NEWS YOU NEED TO KNOW 4


Ian Taylor ian.taylor@travelweekly.co.uk


bookings but a “decline in all durations over 12 nights”. GfK also reported winter


5 STORIES HOT


Trade’s summer bookings surge 7% 13%


Summer 2017 saw a 7% increase in outbound bookings for the UK trade and a 12% rise in revenue year on year, defying fears of a downturn due to the lower value of the pound.


Figures from industry analyst


GfK show family bookings rose 13% year on year, package bookings increased 8% and all-inclusive bookings 10%, with growth “in line with the market” in short, medium and long-haul


2017-18 bookings up 5% to the end of October and early bookings for summer 2018 also up 5%. The pound has fallen in value


against the euro by almost a fifth since August 2015. Yet Office for National Statistics figures show the number of outbound holidays increased 1% year on year in the three months to August following a 4% increase last year. Holiday departures for the year to August were up 3%. GfK reported high street agency


Year-on-year increase in family bookings this summer via the trade


revenues for summer 2017 up 1% year on year compared with a 24% increase via direct channels. But the average selling price through high street agents was 22% higher than direct. Tui was expected to reveal a 10% increase in group operating


we could drive strong margins.” › For a full appraisal of the UK outbound market, see the Travel Weekly Insight Report 2017-18, available online at go.travelweekly.co.uk/insight18


profit in full-year results on Wednesday, and to report UK summer bookings flat as the UK business pursued margin ahead of capacity growth. Helen Caron, Tui UK and Ireland distribution and cruise director, told a Travel Weekly Business Breakfast: “We took the decision to focus on the capacity we had, on holidays exclusive to Tui, where


5


Hays: Don’t ask for fee to offset card charges


Lee Hayhurst


Not Just Travel Conference, Reading


Charging for service is the wrong thing to do to offset the impact of the ban on charges for credit and debit cards from January.


John Hays, managing director


of Hays Travel, told the annual conference of prominent Hays Independence Group consortium member Not Just Travel there is “no way around the legislation”. “We know other consortia have come up with ideas like charging a


fee for premium clients for doing things like booking seats, printing documentation or helping with Advanced Passenger Information. “We have looked at this, but


all the things they’re proposing to charge a fee for we regard as standard. “We are here to provide a


service; that is what makes us different as independent travel agents. It’s why people come to us. We think it’s the wrong thing to do to start charging service fees. “In fact, we would be really quite pleased if this is what other groups


6 travelweekly.co.uk 14 December 2017


start doing because that will just send their clients to us.” Hays said the group would


stop charging card fees from December 26, before the new law comes in on January 13, so it does not have to update turn-of-year TV, radio and print campaigns. Not Just Travel, which was established in 2001, is one of Hays Travel’s fastest-growing consortium members and has brought Hays on to its advisory board. It now has


Not Just Travel agents with John Hays (second left) and Not Just


Travel brand ambassador Daley Thompson (second right)


about 300 agents in the UK. Steve Witt, co-founder of


Not Just Travel, urged agents to “embrace” the new rules. He said agents could encourage


customers to pay by bank transfer or cash, although Not Just Travel does not encourage cash payments. He said the firm had been able


to reduce credit card fees charged by card issuers to as little as 0.69%


from 1% to 2%. › Not Just Travel, page 14


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