NEWS 1


YOU NEED TO KNOW


AT A GLANCE 2019 bookings to date


There has been no easing in the outbound market this summer. Industry analyst GfK reported summer bookings down 11% year on year in the week to last Saturday, April 6. That followed a 5% decline


the previous week, although season-to-date summer bookings remained 1% up year on year going into this week. GfK senior client insight


director David Hope said: “People are just holding back. Everything is down – all EU destinations. Even Turkey was down 1% last week.” However, Turkey remains


Top 10 Atol-holders boost licensed capacity by 2.4m


Ian Taylor ian.taylor@travelweekly.co.uk


The top-10 Atol-holders have increased their authorised capacity for this summer by alo   figure reeal despite uncertainty about rei puing preure on ale.


The CAA published details of the leading Atol-holders on Monday following the March renewals, showing the 10 largest licence holders authorised to carry almost 18.8 million passengers, up from 16.4 million a year ago. We Love Holidays, which owns


Loveholidays, and On the Beach anticipate substantial growth, with We Love Holidays authorised for an additional 429,000 passengers, up 53%, and On the


Beach for an additional 345,000, up 26%. Yet with last September’s


renewals factored in, the overall increase in protected holidays by the top 10 is 2.4 million. By contrast, the 10 largest Atol-holders sought authorisation for only an additional 325,000 holidays a year ago, a rise of 2% on April 2017. The sharp increase is due to a combination of added capacity and to previously unprotected sales being brought into Atol in line with the new Package Travel Regulations, which came into force last July. Jet2holidays increased its Atol authorisation by almost 874,000 last October. Tui added 291,000, Thomas Cook 82,000, British Airways Holidays 183,000, and


4travelweekly.co.uk11 April 2019


“A lot of people were getting away with selling flights as agent to the consumer ”


easyJet moved into the top 10 for the first time with an Atol for its airline of 705,000. Industry legal advisor Alan


Bowen said: “A lot of people in the past were getting away with selling flights as agent to the consumer [and] if you were just selling seat- only you didn’t need to protect those. Some have thought ‘better bring those back into Atol’ so they can tell people they are protected.” At the same time, some OTAs


have cut their Atol capacity. Expedia’s Atol, renewed last October, licenses the giant OTA for


one of the few bright spots with cumulative bookings for summer to date up 30%. Late sales for the current


winter surged in the week, up 17% on the comparable week last year – albeit this fell in the Easter 2018 holiday – following an 8% rise in the last week of March.


238,000 fewer protected holidays in the current 12-month period – a 17% decline. Travel Republic is licensed for 56,000 fewer protected holidays, or 9% less. However, Spain-based OTA BravoNext added 183,000 in Atol capacity, a near-50% increase. Bowen expressed surprise at


the increase in capacity by tour operators, saying: “The short-haul market is enormously difficult and there is huge competition. “There is no sign of easing. It’s causing huge issues. The airlines are holding constant sales.” Industry analyst GfK reported summer 2019 bookings down 11% year on year in the week to Saturday, April 6, following a 5% fall on the comparable week in the


last week of March. › EU destinations drop, back page


PICTURE: SHUTTERSTOCK


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