INSIDE THIS
WEEK Contents
NEWS Hot Stories
Cook must act faster going into 2019; Bookings strong, despite Brexit; ITE offered free retail pop-ups; Royal chooses on-demand ads; Black Tip faces insolvency questions
WIN!
A place on a VIP fam to the South Pacific with Tourism Fiji page 42
Round-up Disability training for Travel Counsellors 08 Fred Olsen unveils sales guide; Carnival 10
Special Reports Malala Yousafzai names Celebrity Edge 12 Nieuw Statendam inaugural sailing
14 Talk Back
Airline reward points, British Airways; Gatwick, Thomas Cook
NEWS YOU CAN USE Product Pure Luxury, TourHound, Jet2 25
Operator Intrepid, Friendship Travel 27 Cruise Carnival, Hurtigruten, MSC Cruises 31
FRONTLINE Comment Debbie Marshall, Silver Travel 36
Cover Star Sarah Williams 40 Mystery Shopper Cardiff and Newport 46
DESTINATIONS Asia
China: New year celebrations
Japan: Discover the Diamond Route Bangkok: Trail-blazing entrepreneurs
Accessible tourism
FRONT COVER Sarah Williams of Journeys à la Carte is thrilled to visit California page 40 PHOTO: STEVE HOCKSTEIN
Skiing: Helping clients with a disability 63 BUSINESS
Travel Weekly Business Breakfast Business drowned out by Brexit noise
72 Dec 13
48 53 59
WHAT
LUCY DID THIS WEEK
1
2 3
Lucy Huxley Editor-in-chief @Lucy_Huxley
Hosted our last Travel Weekly Business Breakfast of 2018 to launch our Annual Insight Report in association with Deloitte
Finally got my dress for the Globe Travel Awards, with just over a month to go. Now let the alterations begin…
Thanked the Lord for Amazon Prime (having been overseas for the past fortnight for work, I am so late with all my Christmas shopping!)
13 December
2018travelweekly.co.uk3 21 04
A NOTE FROM THE EDITOR A great ‘deal’ going on… I
for summer 2019 up 12% to the end of October. It was equally encouraging to hear the sales and
e-commerce director of Thomas Cook so upbeat about prospects for next year, just a week after the operator reported a second profit warning. Candidly admitting where it had gone wrong in 2018 and
that a turnaround is now required, Phil Gardner said Brexit had not translated into a downturn in bookings, and that Cook was “well positioned” for next year (page 4) . Obviously it needs to maintain its good early position, describing it as “critical” that is does so, but early signs were good, Gardner said. Another thing the panel agreed on was increasing
consumer demand for ‘thoughtful travel’ and booking with companies that act responsibly, both socially and environmentally. This notion was at the heart of the launch of
Celebrity Cruises’ newest ship, Edge (page 12), which I attended in Miami last week, with bosses claiming the vessel was built “on a foundation of purpose and values”. So for all the political negativity dominating the media, there seems to be plenty for the industry to feel good about going into 2019.
imagine the whole country groaned on Monday afternoon as it was confirmed that a vote on Theresa May’s
proposed Brexit deal was to be postponed. Who isn’t sick to the back teeth of the deal or no-deal scenario? But amid all the continuing uncertainty, how heartening
it was to hear a succession of senior industry figures at a Travel Weekly Business Breakfast saying they are seeing no impact of the Brexit impasse thus far on bookings. This is supported by GfK figures, which show bookings
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