NEWS
KUONI AWARDS 2019: Jeanne Lally, owner of Travel Bureau Gosforth, collects the agency of the year award. Eight honours were handed out at Kuoni’s first awards for its best- performing independent agents at the Crazy Bear Hotel in Oxford last week. Agents were judged on sales performance over the past 18 months, as well as customer service, innovation and overall ‘Kuoni-ness’. Lally, second left, is pictured with Kuoni’s Brad Bennetts, Lucy Ellingham and Helen Roberts. Peakes Travel Elite picked up luxury agent of the year, while Peter Goord Travel won the escorted touring agent of the year award.
Lord Adonis: Be confident, Brexit isn’t going to happen
Amie Keeley ITT Conference, Split, Croatia
Travel executives have been told to have “absolute confidence” in their businesses by a peer who predicts Brexit “won’t happen”. Vocal remainer Andrew
Adonis told delegates at the Institute of Travel and Tourism conference in Split: “Te new prime minister will proclaim to get a new agreement…but it will be voted down again.” He said every time Parliament
has faced the “cliff edge of leaving”, it “draws back” and outlined three possible outcomes: more negotiations with the EU, a general election or another referendum. Te former transport secretary,
travelweekly.co.uk
who stood in last month’s European elections but lost to the Brexit Party, said: “It’s inconceivable the Tories will call a general election. Nigel Farage is eviscerating the Conservative party. “Even if we did have an
STORY TOP
election, it wouldn’t resolve Brexit. We will have a second referendum next spring, which will end 60:40 in
favour of remain. So, you can all have absolute confidence in
your businesses going forward.” Lord Adonis’s comments came
as industry reports showed positive signs for bookings. Deloite’s latest Leisure Travel report found 39% of consumers prefer to save for a holiday than spend on other
leisure activities, especially when budgets were tight. Te study, based on a poll of
3,000 people, identified a shiſt to longer holiday durations and a rise in domestic holidays and off-the-beaten- track tours. Simon Oaten, partner for hospitality and leisure, said: “Four in 10 customers are positive about their personal finances for the rest of the year.” But he warned: “Brexit uncertainty will continue to create some consumer caution.” Google data showed a 13% spike in searches for last-minute holidays so far in the second quarter of 2019, against last year.
Lord Adonis 13 JUNE 2019 5
Icelolly.com commissioned
research that showed agency web hits were down 17% year on year from January to May 2019 but up 30% in the first quarter of this year compared with the final quarter of 2018. Icelolly was 3% up in holiday
searches last month against May 2018 and visitors last weekend were 70% up on the comparable weekend of 2018. Chief marketing officer Ross Mathews said: “Since the decision to delay Brexit until October, we’ve seen demand steadily increase.” An upturn in bookings appears
to be driven by heavy discounting. Tui-owned Holiday Hypermarket found discounts for package holidays between April 1 and May 19 were 29 percentage points greater for Spain, 21 points for Greece and 17 points for Turkey than in 2018.
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