NEWS ROUND-UP NEWS IN BRIEF


Garrido takes up trade sales role at Attraction World


Attraction World has appointed Simon Garrido as head of sales. Garrido was formerly head


of trade sales at Monarch. He started his new role this week and heads a newly-expanded trade sales team.


Tui says 30% of consumers are aware of the brand


Consumer awareness of the Tui brand in the UK is ahead of expectations following its rebrand from Thomson two weeks ago, according to UK managing director Nick Longman. The company said knowledge of the brand without prompting was now 30%, a level it had not expected to reach until Christmas. › Talk Back, page 17


Hard Rock owner launches Palladium Connect portal


Palladium Hotel Group has unveiled a new B2B portal, Palladium Connect, that brings agent incentives, training and brand news together for the first time. The group, whose portfolio includes Hard Rock, Ushuaia and Palladium hotels, will offer points and cash incentives for agents who complete training and log bookings. Register at tinyurl.com/pallconnect


Pirie’s new venture Vivid Travel vies with ‘complacent’ firms


Former Travel Republic chief executive Kane Pirie has formally launched Vivid Travel, a tour operation focusing on bespoke holidays to Asia, Latin America and Africa. The company says it uses


the latest technology and expert agents, known as travel


Longman predicts Brits to tighten budgets pre-Brexit


Juliet Dennis World Travel Market, London


The prospect of a ‘hard’ Brexit could force UK holidaymakers to manage budgets more tightly and switch to better-value destinations in 2018, Tui UK boss Nick Longman has predicted.


His forecast came as market


research company Euromonitor warned a ‘no deal’ scenario between Britain and the EU could seriously impact demand for outbound travel from the UK. Speaking at a World Travel


Market panel debate on what to expect in 2018, Longman said consumers would continue to take a main holiday despite an anticipated economic slowdown. But he claimed consumers could


switch destination or the type of holiday they take for their core break to “stick to their budget”. He said: “If they went on a


holiday worth £5,000 this year and it costs £5,500 next year, they might stick to their £5,000 budget and work out what they can do for that. I anticipate people will manage their budgets very tightly.” The Tui UK managing director


designers, to offer flexible and unique itineraries. Pirie, co-founder and managing director, said it was already taking bookings despite having yet to start marketing. “We have had customers banging on the door to find out what we have on offer,” he said. “Consumer tastes are changing and customers want more-varied, more-vivid travel experiences. “Bespoke holidays have not really changed in 20 years.


8 travelweekly.co.uk 9 November 2017


“I believe demand will stay robust, but people will manage their budgets very tightly”


said his key concern around Brexit was currency exchange rates, and the impact on future holiday prices. “I believe demand will stay


robust but it’s the extent to which people will travel. I’d like to see exchange rates stabilise,” he said. Caroline Bremner, head of


travel and tourism research at Euromonitor, said the weaker pound had already created a


LONGMAN: Concerned about exchange rates and pre-Brexit economic uncertainty


“boom” in inbound tourism, but made it more expensive for Brits to go abroad. She warned: “A ‘no deal’ could


have a serious effect on outbound demand. The worst-case scenario is a 5% reduction. We expect this would hit Spain the hardest; it could see one million fewer visitors over the next five years.” Meanwhile, Peter Shanks,


development director at Imagine Cruising, claimed the cruise sector would be “relatively unscathed” by Brexit, and Shearings Leisure Group chief executive Richard Calvert said he was “cautiously optimistic” about 2018.


Kane Pirie


“Conventionally they focus on taking an older demographic on a tried-and-tested tour with limited flexibility around


accommodation, as the tour operator has high-margin deals with specific hotels. Some complacency has crept in.” Vivid employs 20 staff in Guildford and London, and plans to open overseas offices, including in Cape Town, in 2018. Vivid’s other co-founder is


Adam Gill, who was previously chief technology officer at Travel Republic. The operator’s Atol licenses it


to carry 981 passengers for the year to September 2018.


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