NEWS SPECIAL REPORT


David Sharman of Newmarket Holidays, sponsor of this escorted touring special edition, tells Ben Ireland how the operator has ‘kept growing’ after a record year in 2017


Newmarket ‘majored on India’ at the first Atas Conference


Growth in river cruising continues thanks to partnership with A-Rosa


Diverse portfolio helps oper


Sustaining a wide range of products and increasing visibility among agents as a specialist for certain destinations has helped Newmarket Holidays battle through a “tough” year with continued growth and expansion plans.


Commercial and new business


director David Sharman admitted that 2018 had been challenging, but said Newmarket had “kept growing” on the back of a record year of 15% growth in 2017. And even if growth is at a slower


rate than last year, the operator sees it as a huge positive in the climate. Part of that success is down to working with other operators in the touring sector through the Association of Touring & Adventure Specialists (Atas), according to Sharman. “The great thing about Atas


is that although we are all competitors, we are stronger together. It brings everyone together in the same conference room and gives us a really broad breadth of tour operators


He listed Tipto roadshows,


“For an agent at Atas, everything is there; so many operators at your disposal”


appealing to quite a wide range of ages and budget,” he said. “For an agent in an Atas Conference room, everything is there. You have so many operators at your disposal.”


Trade sales team


Newmarket’s success with the trade has been demonstrated by its decision to expand its on-the-road trade sales team. The appointment of Stuart Cowell takes the team to four, including head of trade sales Richard Forde. It has also recruited Jessica Barbosa as sales support for the trade. By the end of 2019, Newmarket hopes to take the total trade team up to six. “The sector is growing and the number of events and the requirements we want to deliver to the trade is growing too,” Sharman said. “It needs investment.”


14 travelweekly.co.uk 14 June 2018


Travel Weekly roadshows, the Atas Conference and various river cruise events as essentials on the company’s calendar, and outlined a vision to grow the team as the sector grows. “There are so many good events


that enable us to get face-to-face with trade partners. The product range for escorted touring is quite a complicated offering sometimes, so we need to make sure we are maximising our opportunities. We don’t want to miss out. If we are not there, our competitors will be.” In terms of where to find their


new team members, Newmarket may look beyond the obvious locations. “We are completely open-


minded as to where we look,” Sharman said. “We have people in our team from a travel agency background, and people from a tour operator background, and if you get people from those backgrounds they really understand the sector. People from a tour operating background would understand the demands of


working on the road, for example. That would be ideal, but although you need to be the right sort of person [for the job], the main thing is finding someone who shares our passion for travel.”


Product focus


Newmarket has more than 350 tours in its programme, covering all corners of the globe. The challenge, Sharman said, was educating agents about its different products while making sure to give enough detail to help them specialise.


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