clients worried about


disruption to flights were booking alternatives, such as Eurostar or an ex-UK cruise, but customers were generally “more accepting” after seeing the impact of strikes on services outside travel. Inspire Europe managing director


Lisa Henning said the trade had become better at navigating travel problems for clients, but stressed: “It does come at a cost. When there is industrial action, we have to ensure we’ve the necessary resources to offer customers a first-class service. This usually means increasing staffing levels and therefore operating costs.” Talks to avert a serious escalation of strikes by security staff at


Heathrow were continuing as Travel Weekly went to press, with the Unite union poised to call 30 days of strikes through to the August bank holiday without a deal on pay. The proposed stoppages at


Heathrow Terminals 3 and 5 would hit every weekend, Friday to Monday, throughout the school holidays. The airport’s contingency plans


have so far limited the impact of strikes, which began on March 31 at Terminal 5, although BA was forced to cancel more than 30 flights a day at Easter. However, an extension of the walkouts to Terminal 3 and to 2,000-plus staff – hitting Virgin Atlantic, Emirates, Qatar Airways, Delta Air Lines, United and American Airlines departures – threatens to stretch Heathrow’s resources. The airport has deployed 1,000


‘casual’ security staff and managers and insisted it would “pull out all the stops” to ensure passengers were not disrupted.


8 JUNE 2023 5


PICTURE: PinPep


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