NEWS YOU NEED TO KNOW 4


Summer market ‘picks up’ ahead of key Brexit vote


Ian Taylor ian.taylor@travelweekly.co.uk


Industry analyst GfK reported a second successive week of positive trading as MPs prepared to vote on a revised Brexit ‘deal’ on Tuesday.


director at GfK, said: “The market has definitely picked up.” Season-to-date bookings for


Summer 2019 bookings were up 1% year on year in the week to March 9. All-inclusive bookings in the week were up 8% year on year. David Hope, senior client insight


BREXIT


the summer remain 2% up year on year and winter 2018-19 bookings up 4%. The pick-up in bookings came amid hopes MPs would end the immediate uncertainty around Brexit. Abta chief executive Mark Tanzer


told Travel Weekly: “An abrupt departure and no deal would be bad for the


industry and customers. “This week may remove that possibility. If no deal is taken off


Theresa May was this week hoping to gain MPs’ support for her Brexit deal


the table, we’ll be in a better place.” Parliament appeared set to


reject prime minister May’s Brexit deal for a second time, in which case the government promised MPs a vote on a no-deal Brexit on Wednesday. Previous votes suggest MPs would rule out no deal. They would then vote on whether they want a “limited extension to Article 50” to delay Britain’s exit from the EU. International Airlines Group


chief executive Willie Walsh told an Airlines for Europe Summit in Brussels last week: “We really need the politicians to resolve this. But I’m confident we’ll manage whatever comes.” The EU confirmed last week that


UK-EU flights would operate as normal in the event of no deal and removed a previous threat to cap UK airlines’ capacity to Europe at


the level of last summer. › Business, page 78


5 STORIES HOT


5 Consortia vow to tackle staff crisis


Harry Kemble harry.kemble@travelweekly.co.uk


Travel agency consortia have vowed to help members find staff as small and medium- sized agencies report “critical” difficulties in recruiting.


The Travel Network Group said


about 70 members were currently struggling to find the right staff, and plans to announce details of a new recruitment strategy at its upcoming conference in Budapest. Group membership services


director Lisa Henning said staffing issues were first reported by members last September. She said: “We can’t afford to wait another 12 months – we need to do something about it.” She urged members to “be proactive” and look outside the industry. Rival consortium The Advantage


Travel Partnership described the recruitment situation as “critical”. Group commercial and membership director Paula Lacey urged members to use Advantage’s external recruitment agency and, for less-experienced agents, its


6travelweekly.co.uk14 March 2019


“We have had problems before but not as bad as this”


preferred apprenticeship scheme. She said it was important for agencies to focus on retaining staff. Office for National Statistics


data shows agencies employing one to nine people are predicted to grow in number from 3,810 to 3,980 this year. However, employee numbers across the industry are expected to fall below 60,000 this


year for the first time since 2013. The number of travel vacancies


has increased by 14% since 2016, according to specialist travel recruitment agency C&M Travel. Four independent agencies


contacted by Travel Weekly agreed that it was now taking longer to recruit suitable agents. One, Go Travel in Locksbottom,


Kent, has had to enlist a member of its events and marketing team to cover sales staff for more than a year. “We have had problems recruiting before but not as bad as this,” said director Mike Roberts.


PICTURE: REUTERS


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