NEWS YOU NEED TO KNOW 4


River specialists say sector is ripe for consolidation


Harry Kemble Clia River Cruise Conference, Paris


lia ’s deputy chairman says he would “bet money” on ocean lines entering the river sector through acuisition.


Giles Hawke, who is also Avalon


Waterways’ chief executive, said: “I would bet money on there being consolidation and companies coming in and buying river cruise lines and forming super-massive fleets. I would bet money on an ocean cruise line paying money


for a river cruise line. It is only a question of when.” The sector has also demonstrated its appeal to investors from outside the cruise industry, with private equity group Duke Street acquiring river operator A-Rosa earlier this year. Last year, Certares, the majority


owner of US travel agency network Travel Leaders, which acquired Barrhead Travel this year, became a shareholder in AmaWaterways. In a panel discussion at Clia’s


River Cruise Conference in Paris last weekend, Paul Melinis, river


Panellists Giles Hawke, Paul Melinis and John Fair, with moderator Lucy Huxley


5 STORIES HOT


P RIS


RIVER CRUISE CONFERENCE





cruise line APT’s UK regional director, agreed that market consolidation was “definitely going to happen”. “There is certainly demand [for


market consolidation] and we’ve seen passenger numbers over the last few years just growing and growing, so it’s inevitably going to happen at some stage,” he said.


CroisiEurope UK sales director


John Fair was less convinced, saying: “Only time will tell.” Debra Fox, APT’s chief


commercial officer, later told Travel Weekly that while the river sector was a different “financial proposition to ocean,


consolidation was “likely”. › Conference Report, page 12


2018


5 ‘Don’t be hasty on apprentice funds’


Lucy Huxley lucy.huxley@travelweekly.co.uk


ravel firms that pay the apprenticeship levy but have yet to set up a scheme have been warned against a “knee-jerk” attempt to avoid losing available funding.


Levy-paying companies that


fail to use their funds within two years will lose access to their contributions on a rolling month-by-month basis from next May. Unused funds will go to the Treasury and have been earmarked


to help pay for apprenticeships for non-levy paying companies. Andy Smyth, Tui’s early talent and apprenticeships manager, predicted a “flurry of activity as companies looked to avoid losing funds. But he warned that firms should focus past May rather than attempt to implement a scheme before the first deadline. “Funds not spent by May will roll


back to the Treasury, but it’s too late [to set up a scheme by then]. You can’t do anything fast enough. “We need to caution against a knee-jerk reaction. There will be a flurry of activity, but it won’t save


6travelweekly.co.uk15 November 2018


Andy Smyth, Tui


business breakfast


those funds. It will save future funds if companies start now.” Smyth was speaking at a Travel


Weekly Business Breakfast on recruitment, training and retention, during which the 2019


edition of careers publication Take Off in Travel was unveiled. He said there had been “some


learning and maturing of thinking”, as companies understood a proper apprenticeship strategy was required to unlock and use levy funds. But he called for “greater intervention” from government to educate companies on how to properly implement a scheme. Vicki Wolf, Abta’s education partnerships manager, said she was encouraged by an increase in schemes offered by members in areas such as marketing, IT, finance and management, with apprenticeships increasingly used to develop and retain staff as well as train new recruits.


PICTURE: STEVE DUNLOP


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