NEWS ROUND-UP


agent diary: “I had to amend my own booking, issue the paperwork to myself – and the supplier charged me £80!” Colin Burns, page 24


EasyJet holidays chief ‘blown away by agents’


Ben Ireland


The chief executive of easyJet holidays says he has been “blown away” by the volume of sales made by travel agents since the operator opened its trade channel in August. Garry Wilson said the brand was


open to ideas – including fam trips – on how to work more closely with the trade and “help as much as we can”. Speaking on a Travel Weekly


webcast, he said: “I’ve genuinely been blown away by third-party agents.” Wilson commended independent


agents’ “sheer resilience” throughout the pandemic and said their efforts “show a real level of creativity”. He also acknowledged the “loyalty that customers show to their travel agent”. “It’s really reassured me that the


decision to go with travel agents was absolutely the right one,” Wilson said. Referring to customers’ faith


in agents, he said: “It’s become clear that having someone you can


trust and talk to is really valuable.” He urged agents to tell easyJet


holidays about any destinations they would like to see served from their local airports, or any hotels they’d like added to the operator’s portfolio. He also invited feedback on its pricing. “We’re trying to help as much as


we can,” he said. “As long as we can afford it, we will continue having incentives and things to drive sales.”


TRAVEL’S CUP RUN: The Travel Village’s Richard Cross appeared on Match of the Day Live on Sunday in his role as club secretary of Marine FC, who faced Tottenham Hotspur in the FA Cup. The non-league club lost 5-0 to their Premier League visitors but Cross and club president Dave Thompson – managing director of specialist agency Marine Travel – had an “incredible” day, despite Covid restrictions keeping fans away. Cross, sales and commercial manager for The Travel Village’s Southampton Cruise Centre, met host Gary Lineker and pundits Alan Shearer and Ian Wright, and was interviewed live on BBC at the Marine Travel stadium.


8 14 JANUARY 2021 travelweekly.co.uk


Garry Wilson


Wilson was, however, cautious


about committing to expanding easyJet holidays’ “small trade team”. “With increased overheads comes


increased prices,” he noted. He said sales via agents provided


“incremental” customers for easyJet holidays. Pressed on whether easyJet was eating into rivals’ market shares, he said he expected there to be “a huge amount of business” for all operators when Covid restrictions ease. Wilson said demand for travel was


becoming “more and more” pent-up. And he said he hoped flexible


terms and conditions introduced by suppliers in response to cancellations resulting from the pandemic would be retained and would help the industry regain holidaymakers’ trust.


Watch the Garry Wilson interview at: go.travelweekly.co.uk/webcasts


Savvi Travel gives £15 per client to vaccine campaign


Four-branch agency Savvi Travel has pledged to support a campaign to help less-developed countries vaccinate people against Covid-19. Chief executive Dave Batley said


he was prompted to back the Give a Vaccine initiative after hearing about it on Jeremy Vine’s BBC Radio Two show last week. “We have got to do this,” Batley


told Travel Weekly. “[As an industry], we need to fly to other countries and so we need to do our bit.” Give a Vaccine was set up by


Hampshire-based couple Stephen and Janice Lampard to highlight how 80% of the world’s Covid vaccines have been bought by wealthy nations accounting for just 20% of the world’s population. Batley said Savvi Travel will


make a donation of £15 – the average cost of a vaccine – for each customer, which will be taken from the commission it earns on bookings. He pointed to pent-up demand and enquiries but said Savvi was finding it harder to secure bookings in the current climate.


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