Juliet Dennis


Bookings eclipse pre-pandemic levels 88%


Holiday sales have continued to climb and overtake pre-pandemic levels in volumes and sales values, according to agents. Reports come ahead of the lifting


of testing restrictions on vaccinated UK arrivals from Friday (February 11). Miles Morgan Travel chairman


Miles Morgan said his business was “in the best position for two years”, adding: “I’ve dreamt of this moment.” Its sales last week beat the same


week in 2020 “by a lot”. Morgan, who has begun a regional TV ad campaign, said: “We expect the same this week; there’s no reason not to.” Fred Olsen Travel head of


commercial Paul Hardwick agreed: “It feels different to other upturns in the past two years where we were still unsure if holidays we were booking would actually travel.” He cited “consistently strong”


sales over the past three weeks, with summer the most popular season and a “higher than normal level of brand-new customers”. Average sales values reached


“almost £5,000”, more than £1,000 above pre-pandemic levels, said Hardwick. The business started its biggest marketing campaign since Covid to capitalise on the sales surge. Althams Travel managing director


Sandra McAllister said “things are at last getting back to some normality”.


Frustrated agents say call wait times ‘jeopardise’ sales


Juliet Dennis


Travel agents say they are losing sales because of difficulties getting through to suppliers. Retailers said it was often taking


as long as two hours to speak to tour operators since sales began to ramp up last month. Operators blamed staff shortages and bookings taking longer. Sheena Whittle, head of


Midcounties’ homeworking division The Personal Travel Agents, said: “Not only are new sales impacted, but we are seeing examples where agents cannot get information to amend a holiday in a timely manner, so the customer is deciding to cancel, take


6 10 FEBRUARY 2022


the refund and rebook when they’re ready. This is not the best outcome for the agent or supplier.” She said the trade understood


suppliers’ staffing challenges, but stressed “fixing this problem is really important”, adding: “Agents have a golden opportunity to gain more customers who crave a professional, and this is being jeopardised.” Althams Travel managing director


Sandra McAllister agreed: “To have staff tied up on calls prevents us from doing new bookings. I can only see one solution: more staff.” Westoe Travel is using a phone on loud speaker at the back of the shop to call operators as staff serve


“The February [11] date is


Percentage of Althams Travel bookings for lates or summer 2022


Most of the agency’s sales have


been late bookings (45%) or summer 2022 bookings (43%). McAllister said: “There is still


hesitancy but, as things continue to look positive, we’re seeing confidence build.” Advantage Travel Partnership


leisure director Kelly Cookes also felt “much more optimistic” as the sales momentum of recent weeks continued.


helping with confidence, as does news about destinations opening up, such as Australia,” she said, noting sales through the consortium’s managed service branches remained up on 2019 each week. But Cookes cautioned the


“complexity” of individual EU states’ entry restrictions, particularly Spain’s, was “causing issues”. Polka Dot Travel director Mark


Johnson also acknowledged the issue but was “very hopeful” of a strong summer lates market and expects that restrictions in Europe will become simpler over the coming months. “The signs are promising but we still have some way to go,” he said.


Two-hour waits are ‘the average’, according to one agent


other clients while on hold. Director Graeme Brett said two-hour waits were “the average” when “it used to be 20 minutes”. Henbury Travel owner Richard


Slater said his agency was “having to work around the situation”, while Pole Travel is only calling operators that answer promptly. “It’s really frustrating,” said owner Jill Waite. Operators said they were working


to resolve the issue. Crystal Ski Holidays apologised to agents for “severe delays” and said wait times had been reduced since trebling call centre staff numbers. Jet2holidays has updated its


‘Manage My Booking’ functionality


for agents, created online trade amendment forms and is boosting the size of its trade call centre team. The operator thanked agents for


their “patience and understanding”, adding: “We’re working tirelessly to keep lines of communication open.” Aito, The Specialist Travel


Association, put delays down to clients wanting more help; staffing levels and non-frontline staff taking enquiries; Covid absences; and difficulties getting quotes from suppliers in destinations. Executive director Martyn Sumners said: “We’re in a transition period and


managing expectations is vital.” i Get Social, page 31


travelweekly.co.uk


PICTURE: Shutterstock/Itummy


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