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5 2


Tunisia and Egypt ‘back in business’


Amie Keeley World Travel Market, London


Tunisia’s UK visitor numbers are expected to smash targets by the end of the year as North African destinations enjoy a tourism revival.


Around 100,000 Brits had visited the destination by September, surpassing an annual target of 85,000. The total is tipped to reach up to 120,000 by the end of 2018. UK visitor numbers are


expected to return to their peak of 440,000 – the figure achieved prior to the Sousse terror attack in 2015 – within the next four years. Thomas Cook and Tui


reintroduced Tunisia earlier this year after the Foreign Office softened its travel advice in 2017. The FCO had advised against


all travel to Tunisia following the terror attack in Sousse in which 30 British holidaymakers were killed. Wahida Jaiet, director of the


Tunisian National Tourist Office for the UK and Ireland, said: “Cook and Tui have been the driving force on this [growth]. For 2018, we went beyond original estimates and already recorded 100,000


Hammamet, Tunisia


visitors by September. By the end of the year we expect between 110,000 and 120,000 visitors.” Both operators have increased


2019 capacity and UK flights will increase from 17 to 38 next year. “Tunisia is back on track and


back in business,” Jaiet added. Andrew Flintham, Tui UK managing director, said Egypt and Turkey were also enjoying a comeback as the effect of terrorist incidents became “more subdued”. More than 300,000 UK tourists


visited Egypt between January and September, a 38% increase on 2017, despite a UK flight ban to Sharm el-Sheikh remaining in place. Tourism minister Dr Rania Al-


Mashat said demand for Hurghada this winter was “promising” despite questions remaining over the sudden deaths of John and Susan Cooper on August 21. The couple died while staying


at the Steigenberger Aqua Magic hotel on a Thomas Cook holiday in the Red Sea resort. “There has not been a single cancellation. We still have 40 flights a week,” Al-Mashat said. She said the Egyptian government


was “continuing to co-operate” with the UK over the couple’s deaths.


Staff at the new Milton Keynes v-room, with Clubhouse Spa


Virgin plans 20 more Next stores


Lucy Huxley lucy.huxley@travelweekly.co.uk


Virgin Holidays is to open another 20 agencies within Next -stores in 2019, on top of the 20 it will have open by the end of this year.


The news came as it opened its 13th v-room agency in Milton Keynes this week, the first to feature a full spa and salon. Customers at the store will be


able to get treatments such as hair cuts and manicures done pre- holiday – and all staff in the shop will be fully-trained agents and beauticians or hairdressers. Four more v-rooms with ‘Clubhouse Spas’, inspired by the namesake facility at Virgin Atlantic’s Heathrow lounge, will open next year at UK locations yet to be announced. Lee Haslett, product and distribution vice-president, said: “Our Milton Keynes store will be the fourth evolution of our v-room branches. Previous ones feature Upper Class seats, virtual rollercoasters, mixologists and speciality wines, teas and crisps. “Our customers can book their


holidays up to 18 months before travel, so the idea is to give them reasons to keep coming back into the store to keep the relationship alive. Spa services will be chargeable, but stores will also be able to offer them as added value at their discretion for sales such as weddings and honeymoons.” Haslett said Virgin Holidays had seen a 50% increase in customers upgrading to Upper Class seats having tried them in store. Virgin Holidays now employs


500 agents across its retail estate and will be recruiting more. Regarding the Next partnership,


Haslett added: “Next is a much stronger customer fit than our previous concession partners [Tesco, House of Fraser and Debenhams].” He said bookings by Next customers were 20%-30% higher than in other concessions. Next, he added, might soon offer discounts on holiday clothes to customers who book holidays. “The high street is fundamentally a challenge but we are bucking the trend,” he said. “We are focusing massively on customer experience, hospitality and dwell time. You can’t just put in a rack of brochures and row of desks in your shop any more.”


8 November 2018 travelweekly.co.uk 5 3 STORIES HOT


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