NEWS YOU NEED TO KNOW The Travel Convention: Abta reveals heartening research at annual event in Seville 4


Millennials ‘lose trust online in favour of agents’


Amie Keeley in Seville and Harry Kemble


Research highlighting how millennials are turning to travel professionals rather than using review sites and booking themselves has been widely endorsed by agents.


Trust in travel review sites for


information and inspiration among 25-34-year-olds has fallen to 39% from 53% a year ago, Abta’s Holiday Habits report revealed. The data, released at The Travel


5 Kuoni parent unveils direct-sell brand Amie Keeley in Seville


Kuoni parent Der Touristik is launching an online direct-sell brand for “off the shelf” tailor- made long-haul holidays.


Meraki Travel will have an


online itinerary builder that allows users to customise their own trips by choosing a base itinerary then adding “experience packs” before selecting accommodation. Its first destination is India, with


South Africa, Kenya and Tanzania, Sri Lanka, Canada and China to


follow – creating 10,000 holiday combinations. The brand targets “older millennials”, with flight- inclusive prices leading in at about £1,400. It will launch next month and be bookable from November 16. UK chief executive Derek Jones


said Der Touristik had spotted a gap in the market to target this age group which, he said, when presented with a basic structure, is “confident customising a holiday online” themselves. He said the business was


inspired by non-travel brands such as Mini, which offers a list of


6 travelweekly.co.uk 11 October 2018


customisable options. “This is off-the-shelf tailor-


made,” he said. “I know that sounds like an oxymoron but we’ve spotted the trend in other markets. This generation values expertise but don’t necessarily need it face-to-face.” Jones said the business had


drawn on its relationships with destination management companies to help set up Meraki, which will operate separately to Kuoni and its other brands. Meraki is being led by Matt Hodgson, who has previously


worked at Trailfinders and Travel Nation, and will be based at a former Kuoni store in High Street Kensington, which closed this year and became a concession in nearby Peter Jones. Asked if Meraki Travel would


threaten Kuoni’s agent sales, Jones said: “This is a different market. They are web-savvy and have different needs and requirements to Kuoni customers. This is about creating a brand that will feed a group, not about trying to get business from somewhere else. We won’t ever stop valuing the agent.”


Convention in Seville, found one in five people of this age said they had better holidays when booking with a professional. Among the youngest adults,


32% of 18-24-year-olds said they were more likely to book with an agent for the new ideas and destinations they could suggest. Almost one in three (30%) had


spoken to a travel professional about their last holiday, with 93%of these going on to book with them. Fewer than 10% of people who spoke to an agent went on to book elsewhere or direct, a finding


which Abta said “busts the myth” of ‘showrooming’ – researching in-store before booking online. Joanne Dooey, owner of Scottish


agency Love to Travel, said there had been a “massive” rise in 30-year-olds visiting her two shops in the past two years. “They are coming in to get that


reassurance and security,” she said. “There is a move back to the high street for a certain age group [so] I definitely believe the data.” Barrhead Travel sales director Karen Breen said: “Increasingly


A fifth of millennials say holidays booked


via agents are better


millennials are consulting more with Barrhead’s team of travel professionals to discuss their holiday requirements.” Patric Gaudini, of Affordable


Luxury Travel in London, said: “[Millennials] cannot do what we do online – it’s very difficult. The number of enquiries that we get has gone up. Five years ago, they would have done it themselves.” The report found that 36% of


respondents booked a holiday with an agent in the past year, down from 38% last year.


PICTURE: SHUTTERSTOCK


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